Blog for Bristol Services Intl.

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, some crafty public relations firms have found a way to send any book to the top of Amazon’s “Top Seller” rankings. These firms send out mass emails offering people bonuses (CD’s, special offers, downloadable freebies, etc.) if they “buy this book today.” When a mass number of people buy the same book all on one day, the Amazon ranking shoots the unknown book into the “Top Seller” list, making the book appear to be skyrocketing to success.

In reality, the cost for such a stunt can run $10,000 to $15,000 paid to the PR firm for their efforts and freebies. All to artificially look like a top seller–at least for that day or week. Is it worth it? Not according to many. Critics say this messes up Amazon’s recommendation system, since people buy the book just for the freebies. Then others see the ranking and assume this must be a good bood to buy. But will that really encourage more sales for the author? Maybe … maybe not. Sure the author can say their book was a top seller on Amazon, but at that high cost, who is the real winner? Why the PR firm, for sure.

According to the BBC News, ”a genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.” The potential to wipe out a horrifying world-wide scourge is promising, even if years in the future. However … couple this with the fact that they also genetically engineered this same insects to have fluorescent green eyes (for easier identification) plus the unknown fears and concerns about any GM creation, and such scientific advances become fodder for current day science fiction and adventure writers. There’s nothing quite like glowing green eyes flitting about in the dark of night to spell high drama, for sure!

Revolutionary new technique for detecting latent fingerprints through nanotechnology is in the works. See the Nanowerk.com for all the details on the two new methods now playing off each other to create a not-quite-yet stable, but very promising, new method in the near future. One involves using a watery suspension of gold nanoparticles (surely a mystery plot would love to use gold plus latent finger prints!) and the other some long hydrocarbon chains. I don’t understand more of this than that, but do read the article–and just think of the possibilities for plotting your next mystery!