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19 of the Best Books of 2021

A bookworm is happiest when they’re surrounded by books — both old and new. Undoubtedly, 2021 was a great year for both fiction and nonfiction, with bestsellers like Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters and Second Place by Rachel Cusk. Whether you read memoirs or young-adult (YA) novels, 2021 was a fantastic year for book lovers. While we can’t squeeze in all of our favorites from 2021, we’ve rounded up a stellar sampling of must-reads. Here’s some of the year’s best books.

“Crying in H Mart: A Memoir” by Michelle Zauner

In her profound memoir Crying in H Mart , Michelle Zauner shares an unflinching view of growing up as a Korean American person — all while reflecting on losing her mother to terminal cancer. Author Dani Shapiro notes that the Japanese Breakfast musician “has created a gripping, sensuous portrait of an indelible mother-daughter bond that hits all the notes: love, friction, loyalty, grief.”

“The Prophets” by Robert Jones, Jr.

In Robert Jones, Jr.’s lyrical debut novel, The Prophets , Isaiah and Samuel are two enslaved young men who find refuge in each other — and their love becomes both sustaining and heroic in the face of a vicious world. Entertainment Weekly writes that “While The Prophets’ dreamy realism recalls the work of Toni Morrison… Its penetrating focus on social dynamics stands out more singularly.” Now that’s a compliment.

“The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

At President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Amanda Gorman read her electrifying poem, “ The Hill We Climb .” Since then, it has been praised for its call for unity and healing. Vogue captures the feeling of reading the poem well, calling it “deeply rousing and uplifting.”

“Beautiful World, Where Are You” by Sally Rooney

New York Times bestselling author Sally Rooney has returned with a sharp, romantic drama, Beautiful World, Where Are You . Two separate relationships are in chaos, threatening to ruin friendships. Vogue declares that the author has “invented a sensibility entirely of her own: Sunny and sharp.”

“Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir” by Ashley C. Ford

Ashley C. Ford’s coming-of-age memoir, Somebody’s Daughter , centers on her childhood. Ford, a Black girl who grew up poor in Indiana, recounts how her family was fragmented by her father’s incarceration. With rich, unflinching writing, Ford has penned a debut for the ages. The memoir’s publisher perhaps puts the core of the book best, noting that Ford “embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.”

“Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo

Everyone remembers their first all-consuming love — and for Lily Hu, the teenage protagonist of Malinda Lo’s queer YA novel, that love is Kathleen Miller. Set in the 1950s in San Francisco, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is not just one of the year’s best, but one of Lo’s best. O: The Oprah Magazine notes that the novel is “proof of Lo’s skill at creating darkly romantic tales of love in the face of danger.”

“¡Hola Papi!” by John Paul Brammer

In his memoir, ¡H ola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons , advice columnist John Paul Brammer delves into his experiences growing up as a queer, biracial person. The Los Angeles Times writes that “Brammer’s writing is incredibly funny, kind, and gracious to his readers, and deeply vulnerable in a way that makes it feel as if he’s talking to only you” — and we couldn’t agree more.

“Honey Girl” by Morgan Rogers

In Morgan Rogers’ novel Honey Girl , Grace Porter is an overachiever — and certainly not the type of person to marry a stranger in Las Vegas. Or, at least, she didn’t think she was that type of person. As Grace navigates the messiness of adulthood, Rogers takes us on a journey that’s both heartfelt and unflinching, illustrating that love is all about risks — even when it comes to loving ourselves.

“Aftershocks: A Memoir” by Nadia Owusu

Nadia Owusu’s memoir, Aftershocks , reflects on her experience of being abandoned by her parents at a young age. Entertainment Weekly notes that “Owusu dispatches all of this heartache with blistering honesty but does so with prose light enough that it never feels too much to bear.”

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro

What if an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant had feelings? In Kazuo Ishiguro’s latest novel, Klara and the Sun , Klara is an Artificial Friend who wonders if friendship is possible. The Financial Times called the Never Let Me Go author’s latest “a deft dystopian fable about the innocence of a robot that asks big questions about existence.”

“100 Boyfriends” by Brontez Purnell

Brontez Purnell’s romantic, intoxicating book, 100 Boyfriends , is a look at the romantic lives of queer men who are striving to find out not just where they belong, but where they can shine. Author Bryan Washington praised the collection, writing that “Each story in 100 Boyfriends is a minor eclipse: stunning in scope, technically blinding, and entirely miraculous.”

“One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston

In Casey McQuiston’s big-hearted romance novel, One Last Stop , August meets Jane on a New York City subway — but she doesn’t realize just how fateful their chance encounter is at first. New York Magazine called the novel “an earnest reminder that home — whether that means a time, a place, or a person — is worth fighting for,” and we wouldn’t expect anything less from the Red, White & Royal Blue author.

“Afterparties: Stories” by Anthony Veasna So

In Afterparties , Anthony Veasna So weaves together tenderhearted stories about the lives of several Cambodian American characters. Although the stories vary quite a bit in terms of content, author George Saunders writes that they are all “powered by So’s skill with the telling detail,” and are much like “…beams of wry, affectionate light, falling from different directions on a complicated, struggling, beloved American community.”

“Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reid

In Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel Malibu Rising , readers meet four famous siblings as they throw their annual end-of-summer party in Malibu. However, over the course of 24 hours, family drama ensues. The Washington Post calls this read “a fast-paced, engaging novel that smoothly transports readers.”

“Let Me Tell You What I Mean” by Joan Didion

Between 1968 and 2000, award-winning journalist and essayist Joan Didion wrote 12 pieces about a variety of well-known figures, ranging from Ernest Hemingway and Nancy Reagan to Martha Stewart. Now, these works have been gathered in the essay collection Let Me Tell You What I Mean . Bret Easton Ellis writes that Didion’s “prose remains peerless,” so, if you’re a fan of the iconic writer, this is a must-read.

“Intimacies” by Katie Kitamura

Intimacies is Katie Kitamura’s fourth novel, following 2017’s critically acclaimed A Separation . In it, an interpreter for the International Court at the Hague gets drawn into a political scandal after agreeing to translate for a former world leader and potential criminal. The novel is a fascinating investigation into the instability of language and how it influences identity. Dana Spiotta describes Intimacies as “a haunting, precise, and morally astute novel that reads like a psychological thriller.”

“Detransition, Baby” by Torrey Peters

In Detransition, Baby , Torrey Peters tells a witty and nuanced story about partnership, parenthood and identity. About the novel, Ginny Hogan from the New York Times states “[Detransition, Baby upends] our traditional, gendered notions of what parenthood can look like.”

“Second Place” by Rachel Cusk

In Rachel Cusk’s novel Second Place , a follow up to her brilliant Outline trilogy, a woman invites an artist she admires to live in her remote guesthouse for the summer. As the stay unfolds, a series of unexpected events spurs revelations about womanhood, marriage and security. About Second Place , Jenny Singer from Glamour writes “there is mayhem; surprising sweetness and brilliant observations tumble from every page.”

“Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore ” by Dan Ozzi

In Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore , rock critic Dan Ozzi traces the stories of eleven separate bands that transitioned from the indie scene to achieve mainstream success in the ‘90s. Including interviews and anecdotes from bands like Green Day, Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182, this is a must-read for any music lover.

How to Use Quora to Increase Book Sales

One thing many authors with a website struggle with is getting traffic or fans to go to it.

They write excellent content…

They post it on social media …

And nothing…

The same could be said about authors without platforms. If you aren't proactively trying to drive traffic to your book sales page, then you need to get going. Today's Amazon platform is very crowded, and no longer can you just depend on Amazon to send all of the traffic to your book. There are just too many mouths to feed. But where do you begin?

Well in this article, I am going to introduce to you a platform that has generated over 1,000+ visits to my website, and gotten over 76.7K views of my material in as little as three months. I'll also show you how it directly increased a fiction author's book sales as well.

It’s super easy to use, and the best part is that it’s totally free.

It’s called Quora .

In this article, I will show you:

Back in the day, there were websites like Ask.com, or Yahoo Answers, where people could post questions, and other users could answer them. Using a voting system, the best answers would rise to the top and stay there for others to read who have the same question.

However, over time, many of these sites closed down, stopped accepting new questions, or got punished by Google. With Google punishments, these other sites no longer show up on Google searches, or if they do, it’s rare.

However, one question/answer website that has remained and is currently thriving in Google’s world is Quora.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: “Oh yay, another social networking site to spend more of my time on.”

But unlike social media where your posts quickly disappear in less than 24 hours only requiring you to re-post something else over and over and over again, Quora answers are public for a significant period of time.

When you post an answer to someone’s question, your answer stays on that page indefinitely. Furthermore, Quora is indexed in Google. So, people typing in that question into Google search have a good chance of stumbling on that question and your answer.

How Can Authors Use Quora

Whether or not you are in fiction or non-fiction, your fans and readers are asking questions. You, as the author, need to be able to recognize what kind of questions your fans might ask…or better yet, what kind of questions lead to more sales.

This should probably be a little easier than fiction because most non-fiction is about a question.

How do I lose weight? How do I stop smoking? What happened in 1824? How do I learn…?

I think you get my drift.

Find questions that pertain to your market , and give the best answer. You’ll not only help out your target market, but you'll also be seen as an authority. Furthermore, you can drop a link to your book, or website and increase your engagements and ultimately your conversions.

For Fiction, it is a little trickier, but still well worth your time.

In most cases, people don’t just jump on and search for random book titles . Instead, they will talk about famous books. The strategy with Quora for fiction is that you find popular books that are in your genre and look for those questions.

Toby Downtown of Solarversia.com did an excellent job of recognizing that those who loved the book “ Ready Player One ” would love his book “ Solarversia .” If you don’t know, “Ready Player One” is one of my favorites as well as Pat Flynn’s and will become a movie soon at the helm of Steven Spielberg. So, you might not have heard of it yet, but soon, it will be a big deal…and early adopters like Toby will reap the benefits.

Quickly going to Quora and typing in the search phrase “Ready Player One” there are hundreds of questions dealing with this one book. Here are some JUICY questions for Toby to answer so as to get his book, name, and authority in front of his target market:

With each of them averaging around 200-400 views over the past couple of months, you can quickly see that answering these questions is probably worth the 10 minutes it would take to write a well thought out answer.

Besides, those are some excellent questions for an author to answer…and drop a link to their own book as well.

So, giving Toby an advanced copy of this article, and giving him a nudge, he created this reply and got some excellent results from just a couple of minutes of answering that one question.

Furthermore, he got the following tweet from someone he never knew.I've got a Starbucks coffee card that says that if someone would take the time to tweet their appreciation, they are also the kind that would drop a great review.

And THAT is a double score and is, therefore, my kind of marketing effort.

Was it successful? You bet.

While linking back to your book in Quora can be a direct way to make sales, sometimes the best strategy is the long one. In this case you can link back to your website, and hopefully through your excellent content, you keep them there and get them on your email list.

That's what Scott did over at Best Survival at https://bestsurvival.org/ . Answering questions, it becomes very easy to see why he's an authority in outdoors survival tactics, and equipment.

Better Keywords & Categories Fast

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First, you’ll need to create your account . You can use your Facebook, Google+ or email to do it.

However, once you have signed up, you need to take your time and put together a great profile that will convert. The information you place on this profile should be geared towards the type of questions you intend to answer.

If I want to drive the right kind of traffic to my website on Science Fiction, then I need to have a profile that reflects this.

For example, let’s say there is a Quora question about Science Fiction Military books and I respond with an epic answer.

If my profile says “Dave Chesson – Hair Dresser” it won’t hold as much weight as in “Dave Chesson – bestselling author in the Science Fiction genre and master of the universe” – these are both made up…in case you were wondering, only He-Man and Chuck Norris are the masters.

Your profile has to reflect the type of questions you intend to answer. This includes:

So take the time and think about what your target market would like to see if they checked your profile out.

While in your dashboard, if you navigate to the top left, you'll see a search box. Here you can type in your genre, questions or particular keywords. Once you hit enter, Quora will find a slew of questions that meet your requirement.

Once you have answered a couple of questions in a particular category, you will start to notice that Quora users will request for you to answer their questions as well…which is nice. This is a good sign that you are being seen as an authority on the subject.

You won’t believe how many questions exist in your particular genre and how easy it is to answer them.

This is where most people on Quora make the biggest mistake.

Usually people who respond, just type something in really quick and move on.

But, to get people to take your answer seriously, and click on your links, you need to write out a well thought out response that provide real value.

So, take your time and think out your response.

Another thing is to treat it like a blog post.

Many people who stumble on Quora searching for an answer will quickly scroll through the answer options and choose one or maybe two to read.

It is for this reason that you need to structure your response so that it is appealing to their eyes. Thus, you need to make your response stick out.

You can do this by performing the following:

Here is are a couple of examples of my Quora responses, employing exactly these things:

What do you think? Did I nail it? If so, then an upvote is always appreciated 😉

So make sure you spend some time on your answer. It will be a big part of whether or not you will succeed with this tactic.

So what’s the point of writing a Quora answer if it sits at the bottom and no one reads it?

Well, it turns out that there are a couple of ways to get your Quora to the top, and the best way is through upvotes.

The Upvote buttons are the little boxes at the bottom of answers.

When people like your answer, they will click this box, and you will receive a +1 – sort of like Reddit. The Answer with the most upvotes will usually rise to the top.

To get more upvotes, make sure you provide an excellent response. Follow what we discussed above and ensure your response is ordered and structured for those that skim. Also, be sure to select a proper picture so as to catch their eyes and make your answer stand out.

Another way to get more upvotes is to share it with your friends and family or post it on your social media. Doing this, you can easily get 5-10 upvotes, which in most cases will get you the #1 ranking.

Like I said above, Quora has been a GREAT boost of traffic for me. Just check out those numbers.

The above picture is of my Quora Analytics showing how many people have seen my Quora answers in as little as three months. Not bad right.

But does that translate into visitors of your site or book sales page? You bet! Check out the picture below of my Analytics account for Kindlepreneur.com.

That's the number of people who read my Quora answer and then clicked on a link that sent them to my site – which I strategically place in my responses. Looking at the Bounce Rate and the Average Time on Site, I would say this is a good kind of traffic.

Plus, I'm not the only one to see that. Nick Loper, the master behind Side Hustle Nation podcast and a good friend of mine saw similar results as well as improved engagement from that form of traffic.

Now, I will admit, to build that amount of traffic I spent a lot of time on Quora. To reach that level, I had reserved a couple of hours a week so as to be able to answer questions and keep a constant presence. But, looking at the results above, I'm pretty sure it was a wise investment of my time.

I wrote the above information five months ago. I never like to just “jump into anything” and then immediately post initial success because, in marketing and self publishing books , we all take our lumps and learn from mistakes. Sometimes our initial efforts seem too good to be true…and they end up not being that great.

So, let me take a moment and tarnish Quora for a little.

It is true that the information above is correct, but here is the long term look at what that effort did for me, my sites, and my books.

I learned that Quora gives new questions a lot of love, but will quickly let your answer sink to the bottom over time. This is good and bad.

The good news is that it allows new and fresh answers to see some popularity – so don't get distraught if someone has already answered the question. The bad news is that it will cause your work not to have as much of an ROI over time 🙁

After two months of working on Quora, I stopped. When I stopped, I saw the number plummet. So, it isn't truly a passive source or asset – although still more passive than social media. At least my Quora posts provided traffic for months while my post on Facebook lasts for 24 hours.

Also, I had many of my posts removed by Quora – OUCH! Quora is very sensitive about the pictures you post and while the pictures I posted were well within their compliance requirements, someone had reported them and the appeals process takes almost a year (competitor? probably).

For example, below is a screen capture of them telling me that they removed my answer because I need to “disclose my affiliation” to Kindlepreneur.com.

Ummm…..okay?

So, much of my hard work has just ‘disappeared.'

This doesn't mean I don't love Quora as a strategy. It's perfect for those without a platform looking to build authority and gain new traffic. It's also a good source for those who do have a platform and want to find a quick and easy way to start developing sustainable traffic.

But here are the things you should keep in mind as you put forth effort:

Like with any type of marketing strategy, all platforms and strategies have their pro's and con's. But the thing that separates the successful from those who fail is that success comes to those that keep trying until it works.

If you decide you want to work on Quora, then put forth a full effort. Don't just answer a question and then complain it didn't work. Don't just answer a couple of questions in one day and stop. Set aside some time, work with it, experiment and find out what works.

As you can see, Quora can be a powerful way to get a source of passive traffic to your website or book's sales page.

Just sit down for a couple of hours, set up a targeted profile, and answer some questions.

Just start writing.

It’s that simple.

And while you’re at it, check out my profile and follow me so as to see exactly how I got those high click rates and learn by example as I go through navigating Quora and its many opportunities.

Also, if you post a Quora answer, let me know in the comments! I'll make sure to hop on over, check it out, and drop you an upvote. Again, a little extra something for you crazy peeps who read all the way through to the bottom of this ginormously long, Moby Dick sized post.

Dave Chesson

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Reader magnets: the secret to attracting more readers, book surveys: how to use surveys to sell more books, how to create a book marketing plan that works [in 3 simple steps], sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

36 thoughts on “ How to Use Quora to Increase Book Sales ”

I’ve been answering questions people ask me on Quora for some time now and did not know you could include a link. I’ll be giving that a try. Thanks again for yet another informative post, Dave! Keep up the good work!

Quora keeps deleting my answers. I will answer a question about Twitter marketing (because I wrote this book: https://amzn.to/30z98ih ) and if I include a link, It is gone.I guess I could get organic views if someone is intrigued enough to google the book I mention in my credentials.I usually enjoy your advice, and am currently using your AMS advertising course (just waiting for Amazon to save those 998 keywords!), but this is one blog post I disagree with. I have Quora in my “Time Suck” bookmark folder.Maybe you were there for the golden days of Quora when they made it easier on promoters.Thanks,Melanie

What a great idea to enhance photography with Fashion of Photography. Love it most . Keep it up. Thanks

This is in truth enormous promotion technique. Thanks for sharing nice through

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All you need to know about Quora for Book marketing

With over a million people accessing this website for information every month, Quora is a marketer’s delight. A website that has a massive user base in India, the US, the UK, Canada, and China, a marketer cannot afford to miss out on an opportunity to leverage the full potential of Quora. For us authors, Quora is a treasure chest of potential readers, where we can wittily market our books and keep the cash register ringing. And on this blog post, we will understand Quora and its effectiveness; get to know how to use Quora for Book marketing effectively, and accordingly set up a profile that will complement our purpose. Let’s begin:

What is Quora?

For the uninitiated, Quora is an online platform where users ask questions and look for appropriate answers. Remember the Yahoo answers or the ones like Ask.com? Quora operates the same way but differs in that it allows users to establish authority on a subject. On Quora, users ask a specific question for which they need an answer and post it under the appropriate topic. Users who know the answer then comment on the question by providing a solution. The solution can be a direct answer, a link to their blog post or something similar and redirect traffic to their website. The answer then goes as a notification to users following the question and those who answered it. Depending on the usefulness of the answer, users will either upvote or downvote an answer. On Quora, answers are ranked according to the number of upvotes.

How is it Useful for me?

As you know, book marketing involves a lot of effort and as authors we cannot overlook even the smallest of opportunities to go ahead and make our book visible to people. Apart from facebook, twitter, emails, pinterest, and Instagram, which have millions of users every month, if there’s one thing that has more quantum of target audience, it has to be Quora. One of the fascinating things about Quora is the legitimacy of users. Users on the platform are not there to pass their time, watch some video, or just look at some gif images. They are there because they are in pursuit of information. So, what we have in front of is a group of target audience we can reach out to and increase the visibility of our book. Unlike other platforms, where we post an update and wait for it to get shared and re-shared and then reach the one right person, Quora has a niche user base, making it easier for us to tap into that one particular reader.

Besides, Quora offers a long-term effect to our promotion campaigns. The questions asked on Quora are generic and are such that they can arise to any individual at any given point of time. When they have a question, they immediately resort to Quora and when they find our answers there, they are benefitted from it. Based on how we answer, they either come back to our website or get redirected to our book’s sales page.

Another important aspect why you should use Quora is that it allows people to see you as a subject-matter expert. Now as writers, we all want to achieve the status, as it increases our credibility and builds trust among readers to buy our book. The profile summary and the bio sections of Quora profiles allow us to add relevant information that will reveal us as authorities in what we discuss and answer. Besides, it even allows us to have a separate bio for different aspects of a particular topic. For instance, if you’re answering a question related to travel writing, it allows you to include a bio that will show up on that section. So, whenever a person reads at your answer, he or she will see you as an authority of that niche. On the other hand, when you answer a question on book publishing, you can include a separate bio for this niche to establish credibility on this topic as well. So, here on Quora, you have the chance to stand out in every answer that you provide to users, thereby just increasing your (and your books) visibility manifold.

How to promote your book on Quora?

Now, here comes the perfect example of irony. Despite being a marketer’s sweet spot, Quora doesn’t officially allow users to market their products or services. Quora believes in maintaining an organic traffic where legit people with legit questions get the information they need. So, it’s in Quora’s policy that marketing and promotional services are prohibited. So, how do we go about promoting our book to potential readers? One thing for sure, we cannot go against the Quora policy. What we can do instead is serve the purpose of the website and help people get the right answers and establish a solid presence there. By being organic, we can go beyond the convention and achieve a lot more than our intentions. So, to organically drive response to our book promotion campaigns and traffic to our website/blog, check out the tips below.

Set up a Kickass Quora Profile

Your Quora profile says about you and your online persona. If you don’t provide the right information, people will not even bother reading at your answers, no matter how powerful and effective they are. To set up an awesome profile, pick the right keywords on what you do, who you are, and how you are related to your book. For instance, if you’ve written a self-help about fighting depression, you will include words like author, motivational speaker, optimist, and more such effective words on your profile so people see you as an authority. By doing so, users will trust you and will connect to you instantly. When they connect, it becomes easier for us to promote our books. Besides, you should also write an effective bio about yourself for people to get to know more about you.

Find the Right Topics, Find the Right Questions

Quora is a repository of topics and questions and it is up to you to find the right niche depending on your book and make your way to the right target audience. Let’s take the same example that you’ve written a self-help book on fighting depression, what you should do is go to the search bar and type depression. When you search for this, Quora automatically throws all the questions on this topic. Now, you have to find the question you are confident you can answer and type in your response. Here, you have to remember that you cannot go directly answer the question saying, Read my book to know how to fight depression. Your response should be an organic one a genuine answer to the question, respecting the users plight. When you find a question, explain your thoughts in your answer and lastly include a call to action. After stating your response, add a single line saying, I have dealt with a similar thing on my book and I feel you might find it useful. Include the book’s page on the link and click on answer. By doing so, you are not marketing your book directly but are expressing your concern on the user and helping him with additional content from your book. This is the best way to market your book on Quora. Plus, you can also create a blog on your Quora profile and help users better.

Write Topic Specific Bio

As we mentioned, apart from your profile bio, Quora also allows you to set up bios for each specific topic you respond. For instance, if you have knowledge on investment banking apart from fighting depression, you can also write a bio for that niche and have a stand on this platform. This will help your profile become more credible and will bring you away from the I-am-here-to-promote-my-book image. Now, this is very important if you have to achieve your goal of marketing your book.

Ask Questions

Now, besides just making use of the existing opportunities on Quora, you can also create new ones and attract users. Ask questions on Quora based on a topic of your niche and be open to users answering to your questions. When you do so, you are actually looking at what people feel about the niche youâ€™ve dealt with on your book. Ask relevant questions whose answers will drive them to buy your book. For instance, you can ask What information do people expect out of a self-help book on fighting depression? When you post, users will automatically pour in their response on the information they seek and you can immediately establish the presence of your book by upvoting their answers and leaving a comment saying that you’ve authored this book and asking them if the information on the book is what they were expecting. When the promotions become interactive, the intensity of the impact multiplies.

Quora is something that will offer quick responses and results. When they find your answer interesting and useful, users will upvote it and even leave a comment stating how useful it actually was. When done right, they will also go ahead and purchase a copy of your book depending on what you answered and how you answered. So, be active on Quora and establish a strong online presence and credibility. The more you are active, the more users you will have as followers and having a good base of followers is always good for you and your book. Also, go that extra step and follow people in your niche to learn how others use this platform as well.

Book Marketing on Quora Best Practices

For better reach and engagement, follow some of the best practices for book marketing on Quora.

By now, you would have understood the power of Quora for authors and a clear idea on how you can go about marketing your book on it. Follow the tips mentioned above, create a stunning Quora profile, and start answering immediately. In time, you will have a significant change in your blog’s traffic and the sales of your book. Good luck!

Aravind, works as a publishing mentor at Notion Press. His articles help aspiring writers realize their dream of becoming a published author. He has several years of experience in the publishing industry and has researched on digital media and the future of print-publishing. He is an active mentor for a community of writers to educate and guide them toward writing a book that sells.

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Hello there! Thank you for sharing information about Quora Bookmarketing. It is really very helpful to me, Authors and Digital Marketers

The 10 Most Interesting Quora Threads of All Time

Quora is a Q&A-styled website where people ask questions, and other people answer and edit responses. Essentially, it’s the beautiful bastard child of Reddit, Yahoo Answers, and Wikipedia. Questions run the information gamut, and include everything from, “What does it feel like to kill a person?” to “What are the best ways to organize my personal finances?”

And with such a wide-open space of Q&A content, the potential for “greatest hits” questions are damn near endless. Thus, here are 10 of our favorite Quora questions ever asked:

What are the most surreal places to visit?

We love this [very popular] Quora thread because it’s based upon literally thousands of user-generated responses. The editors compiled a master list of the best and most frequently talked about places—from Pakistan’s Kaghan Valley, to a rotted out nuclear missile silo— and made them the first post in the thread. If you want real-world answers provided by travelers who actually know from experience, this is a wondrous traveler’s dream. Link

What are some realistic ways to get rich in 5 years?

Not a single man among us would ever turn down the possibility of amassing sizeable wealth. Not because we’re greedy or materialistic, but because the only thing better than having money is, well, having more money. Dozens of people responded to this query, and of the respondents—who included millionaires, investors, TIME people of the year, and other random Internet-types—most suggested options like being frugal and investing, while others suggested things like affiliate marketing programs, mobile commerce businesses, and investing in smaller high quality companies with good ideas. Link

Is there life after death?

Holy shit. We honestly have no idea what’s going on here, but we’re currently reading every single word. God? Is that you, God?

Really though, this thread goes through everything ; medically assisted life after death, spiritual and religious life after death, a scientific discussion on the matter, and a terrifyingly awkward and morbid description of the literal hours after a person dies. Welp. That happened. Link

What can I learn/know right now in 10 minutes that will be useful for the rest of my life?

This question solicits responses for any trait, life hack, or trick that could be learned in 10 minutes, and prove useful for the rest of one’s life. It received well over 2,000 replies from people the world over. Responses varied greatly, and included things like “How to dress well and choose the right suit, shirt, trouser and glasses,” and how to “[s]ee what Google knows about you,” as well as literally thousands of other small, but incredibly useful, life hacks. Link

What is the bravest thing you have ever seen someone do?

Standing up to a vicious gang, facing people who threatened to kill someone, doctors who willingly exposed themselves to a deadly disease in order to treat it—this question received a ton of incredible and inspiring answers from the people who witnessed them, firsthand. Link

What does it feel like to take DMT or 5-MeO-DMT?

Rather than discuss this, we’ll simply present a quote from Bob Wallace, one of Microsoft’s original 10 employees, that someone posted in the thread, and which we feel pretty much sums up the entire contents of every other response:

“Ayahuasca is like a bus tour of Paris museums for several hours. Smoked DMT is the same tour, but strapped to the nose of a rocket, and everything goes by in 10 minutes. Smoked 5-MeO-DMT is like being strapped to the nose of a rocket that flies into the sun and evaporates.”

Uhhh… Sign us up (for the thread, and the drugs). Link

What are some books that will expand our mind?

This is one of our favorite questions on Quora, but it should also be noted that we’re pretty big book dorks. Mostly non-fiction with some glimmering specks of fiction gold, the master list of books compiled here will do things like teach you how to eat right, explain the crippling effects of religious dogma on the human psyche, discuss the relevance of feminism in modern society, and even—according to one user answer—“reveal the secret reasons behind the structure of everything in our lives.” This list of must-reads is a definite Quora must-read. Link

What are the most common mistakes first time entrepreneurs make?

With advice from real-world entrepreneurs like CenturyLink CIO Lucas Carlson, Hawhorne Labs Co-Founder Evan Reas, and Venture Investor Patrick Mathieson, this Quora thread delivers. If you’re a progressive thinker and entrepreneurial-minded individual, this information is priceless. Looking to found the next Tesla? Start here. Link

Imagine you are a 10x nun in a bear costume from outerspace with opposable thumbs about to engage in a fight to the death with another nun, who may or may not be a bear in disguise. In front of you two lie a hunting knife and a baseball bat. If you pick one, the other nun will choose the other weapon. Which one would you pick and why?

Yup. This is a real question. And it got some pretty legitimate answers, too. I guess this is what happens if the “What does it feel like to take DMT?” thread inspires people to action. Either way, we’re taking the bat—no question. Link

What is the meaning of my life? Why am I in this world? What is my purpose?

Ahhh, the meaning of life. You think Quora wouldn’t tackle history’s most profound and unreasonably vague questions? Think again. What we love most about Quora is that there are literally thousands of right (and wrong) answers for every one question, and this thread is living proof. Thousands of answers to the same question, and no one is right or wrong. If you want to disappear into a two-hour black hole inside the deep spaces of the Internet, this thread will certainly serve its purpose. Link

The Byrna SD Pepper Kit Is All the Self-Defense You Need in One Little Box

Byrna’s less-lethal self-defense weapons are the best alternative to traditional firearms. Case in point, the Byrna SD Pepper Kit. This CO2-powered launcher handles like a pistol, but it shoots .68 high-impact plastic projectiles and chemical irritants at speeds up to 181 mph with an effective range of 60 ft. In addition to being an effective self-defense weapon, it’s also a blast to shoot if you have the outdoor space for plinking and target practice. As with all Byrna launchers, it’s legal in all 50 states and doesn’t require a background check or permits to own. Upgrade your self-defense kit with Byrna today.

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22 Life-Changing Books That Expand Your Mind

For the past few years, I’ve formed a habit of asking everyone for life-changing book recommendations. It’s one of the habits that has truly changed my life. Reading is my favorite way to develop my mind because it’s the most effective way to learn something. But not every book changes the way you think. Francis Bacon said it best:

“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”

So when I recently stumbled upon a question on Quora that went like this: “What are some books that expand our mind?” I started thinking about the books that had such an impact on me. Because not every book has the same impact.

To me, expanding your mind means that a book had an impact on the way I look at the world.

And after serious thought, I came up with the following 22 life-changing books that caused a real shift in the way I think. I hope they expand your mind too.

1. Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl

I still think about this book almost daily, years after I first read it. What happened to millions of Jews 70 years ago, is truly horrific. We forget that it was only a few decades ago. Not centuries. And Victor Frankl’s account of his experience in concentration camps is almost superhuman. His philosophy and perspective on life should be cherished and passed on forever. Read this book.

2. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau started my ‘thinking about life’ journey ten years ago. I remember how I discovered his writings — through the movie Into The Wild. The movie (released in 2007) was based on a Jon Krakauer book with the same title about Christopher McCandless, a young and naïve idealist who wanted to live a simple life. McCandless’s story is sad. But his biggest inspiration was Thoreau. And since Thoreau isn’t recommended reading in school in The Netherlands, I decided to pick it up by myself (and the Jon Krakauer book too). I haven’t stopped thinking, reflecting, and living more consciously ever since.

3. The Art Of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

We make a lot of decisions in our life. How many of those decisions are rational? If you ask Dobelli, very little. This book is an excellent collection of 99 thinking errors — from cognitive biases to social distortions. This is the most practical book I’ve read on decision making.

4. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

This book lives up to its hype. You will change the way you think after reading Kahneman’s book. It’s a summary of his most important findings ever since he started as a cognitive psychologist in 1961. I think it’s one of the most important books that’s published in recent years.

5. The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal

Self-control is the number one skill that helped me through my college years . And this practical book inspired me to bring my willpower to the next level. McGonigal writes in a down-to-earth manner that inspires you to take action.

6. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Your ability to enjoy your work not only determines work satisfaction, but it also impacts how good you become at something. Flow is one of those books I think about every day. Getting in a flow state is something that actually changes the way you work and experience life.

7. The Story of the Human Body by Daniel Lieberman

Who knew that knowledge about human evolution could change the way you live? At least, that’s what happened to me. To truly understand your body, you have to know how it evolved. You’ll appreciate it more after reading this book — I can tell you that.

8. Spark by John Ratey

I’m a big believer in daily exercise. To me, it’s as important as breathing. John Ratey’s book inspired me to include daily exercise into my life. And I can’t tell you enough how significant the impact has been on my productivity, confidence, health, happiness, and overall enjoyment of life.

9. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari

I don’t agree with all the hype of this book being the best book of all time. It is, however, a great summary of human history and evolutionary psychology. And, most importantly, it reads beautifully.

10. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A novel about a young, nameless black man, as he moves through life invisible, “‘simply because people refuse to see me.” Is the book fact or fiction? Doesn’t matter because it paints the picture from one person’s perspective on race—that’s what matters. The book is published in 1952 but still seems current after all those years. Life is about understanding others. This book will help you do that.

11. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini

This classic book teaches you the science of persuasion. And it’s full of research and anecdotes that will change the way you look at life, relationships, business, and people’s intentions.

12. Quiet by Susan Cain

Most introverts don’t even know they are introverts. Quiet is a book about knowing yourself. And that simple skill can change the outcome of your life. It comes down to this: Don’t try to be something you’re not.

13. When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub

One of the most entertaining life stories I’ve read. Weintraub is a Hollywood legend. He’s someone who genuinely thought different from the rest of his industry. And this book inspires you to be more practical, hard-nosed, and persuasive.

14. The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino

If you’re looking for a hardcore self-help book, look no further. If you read this book the way Og Mandino instructs, it will change your life.

15. Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz

Making decisions is one of the most mentally draining things you have to do daily. This book changed the way I look at options: Less is better.

16. The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Forming new habits is a practical skill that immediately impacts the quality of your life. Want to lose weight? Be more productive? Exercise regularly? Build successful companies? One thing is sure: Without habits, those things will be extremely difficult to pull off.

17. Daily rituals by Mason Currey

A unique insight into the habits and rituals of the world’s most renown figures. You’ll be surprised how simple their lives were.

18. Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher

Most people are afraid of negotiation. That’s an entirely unjust feeling. It’s actually fun to negotiate. And you should do it more often. Who doesn’t want to pay less and earn more?

19. The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told To Alex Haley

To me, Malcolm X is the real symbol of a self-made man. It has nothing to do with money or fame. You make yourself by expanding your mind. That’s what Malcolm X did in prison. Hands down, the best biography I’ve ever read.

20. The Moral Animal by Robert Wright

You can’t put human behavior into perspective without knowing more about our evolution. It’s a little depressing. But so is life. Study it, instead of getting sad by it. As a result, you’ll be more understanding towards people and yourself.

21. Mastery by Robert Greene

The ultimate guide to becoming good at what you do. This book is not only a playbook for mastery, but it’s also a collection of biographies of great historical figures.

22. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Multiple readers recommended this book to me. Bird by Bird is about more than writing. If it doesn’t make you a better writer (which I doubt), it will make you a better person.

Like I’ve said before, I hope you pick up one of these books and that they will change the way you think. And don’t let the money hold you back.

One of my friends recently told me that he had bought a 4K television. But when I told him a year ago to read a few of the books listed above, he answered: “Books are way too expensive.”

This reminded me of something my mentor once said when I complained about the cost of education:

“Ignorance costs you more than you’ll ever know.”

Screw 4K televisions. I’m buying and reading books instead.

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The 12 Best Finance Books in 2023

Build expertise in personal finance, investing, and decision-making psychology

Michelle Lodge is a contributor to Investopedia, who is also a writer, editor, and podcaster.

We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process . If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

There is no shortage of interest in finance books. Sales of business and economics print books reached a 10-year high in 2022, accounting for a quarter of all nonfiction unit volume and realized a 10% raise from 2021, according to market research firm The NPD Group. Business is the second-highest category in print publishing after books about religion. This large, complex print category has more than 100 categories and over 200 subcategories.

To help you sort through these offerings, we’ve put together a list of the best—everything from a biography; how-tos on managing money and investments; a lively reference book about cryptocurrency; policies that impact economics; scandals and personalities laid bare; and the thinking behind decision making in the stock market and other areas, as well as the all-time best book on negotiating. These books, written by authors of diverse backgrounds, offer the most comprehensive picture and the freshest insights to provide a broad perspective on the economy in these complicated and high-risk times and will help you make better financial choices.

Best Overall: No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram

Sarah Frier’s No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram ranks as the best overall book on our list of fine finance books. The title doesn’t do the book justice, because it’s so much more than a book about two smart tech guys creating a novel app and then selling it to Facebook.

Through her well-written and -reported prose, Frier, the Bloomberg editor in charge of Big Tech coverage, tackles the significance of social media—how it can alter the outcomes of elections, impact the self-esteem and behavior of followers who don’t have the seemingly perfect lives of celebrities and influencers, and generally hurt society when it professes to do the opposite. She also takes us inside Facebook, especially profiling its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom called the most strategic thinker he has ever met. It’s a gripping read.

“If Facebook was about friendships, and Twitter was about opinions, then Instagram was about experiences— anyone could be interested in anyone’s visual experiences, anywhere in the world,” Frier writes in her tale of app envy among Silicon Valley leaders. In 2010, Instagram co-founders Mike Krieger and Systrom were coming to terms with the scope of their online creation, a social media app for photos and video that led Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to acquire it for $1 billion two years later.

Systrom stayed on after the sale and tried to preserve the app’s initial intent of a way station for beautiful images, but he clashed with Zuckerberg, who wanted to grow Instagram while keeping it from overshadowing the parent . “Facebook was like the big sister that wants to dress you up for a party, but does not want you to be prettier than she is,” an unnamed former Instagram executive is quoted in the book as saying. Instagram comes out poorly, too, as its images of “perfect-looking” women caused some its followers to seek out cosmetic surgery, and opioids were sold through its site for several years.

Silicon Valley’s workings are thoroughly reported, thanks to Frier’s extensive interviews with venture capitalists and tech executives and Instagram influencers and celebrities. Accolades poured in for No Filter : It was named the best business book in 2020 by the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book, and it received equally effusive attention from Fortune, The Economist , Inc. , and NPR.

Best on Personal Finance: Rich Dad Poor Dad

As any investor knows, it’s not how much money you make, but how much you keep—a main premise of Rich Dad Poor Dad , now published in a 20th anniversary edition. This conversational book—which considers being financially literate crucial to acquiring wealth—cites the lessons from a “rich dad,” a friend’s father who rises from humble beginnings to create a lucrative business and a capitalist, and a “poor dad,” author Robert T. Kiyosaki’s own father, who was a highly educated government employee his entire working life and a socialist.

Kiyosaki obviously took the “rich dad” lessons to heart in co-writing what’s still considered, after 25 years, a top personal finance book. Chapter 2 questions the “American dream” of homeownership by spelling out Kiyosaki’s controversial argument that owning a house is a financial liability, not an asset, because paying for and maintaining it is a drain on finances, while Chapter 4 delves into the history of taxes and the power of corporations. He says that having financial literacy means a broad understanding of accounting and investing and knowing the markets and the law.

Each chapter ends with a “Study Session,” which reviews the material and poses questions.

Rich Dad spent nearly seven years on the New York Times bestseller list, one of the first self-published books to land there. “It [offers] useful information for a generation on the brink of making important financial decisions,” says Eric Estevez, a member of Investopedia’s Financial Review Board and an independent insurance broker. “Robert has a track record of breaking down complex financial concepts into simple explanations.”

Best Cryptocurrency Reference: The Basics of Bitcoins and Blockchains

You can judge this book by its cover because it delivers on its title, resulting in a comprehensive, lively must-have reference book on cryptocurrencies. Antony Lewis, a former technologist at Credit Suisse in Singapore and London, left banking to join the startup iBit, where clients buy and sell Bitcoins, and has never looked back.

His nine-chapter book starts with defining money—followed by definitions of digital money, cryptography, cryptocurrencies, digital tokens, and blockchains—and illustrates points with pictures, graphs, tables, pie charts, and infographics. He suggests, for example, that Bitcoin be called an “electronic asset” because “the word currency often sidetracks people when they are trying to understand Bitcoin. They get caught up trying to understand aspects of conventional currencies which do not apply to Bitcoin, what backs it (nothing) and who sets the interest rates (there is none).”

Investopedia’s Vinamrata Chaturvedi, senior editor overseeing blockchain and cryptocurrency, says this about the book: “There are many questions we have when thinking about blockchain. This book answers all of them. It explains how blockchain technology works and why cryptocurrencies are the future of money.”

Lewis freely admits that he “loves the industry” of crypto assets, Bitcoins, and blockchains, yet he also cautions about the very real dangers to investors. In a section called “Scams,” he lays out the swindles of Ponzi schemes, exit and fake scams, pump-and-dumps, scam initial coin offerings (ICOs), spoof ICOs, scam mining schemes, and fake (digital) wallets. “People have made and lost fortunes trading cryptocurrencies and investing in ICOs, but there are many risks,” he writes. “If you do decide to get involved, be careful and do a lot of research before committing your money.”

Best for Investing: A Random Walk Down Wall Street

Burton G. Malkiel is an economics professor, a former director at Vanguard, and a former dean of the Yale School of Management, yet his most recognizable contribution to finance is his Random Walk book, originally published in 1973 and, as of 2019, in its 12th edition. If you wait for Jan. 3, 2023, you can get the 50th anniversary edition in a green, not yellow, cover—the one pictured above.

“A random walk is one in which future steps or directions cannot be predicted on the basis of past history,” writes Malkiel. “When the term is applied to the stock market, it means that short-run changes in stock prices are unpredictable.” Sound familiar?

Amy Drury, a member of Investopedia’s Financial Review Board, and CEO and founder of the financial training company OnPoint Learning, who recommended the book, had this to say: “I reread this recently and found that it was a pretty comprehensive overview about finance and investing. It is very dense, so maybe not one to take to the beach, but it is great as a reference book to dip into on specific topics.”

Best Personal Finance Disaster Management: What to Do with Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide

There are two ways to read Michelle Singletary’s personal finance book, and both are right: You can tackle it from start to finish or dive into the topics that are the most pressing first and then read the rest. In her Survival Guide —an outgrowth of her nationally syndicated personal finance column, “The Color of Money,” for The Washington Post —Singletary covers how to manage money and deal with crises, using a question-and-answer format, which delivers authoritative, straightforward, and actionable answers.

When money is tight, Singletary advises triaging: assessing what must be paid for, such as having food on the table, and dealing with remaining creditors directly by working out payment plans. What’s especially impressive about her book is that it serves a wide range of readers—those who enjoy hefty incomes and live beyond their means, rank newcomers to financial self-care, and everyone in between.

Its “Resources” chapter lists organizations, companies, and government agencies that offer information and, as needed, possible relief for the consumer. “Very timely, relevant, practical, and helpful” is how Marguerita M. Cheng, CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth and an Investopedia Financial Review Board member , describes the book.

Best Global Perspective: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

To the uninitiated, the words “silk roads” may conjure up the deep beauty of shimmering silk fabric in exotic locales. The reality is quite different. In his 2015 book, Oxford University global history professor Peter Frankopan weaves a complex tale across centuries about fearless merchants, middlemen, soldiers, and leaders—many of whom traveled on life-challenging passages across treacherous terrain throughout the Middle East, China, the Balkans, and South Asia with the added provocations of unpredictable weather and peoples, crime and life-threatening disease, and even the proselytizing by clergy of religions old and brand-new, which led to deadly power grabs and wars.

So valued was silk that it became an international currency when others, such as grain, failed. Through the centuries, new cities sprouted and others faltered. The simple purpose, of course, was commerce.

“ The Silk Roads refocuses our attention on a region that has always and will always play a critical (and defining) role in the global economy,” says David M. Roth, CEO of Wakaya Group, a former director of FIJI Water in Fiji, and an entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD. “Frankopan also helps us contextualize and make sense of current events within the long arc of human history. To paraphrase [Democratic political operative] James Carville, it is and always has been about the economy.”

A follow-up from Frankopan is The New Silk Roads: The New Asia and the Remaking of the World Order (Vintage, 2018).

Best on the Dangers of the Gender Data Gap: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

In this absorbing book—named 2019’s Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year and a London Times bestseller, British journalist and activist Caroline Criado Perez spells out how the data gender gap accounts for disadvantages for women worldwide, costing companies and governments plenty in missed opportunities and productivity. It shows how this bias can yield an unhappy workforce and populace and result in unnecessary illnesses—and even deaths—among women.

“The stories we tell ourselves about our past, present, and future. They are all marked—disfigured—by a female-shaped ‘absent presence,’” writes Criado Perez, who draws on numerous research studies. “This is the gender data gap.” Practically speaking, this means that medical studies—which often include miners and construction workers, mostly male, and leave out cleaning staff and nail-salon workers, mostly female—still largely focus on men as the default, leaving doctors to estimate drug dosages and treatments for women. In addition, car safety systems are designed for the larger male body, causing additional injuries for female drivers in the event of an accident. The same is true of personal protective equipment (PPE), which leaves female police officers, for example, unprotected on duty as bulletproof vests often don’t fit them.

Even transportation systems are geared toward the male breadwinner driving a car. Meanwhile, women, who are often responsible for primarily caring for children and aging adults and grocery shopping, are left to rely on usually time-consuming and inefficient public transportation and walking. One success story was a change in the order of snow-clearing practices in the Swedish town of Karlskoga. The governing body decided to clear snow from sidewalks before roadways. That’s because pedestrians, two-thirds of whom were women, sustained injuries, mostly through falls, three times more often in the winter. The estimated cost of all these falls in a single winter season was some $4 million.

Criado Perez maintains that using the male default isn’t intentional, but ingrained. However, the next time you see a female colleague wrapped in a blanket in the office, while male workers simply wear their regular clothes, know that the data gender gap is partly to blame.

Best Biography: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, the so-called “Oracle of Omaha,” has had volumes in many languages written about him. Yet his personal life from the earliest days and beyond remained a mystery until Alice Schroeder penned this eloquent biography at Buffett’s invitation. “Whenever my version is different from somebody else’s, Alice, use the less flattering version,” Buffett advised Schroeder.

This New York Times bestseller traces Buffett’s French Huguenot and German heritage, whose family motto was likely “spend less than you make,” with the addendum of “don’t go into debt.” She goes from his birth 10 months after the 1929 stock market crash to his unconventional marriage and fatherhood, to his many deals and the circus-like atmosphere surrounding Berkshire Hathaway’s popular shareholders meetings.

Buffett credits his success to “intelligent parents” and having “luck.” Yet the numbers-loving Buffett had, by age 10, figured out that having money meant coveted independence, the basics of buying and selling stocks, and how equity’s volatility can impact an investor. His metaphor for compounding is a snowball in wet snow that gathers strength and heft as it rolls down the hill. Still working 82 years later, Buffett is one of the world’s richest men, with an estimated net worth of $99.7 billion as of this writing.

Best Origin Story: Trillions

“Over the past decade, 80 cents of every dollar that has gone into the U.S. investment industry has ended up at Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock,” writes Robin Wigglesworth, editor of the Financial Times ’ Alphaville, a news and commentary service for financial professionals. Wigglesworth’s compelling book tracks the beginning of index funds to the current day and ponders what their dominance means.

Wigglesworth begins by introducing a cast of 32 characters—among them, only two women: Jeanne Sinquefield, who designed derivatives, and former Barclays Global Investors CEO Pattie Dunn. Other key players:

Best for Decision-Making Skills: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist by training. However, his work on prospect theory earned him a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, an award he acknowledges he would have shared with collaborator Amos Tversky, had Tversky lived, and with whom he also explored heuristics in judgment and decision making. Prospect theory means that investors value gains and losses differently, placing more weight on perceived gains than perceived losses.

His research also led him to conclude that women make better investors than men because they hold on to their investments, whereas men panic and sell when the market dips, thereby missing out on upswings. Kahneman estimates that the average person makes 35,000 decisions a day—the fast kind, such as when to get up, what to eat for breakfast, what to wear, and the slow kind that involve deliberative thinking, such as whether and whom to marry, which career to pursue, or where to live.

This data-heavy book, thoughtful and cerebral, is also full of anecdotes about Kahneman’s life of research and experiences. In 2016, Michael Lewis published The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds , on the close partnership of Kahneman and Tversky.

Best Read on Scoundrels and Saviors: The Predators’ Ball

Today’s younger readers may only know Michael Milken as an advocate for prostate cancer research and the founder of the Milken Institute, a think tank that promotes market-based principles and everything from financial innovations to social issues. When New Yorker writer Connie Bruck’s gripping book was published, life was very different for Milken. He was fighting off federal charges of securities and tax violations. He had been the junk bond king who underwrote some of the biggest corporate raiders, such as Ronald Perelman and Carl Icahn, during the height of junk bonds’ popularity and the leveraged buyout boom.

So concerned was Milken about Bruck’s reporting that he offered to pay her for all the book’s copies sold in exchange for not publishing it. He was right to be scared.

The book chronicles how Milken built the junk bond market and supported the corporate raider culture, while working 18-hour days from his Southern California office, as well as his precipitous fall leading to a plea deal in 1990. In addition to Milken, the characters include Apollo Management’s Leon Black, KKR & Co.’s Henry Kravis, Loews Corp.’s Laurence Tisch, stock trader Ivan Boesky, and Rudy Giuliani, then the crusading U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Then-President Donald Trump granted Milken a full pardon in 2020.

The Predators’ Ball is a meticulous retelling of the era that spawned the sentiment “greed is good.”

Best for Dealmakers: Getting to Yes

This classic book uses the words of poet Wallace Stevens to lay out its premise: “After the final no there comes a yes and on the yes the future of the world depends.” Getting to Yes , which debuted in 1981 and has been revised since, is the finest book on how to advocate for what you want with skill, integrity, and success.

It offers tips on developing a cordial relationship with the other side—that is, being a person, not the entity you represent—while avoiding the trap of being “nice” and getting walked all over, and deflecting and moving beyond the aggressive tactics of unscrupulous negotiators. Most helpful are examples of simple dealings in which the parameters of what’s at stake are expanded—the pie gets bigger, so to speak, so that both parties end up with more than they first asked for.

Underneath these outcomes are four steps: separating people from the problem; focusing on interests, not positions; inventing multiple options representing multiple gains for both sides; and insisting that the results be based on an objective standard.

Why Trust Investopedia?

Michelle Lodge is steeped in the book and book-reviewing world. She has been published in Publishers Weekly and was an editor and writer for Library Journal , both of which cover books and the industry. While a book review editor at LJ , which recommends books for public library collections, she selected a number of fine business books for review. She was also the editor of the On Wall Street Book Club, in which she reviewed books and interviewed authors on a podcast.

A burgeoning field of business and economics books needs many “heads” to cull out notable selections and pull it all together. Lodge marshaled the resources, in which she considered recommendations from Investopedia Financial Review Board members and Investopedia editors, business executives, bestseller lists from the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Times of London, and others, as well as her own experience as a book review editor. She also pulled three books from her own library: Getting to Yes , The Predators’ Ball , and Thinking, Fast and Slow . Her aim is to cover the bases in subject matter and expertise and tap into a diverse pool of writers, whose coverage reveals the impact on investing, while also ensuring that each selection is a good read.

NPD. " Business and Economic Book Sales in the US Reach 10-year High, NPD Says ."

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Top 10+ Personality Development Books [2023 Updated]

Md Azharuddin

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important traits of successful people is they are Good Readers and keep learning new things as they move forward in life. To achieve success in any undertaking you must gain specialized knowledge. Personality development is the most crucial aspect of our life. As per my experience, I have read the following personality development books which helped me shape my personality and people management skills.

When did you last time you read the book? Uhmm… bewildered.. might be in college, or on a café table, oh yes workshop … or you are the one who reads occasionally when you get time or you are the daily reader (great if you are, give a pat on your back).

So let’s start with the top 10 personality development books which are highly recommended by successful people

#1 As a Man Thinketh – James Allen

Part of the New Thought Movement, Allen reveals the secrets to having the most fulfilling existence possible, guided by a proper understanding and appreciation of how thought shapes our lives. Allen advises on how to better manage our thoughts and how to direct them into more constructive behavior.

#2 The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Peale

In this phenomenal bestseller, Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined in this book, one can energize one’s life — and give oneself the initiative needed to carry out one’s ambitions and hopes.

The core concepts of the book are: Expect the best and get it, Believe in yourself and in everything you do, Develop the power to reach your goals, Break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life, Improve your personal and professional relationships, Assume control over your circumstances and Be kind to yourself

#3 The Power of Subconscious Mind – Dr. Joseph Murphy

Years of research studying the world’s major religions convinced him that some Great Power lay behind all spiritual life and that this power is within each of us. The Power of Your Subconscious Mind’ will open a world of success, happiness, prosperity, and peace for you.

#4 How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

This book teaches you how to market yourself and generate more clients. This book has been acclaimed by many known figures around the world. This book tries to get you out of a mental hell and provides you with ambition and goals. This book helps you build a pleasing personality and attract other people towards you.

#5 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey

With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity–principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

#6 You can Win – Shiv Khera

This book will help you to: · Build confidence by mastering the seven steps to positive thinking · Be successful by turning weaknesses into strengths · Gain credibility by doing the right things for the right reasons · Take charge by controlling things instead of letting them control you · Build trust by developing mutual respect with people around you · Accomplish more by removing the barriers to effectiveness

#7 The Magic of Thinking Big – David Schwartz

#8 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success – Carol S. Dweck

People with a fixed mindset —those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset —those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

Reading books is a great hobby. It is recommended to apply what you learn from the books. Next Book recommendation blog will be Top 10 Books Every Entrepreneur must Read .

"Specialised Knowledge is Power" : In marketing world the most essential asset of any professional/company…

Top 10 Digital Marketing Books & Marketing Strategy Books [2023]

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Top 10+ Personality Development Books [2023 Updated]
An easy-to-read, practical, common-sense guide that will take you from ancient wisdom to modern-day thinking, You Can Win helps you establish