Say what you will about Jeff Bezos, president of Amazon.com, but he is a savvy guy. He and his company may not be worth the gazillions of dollars that the market is throwing at them, but he deserves credit for making the market believe in him.

He has done that by making millions of people around the world believe in him and his company. And that, my friends, is a -- if not the -- secret of success in the network economy.

Last week, it was reported that Amazon had taken money from book publishers for endorsements on its Web pages. For a healthy $10,000, a book received prominent display on Amazon pages, an author profile or interview and an editorial review.