Oprah rules the bestseller lists
By Peter on Oct 31, 2007 in The World of Books
We all know that Oprah Winfrey is an excellent talk show host. But her influence clearly extends well beyond her shows. Lady Oprah now rules the American book market. Not as a writer, but as owner of one of America’s most popular book clubs. USA Today Online writes:
Oprah Winfrey’s continuing reign as patron saint of book sales is strongly evident on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list this week.
Six of the top 15 titles have been promoted by the talk-show queen. Eat, Pray, Love (No. 2), Deceptively Delicious (No. 4), Love in the Time of Cholera (No. 5), The Wisdom of Menopause (No. 7), Come on People (No. 14) and The Secret (No. 15) have all benefited from the Oprah bump.
While this clearly says something about the strength of the Oprah brand, it may also tell us something important about the book market: That book clubs influence the book market much more than we tend to think. While there clearly is a strong Oprah-effect (the O-effect) in the US, book clubs tend to be extremely influential elsewhere as well. This is the case in most of the European countries as well, and also for Norway.
Is that good or bad? It may not be great for authors that do not win the lottery that it is to be selected by a strong club, but I think it is great for the book market. I think many book clubs make their members buy books that they otherwise would not. And may even make many people who would otherwise not be readers of high quality books experience the joy of great literature. So I’m all for it – and I really dig the O-effect. However, I will not, I refuse, to comment on what the quote refers to as the Oprah bump, and that may even be bumps for all I know.
– Peter
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