Week Seven Prompt

It’s no surprise that a woman with an average of 48 million viewers each week can increase the sale numbers for a book she recommends (Jacobson). Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club has had a measurable effect on the popularity of each work she has chosen to feature.  Only a few of the books ever cracked the USA Today bestsellers list before being chosen for the club, but “after being selected, each book joined the top 150 best-selling titles in American for at least a few months” (Butler, 23). If you are an author, hearing that you are being chosen by this media giant as part of her book club likely means great things for the future of your work. The book suddenly has instant clout with an entirely new group of people who may not have ever read another word you’ve written. This sounds like a dream come true, but the experience wasn’t universally loved by all the authors involved.  

Jonathan Franzen, author of the critically-acclaimed and Oprah endorsed book The Corrections, was not thrilled to be included in her club. “But after Mr. Franzen publicly disparaged Oprah Winfrey’s literary taste...he found that he may have inadvertently damaged his own reputation in the literary world. Ms. Winfrey did not revoke her selection but politely withdrew the invitation to appear on her show. And instead of rallying to Mr. Franzen, most of the literary world took her side, deriding him as arrogant and ungrateful” (Kirkpatrick). Mr. Franzen did not agree with Oprah’s book choices, but despite his annoyance at the situation, his sales increased on the already popular work. “...Ms. Winfrey’s selection may have been worth more than $1.5 million to Mr. Franzen” (Kirkpatrick).

As an author it seems like the end goal is getting your work into the hands of potential readers. Celebrity book clubs like this one are a great way for new audiences to hear about books by authors they may not have discovered on their own. There are people who don’t consult their libraries for readers’ advisory and don’t look at reviews to get recommendations, so this is just another way for them to gain information about new written works and for the author to try and appeal to a new, larger audience. It seems to be a win, win situation for the readers and the writers, regardless of your personal opinions about Oprah herself.

Resources

Butler, Richard J., Benjamin W. Cowan, and Sebastian Nilsson. "From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah’s Book Club Selections." Publishing Research Quarterly 20.4 (2005): 23-34.Academic Search Premier. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.ulib.uits.iu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=fe841cb4-1096-4826-bf91-ed951bf7dd82%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4206>.

Jacobson, Murrey. "The Oprah Effect, by the Numbers." The Rundown. PBS, 25 May 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/the-oprah-phenomenon-by-the-numbers/>.

Kirkpatricks, David D. "'Oprah' Gaffe By Franzen Draws Ire And Sales." The New York Times [New York] 29 Oct. 2001, Books sec.: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 01 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/29/books/oprah-gaffe-by-franzen-draws-ire-and-sales.html>.