Does Oprah still have her book mojo?
Publishers, book publicists, authors: rejoice. The Queen of book promotion is back.
That鈥檚 right, Oprah Winfrey, the publishing world鈥檚 unrivaled trendsetter, is reviving her bestseller-inducing book club after a two-year hiatus, leaving publishers and publicists salivating at the prospect of reaping the rewards of the 鈥淥prah Touch鈥� should their author鈥檚 book be chosen next.
Her first pick? 鈥淲ild,鈥� by Cheryl Strayed, a memoir recounting the author鈥檚 epic hike up the Pacific Crest Trail as she struggles with her mother鈥檚 death and a failed marriage.
鈥淚 love this book,鈥� Winfrey writes in the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, which highlights the new book club on its cover and features an interview with Strayed. 鈥淚 want to shout it from the mountaintop. I want to shout it from the Web. In fact, I love this book so much and want to talk about it so much, I knew I had to reinvent my book club.鈥�
Oprah鈥檚 Book Club 2.0 launches Monday with digital elements like e-books, social media outreach on Facebook and Twitter, and cross-media promotion. Winfrey taped an of the re-launch, calling the book 鈥渟timulating, thought-provoking, soul-enhancing.鈥�
鈥淭his is way different from the old book club,鈥� she said in the video announcement, posted Friday on her website. "This time it's an interactive, online club for our digital world."
And this time Winfrey won鈥檛 have the clout of her 12-million strong network television audience, a popular syndicated talk show, or the momentum of a beloved book club with devoted fans.
Which makes this new enterprise an attempt to answer the 鈥� literally 鈥� million-dollar question: Does Oprah still have her book mojo?
Previously, while she still had her syndicated network TV show, Winfrey had an almost magical ability to sell books. Between 1996 and 2011, she had chosen 70 books for her wildly popular book club. The selections, kept secret until a 鈥渂ig reveal,鈥� were trumpeted with fanfare on a show that averaged 5 million to 6 million viewers when it ended last year and up to 12 million at its peak. The impact? According to Fordham University marketing professor Al Greco, sales of 鈥淥prah editions鈥� of the 70 titles in her first book club totaled some 55 million copies, reports .
鈥�Toni Morrison, who had four novels chosen, says she got a bigger sales boost from Winfrey than from winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993,鈥� USA Today adds.
It was so spectacular a phenomenon it was dubbed 鈥渢he Oprah Effect,鈥� or 鈥渢he Oprah Touch,鈥� the book Queen鈥檚 singular ability to pluck little-known authors like Anita Shreve or Jacquelyn Mitchard from a pile, make them into household names in a few short weeks with her priceless Oprah seal of sanction, along the way instantly skyrocketing sales to more than one million copies, rarefied territory for any title.
鈥淲hen Ms. Winfrey halted her daytime talk show last year, book publicists mourned the loss of what was easily the most desirable platform to promote an author,鈥� the wrote in its Media Decoder blog.
Can she do it again?
Sure, she鈥檚 got a 24-hour cable network with her name on it, a weekly show, and a still-popular magazine and website. But the show, 鈥淥prah鈥檚 Next Chapter,鈥� draws an audience that ranges between a few hundred thousand to about 1 million, depending on the guest, paltry compared to her 12-million-strong audience at the peak of her network television career. And after two years away from Winfrey鈥檚 popular book club, will readers be ready to bounce back on demand?
If they鈥檙e anything like Winfrey, they just might.
"My first thought watching the video is that this is a woman who really misses talking about books with an audience of readers," Carol Fitzgerald, founder of BookReporter.com, told . "As for impact 鈥� it will be interesting to see. The syndicated show had a pre-engaged group of readers who were tuned in for a specific experience with Oprah each day. While the interaction proposed here is multidimensional, it's also a lot more fragmented."
And with 鈥淲ild,鈥� Winfrey may have chosen a book that resonates with many viewers. In it, Strayed sets off for a treacherous, months-long solo 1,100-mile hike from the Mojave Desert up to Oregon to confront a life that appears to be falling apart 鈥� her mother had died of cancer and her marriage to a good man had dissolved. It is, writes the Times, 鈥渢he kind of story of resilience and self-invention that Ms. Winfrey has championed,鈥� and we might add, that her fans adore.
As for the re-invention of her book club, signs suggest Winfrey may yet be successful: 鈥淲ild鈥� went from No. 173 on Amazon.com鈥檚 bestseller Friday evening to No. 12 Monday morning.
As Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf, the publisher of 鈥淲ild,鈥� told the New York Times, 鈥淲hen it comes to a book, there is no better recommendation engine than a nod from Oprah.鈥�
Some things, it seems, never change.
Watch Oprah鈥檚 video announcement .
Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.
