Week 7 Prompt: Oprah's Book Club

I have a love/hate relationship with Oprah.  I loved watching her show, but at the same time I felt that she could be too preachy and judgmental (in that she always wanted everyone to believe the way that she did).  I feel the same way about her Book Club.  I recently took a “quiz” to see how many of her pick I had actually read, and it was a surprisingly low number of five.  I know that it is because the types of books and genres that she chose, I do not enjoy reading.  Several of the ones that I did read, I really didn’t like.  Perhaps it was because I was in my early 20s, and many of the books dealt with more adult issues I had yet to experience.  Yet, I am older and I still have no desire to read her selections.

As a librarian, I mourn the loss of her Book Club.  While I did not read her selections, I am well aware of the impact on the reading/publishing world.  She brought awareness that reading is a worthwhile activity and gave a voice to many authors that would otherwise fade into obscurity.  Butler, Cowan, and Nilsson state, “Of the 45 adult books, only five were on the top 150 list the week before being featured by Oprah—even thought the vast majority of the books were published at least one year prior to their selection into the club” (2005, p. 24).  Reading became a conversation among women throughout the country on a consistent basis.  Additionally, “Butler (2004) uses statistical techniques to quantify the “Oprah effect” on the sales of retail books and estimates that teach Oprah pick generated about $80 million in new sales for retail bookstores, a large part of which, we can safely assume, went towards the purchase of the very books she recommended” (as cited by Butler, Cowan, Nilsson, 2005, p. 32).  Those statistics prove that Oprah had a defining impact on readership. 

In my lifetime, I have seen several phenomenon that I don’t imagine will be repeated: Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Gray, and Oprah’s Book Club.  Since its demise, there hasn’t been a similar catalyst to consistently inspire a large number of readers to purchase the same book.   An interesting note, she still recommends books through her website and magazine which then experience a surge in readership and popularity.  Even though the platform of her television show is no longer available, she is still able to influence readers.  I appreciate all that she has done for readers, bookstores, and libraries.  I am a big supporter of anything that brings attention to reading regardless of how I personally feel about it. 

Butler, R. J., Cowan, B. W., & Nilsson, S. (2005). From Obscurity to Bestseller: Examining the Impact of Oprah's Book Club Selections. Publishing Research Quarterly, 20(4), 23-34.