The publishing world murmers in anticipation:
- Talk show maven Oprah Winfrey announced last night that she was reviving her hugely successful book club. But rather than feature contemporary, generally unknown authors as she did for six years, Winfrey will choose three to five classics per year.
Winfrey’s decision to focus on classics will no doubt spark sales of noteworthy books whose primary audience is high school and college students, for whom the stuff is required reading. That’s because no one should underestimate the connection that Winfrey has with her audience. She is a bona fide celebrity but is viewed as an “Everywoman.” She’s overweight, like us.
Her fans–viewers of her television show, readers of her magazine–are not sheep, but they tend to respect her opinions and believe that what she says speaks directly to them. People will buy the classics based on her recommendation but sales won’t reach the kind of numbers achieved in the first book club. [Forbes]