Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryk_1939
So my new friends I ask again Why do we read what we read and who is OW to become the new make or break of a young up and coming author?
Excuse my rant, but the topic is fun to discuss.
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I wouldn't say that Oprah is the make or break of an author. She can most definitely make someone's fortune, but she's not a book critic. She doesn't review books in general and therefore isn't going to break someone's career by panning their work. I suppose that fellow who wrote the fake autobiography may not have attracted so much negative attention if he hadn't been chosen for her book club but I think he broke things for himself when he made the choice to pass off fiction as fact. Maybe he would've gotten away with it had his book not been a best seller, but I think his case is more the exception than the rule as far as her book club is concerned. Typically she is just promoting books she likes and ignoring books she doesn't. The lack of attention from her isn't going to break someone. There are plenty of authors that rise to fame without her help. She only recommends 1/2 a dozen or so books a year, often fewer.
As for how I pick books, recommendations from friends and family are pretty powerful. As far as an Oprah analogue, a public source of book recommendations, my favorite is public radio. I hear authors on Fresh Air, Forum, City Arts and Lectures, etc. I'm curious what effect these shows have on sales but it would be hard to track the impact. The authors are usually in the midst of publicity tours when they're doing these interviews so you couldn't narrow a jump in sales down to just an interview with Terry Gross with numbers alone, but in my world she sells more books than Oprah. When Oprah picks something, it's often been out for awhile, even years, so when you see that spike in sales it's very obvious. Of course, I think TV also just has a broader audience and can generate more buzz. I was listening to an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson awhile back and he said that the day after an appearance on The Daily Show he was on the NYT best sellers list which is not a place he ever thought he'd be.