Posted on: Thursday, April 11, 2002

Final chapter for Oprah's book club

By Bob Minzesheimer
USA Today

The publishing world is weeping over the demise of Oprah's monthly book club.

"She is irreplaceable," says publisher David Rosenthal of Simon & Schuster.

Nancy Pearl, who began the One Book, One City reading program, agrees: "Who else has that broad an audience and talks about books?"

Winfrey's "club" turned books by little-known novelists into best sellers by inviting the writers to appear on her talk show, which reaches 22 million.

She put a stop to the installments on Friday, saying, "It has become harder and harder to find books on a monthly basis that I feel absolutely compelled to share." She might feature books from time to time, but only if they merit her "heartfelt recommendation."

Winfrey wasn't available to elaborate, but few in the industry think she meant there are no good books out there.

That Winfrey had cut back lately — choosing six books last year, down from 11 in 1997 — could mean she had tired of the work involved in running the club.

The club is going out with No. 48, Toni Morrison's 1974 novel, "Sula," the fourth Morrison pick.

All 47 selections have been best sellers. As soon as Winfrey chose a book, publishers printed up to 600,000 more copies, and booksellers ordered copies without knowing the title.

It was "mind-boggling," says Robert Morgan, who never had a best seller until Winfrey embraced his novel "Gap Creek" in 2000. He says it was a wonderful paradox: using TV, "which has done so much damage to reading, to increase reading."

Oprah revealed that Americans love books, says Carol Fitzgerald, president of Bookreporter.com. "What is interesting," she says, "is how many people have never watched an Oprah Book Club show but still knew the titles and bought them."

She says publishers need to find another way to tap that interest. "The bottom line is, someone outside the book business should not have to bear the responsibility of marketing books. This is a call to publishers to be more creative."