What Are You Reading?

A week late here, but was I the only one left dumbfounded by some of the women I most admire? The women of WordofMouthWriters.org? The desperate tone of their letter to Oprah Winfrey has been haunting me for days. The158 women authors made a dramatic plea for Oprah to reinstate her Book Club and save the "landscape of contemporary fiction in the U.S.".

First of all, can it be true that one celebrity's book recommendation can have that much impetus on the sale of books? And not just books in general....a book. Each title selected by the reknowned talk show host sold 650,000 to 1,200,000 copies? Those are huge numbers considering publishers may only do a first run of 2,000 copies of a new title, but overall Oprah's Book Club only featured 25 to 30 titles total. So volume sales of those 30 books upheld the contemporary fiction industry?

While any sales are good--can it be good that those sales are based on one person's opinion and a very narrow selection of literature? I recall when I was an independent bookseller and the large retailers were taking over the industry. I read an article that the big chains each had one buyer per genre who selected inventory for stores nationwide. The concern was that a handful of people were determining what titles and authors would be available to the entire general population. What power! Doesn't Oprah's influence muster up the same concern? I have to agree with Alex Good, Goodreports.net.

The only thing that can save the gloomy place the landscape of literary fiction has become is to encourage individual "literacy, thought and intellectual curiosity". Rather than blame the decline of sales on a celebrity's change of heart, perhaps we should all take it upon ourselves to crusade for our favorite authors or titles. The name WordofMouthwriters.org implies the power we have when we communicate openly among ourselves. Let's see....one media celebrity versus 158 women writers and all the rest of us who are passionate about reading. Perhaps the thing to do is ask everyone (celebrity or not) to discuss outloud what they're reading...at least sales might be more diverse.