Bowing to the Power of Oprah

As everyone knows by now, Oprah has decided to go back to contemporary authors for her book club, chosing James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces for her next Oprah Book Club. Just after the announcement, 85,000 copies of his book sold just like that. And now she's added her lustre to the Broadway production of The Color Purple, helping to sell millions of dollars worth of tickets.

Whatever you may think of Oprah, who would have thought 40 or 50 years ago, that millions of people would be listening to a black woman, and jumping at whatever she said? All Oprah has to do is say something is great in her magazine or on her show, and millions of people rush out and buy it.

When Oprah decided to do dead white writers a few years ago, millions of copies of Anna Karenina were sold when she decided to make it her summer book choice. I don't know how many people actually sat down and read the book, but they bought it, just because Oprah said so.

I know that people complain that Oprah picks books with depressing subjects, weighty literary tomes. There was a lot of hue and cry when Jonathan Frantzen decided not to do the Oprah show because he wasn't sure about the whole thing. Many people including myself thought he was an idiot. Although he still benefited from all the books that were sold with the Oprah sticker of approval.

I love Oprah. I'm fascinated by how she's changed her life and changed the lives of people who come on her show. She's not perfect. I don't think that she listens all that well. She has a habit of interrupting people when they're talking and not letting them finish their thought. Also, she helped make Bob Guiney the attention hound that he's become, and she supported Omarosa during the whole did Erika say the 'n' word on The Apprentice.

It was also pretty amusing at her Legends ball when she stated that the dress should be black and white and she showed up in red, but that's her perogative (to quote Bobby Brown).

The shows that she did during Hurricane Katrina did a great deal of good in spotlighting the region, without getting into the whole blame game of who is responsible for what.

Yes, I think that the whole Hermes situation was blown out of proportion. The French are notoriously snobby. That doesn't mean that they probably aren't racist but they're also anti-American among alot of other things. They probably would have treated any other celebrity just as crappy, but I bet they won't make that mistake again!

It would be lovely if she could support more women's fiction like romance, chick-lit etc. It would be great if she had Nora Roberts on or Susan Elizabeth Philips (heck she lives in Chicago). Even if she doesn't personally read romance or women's fiction, I think she's doing a disservice to her audience by ignoring the numbers.

But maybe that's the point. Romance and women's fiction really doesn't need Oprah. 49% of the marketplace is pretty darn good. Maybe the James Frey and the Billie Lett's of the world who would probably sell 10,000 copies of their book without her need her more.

So, I raise a glass to you Oprah, the only black female billionaire in the world.

You go girl, but do yourself a favor and read some Nora Roberts. She just might suprise you.