Cheryl Strayeds Memoir So Good Oprah Winfrey Reboots Book Club

(Image via WritersWrite.com)

Book publishers got a pleasant surprise this weekend when Oprah Winfrey announced she has relaunched her influential book clubthe imprimatur of debatable literary value (Jonathan Franzen famously sniffed at it) that can drive enough sales to put an obscure author on the map or keep an imprint in the black. (Mr. Franzen came crawling back for his next novel.)

As Ms. Winfrey tells it, shehadto bring back the club because she loved Cheryl Strayeds hiking memoirWildso much.

I was on the edge of my seat reading the book, Ms. Winfrey said in the announcement video below, posted on Friday. I was like, Where is the Oprah Winfrey Show when you need to announce and tell everybody about this book? [You canceled it in order to start your own cable channel, Ms. Winfrey!] I need Book Club. So I created Book Club 2.0 for this book.

Ms. Strayeds story of loss and survival does seem tailor-made for Oprahs Book Club and, as our own Drew Grant pointed out, Ms. Strayeds popular advice column atThe Rumpus, Dear Sugar,has already made her the Oprah of the Internet.

The 2.0 means that Ms. Strayed will be interacting with Oprah Book Club members on Twitter and Facebook and that a special Oprahs Book Club ebook version will include Ms. Winfreys marginalia.

The Book Club 2.0 will be promoted on the poorly rated Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and in O: The Oprah Magazine, mak! ing it a n interesting measure of Ms. Winfreys post-network television influence.

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