Oprah May Go, But Publishing Will Carry On

Yesterday’s post suggesting publishers need to get over Oprah Winfrey‘s imminent departure from daytime TV resonated with at least one senior editor from the major houses, who emailed us to say:

“Oprah picks were always supposed to be gravy for a publisher’s bottom line. We don’t publish books to cater to her tastes so that she can make our year for us. To suggest that is just the tail wagging the dog. Anyway, plenty of huge word-of-mouth successes—The Help, Twilight, Friday Night Knitting Club, Charlaine Harris, Freakonomics, Stieg Larsson—had absolutely nothing to do with Oprah. Publishing existed before her, and it’ll continue without her—so long as we’re all doing our jobs right.”

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