Commentary: Why Oprah Opens Readers' Wallets

How does Oprah Winfrey do it? And why does no one else -- TV pundit, critic, or retailer -- have anything like her influence among book readers? On Sept. 22, Winfrey announced that the next pick for her television book club would be James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, a memoir of alcohol, drug addiction, and detoxification. Within four days, club aficionados bought 85,000 copies, reckons publisher Anchor Books. An additional 615,000 books bearing the Oprah's Book Club seal await purchasers at stores.

Winfrey's actions have inspired so many book-buying frenzies that we are no longer fazed. She has repeatedly proved herself to be the arbiter of literary taste for millions of Americans, turning classics such as John Steinbeck's East of Eden into overnight million-sellers and making sensations out of lesser-known works such as Mary McGarry Morris' Songs in Ordinary Time.