So it turns out that Oprah's Book Club apparently wasn't much more for the book business than a fancy bait-'n'-switch scheme: as Brad Plumer sums up at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, Oprah: Good for reading, terrible for book sales.
He's summing up Craig Garthwaite's findings in his recent paper, You Get a Book ! Demand Spillovers, Combative Advertising, and Celebrity Endorsements (warning ! dreaded pdf format !), in which Garthwaite comes to the conclusion that:
He's summing up Craig Garthwaite's findings in his recent paper, You Get a Book ! Demand Spillovers, Combative Advertising, and Celebrity Endorsements (warning ! dreaded pdf format !), in which Garthwaite comes to the conclusion that:
Oprah Winfrey's Book Club increased sales for endorsed titles and other books by endorsed authors. Despite the popular belief that the Club expanded the population of Americans who read regularly, I find no evidence that these endorsements attracted individuals into the book market. Following an endorsement, there is a reduction in the aggregate sales of adult fiction -- the category containing the majority of Club endorsements.To sum up:
The estimated sales effect provides evidence that the benefits of celebrity endorsements primarily come from business stealingAnyone surprised ?