The Today show announced its plans to launch a monthly book club for adults. The first selection is The Bone Season by debut novelist Samantha Shannon. Natalie Morales will host a Google Hangout on September 16 during which readers will have a chance to chat with the author. A new choice will be revealed every four to five weeks. Book stores plan to sell each selection, to be chosen from both fiction and nonfiction, new releases and classics, with stickers on the cover indicating the book is a Today Book Club pick.

The publishing world welcomes another nationally televised book club, given the past success of other such ventures, namely Oprah’s book club. According to the Times “publishers who had been briefed on the show’s plans said they were giddy at the prospect of a potential successor to Oprah’s book club,” mostly due to the fact that titles chosen by Oprah were instantly made best sellers. While some remain skeptical that the same results will be had for Today’s book club, citing Oprah’s popularity as a main reason for the books successes, it seems there is already a spike in demand for Today’s first selection, reports showing the retail orders doubling since the announcement.

“One can’t overstate the importance of a nationally televised book club,” said Sara Mercurio, a spokeswoman for Bloomsbury, the publisher of The Bone Season. “I think it will have a huge impact on this book and on the publishing industry.” Orders for The Bone Season had doubled when the book club announcement was made.

Sources: The New York Times and Publishing Perspectives
Links: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/business/media/today-is-starting-oprah-like-book-club.html
http://publishingperspectives.com/2013/08/morning-tv-show-today-launches-a-new-book-club/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PublishingPerspectives+%28Publishing+Perspectives%29