A Year of Books and Mark Zuckerberg, Part 2

Yes, Mark Zuckerberg, famed founder of Facebook, has launched an online book club. Now, what does that mean for book sales? Take a guess. Go ahead.

Sales of the first Mark Zuckerberg selection, The End of Power, have soared. The Telegraph's Rhiannon Williams provides these details:

* Since Mark Zuckerberg chose The End of Power, its sales have increased 775 per cent.
* The paperback version of The End of Power was, as of the Telegraph's writing, the 8th bestselling book on Amazon (and it was a number one category bestseller in several categories). At the time of this writing, however, it's number 49 (it's ranking as a number one category bestseller, however, is undiminished).
* Again, as of the Telegraph's writing, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook book club had 189,000 members. That's up to 215,884 members as of now (and this book publicist is one of them).

So, if you guessed that Mark Zuckerberg's endorsement of a book would boost its visibility and increase its sales, then you're right on the money. Come to think of it, I always thought Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey had a lot in common. Both of them have global influence and the respect of millions of people...and both Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah Winfrey are incredible people to have behind your book promotion campaign!

A Year of Books, Says Mark Zuckerberg

Could Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, be the biggest thing to happen to book publicity since Oprah?

According to CNN.com, Mark Zuckerberg has committed to starting a book club in 2015. He will read a book every two weeks, and he has invited his Facebook followers (and, presumably, the media) to join him.

Which books will Mark Zuckerberg read? How will that affect the books' discovery potential? Could books ever receive a bigger book promotion boost than they'd get from Mark Zuckerberg's endorsement?

The lucky book that will launch Mark Zuckerberg's book club is The End of Power by Moisés Naím. As a book publicist, I expect to see Mark Zuckerberg's book choices carrying as much weight as any television show could, and certainly, Zuckerberg's support of a book will mean as much as any media personality's in the world. Personally, I have some interest in what books the U.S. president is reading. But I really want to know the books that Mark Zuckerberg (and his followers) are reading, and what they have to say about those books.

This book publicist will also be curious to see whether Mark's book club choices will include ebooks as well as traditional books, and self-published books (independent books, that is) as well as mainstream books.

However it plays out, I offer kudos to Mark Zuckerberg for using his influence as a thought leader for good...to get people reading books, and for giving the authors he chooses to support the best book publicity opportunity they could ever dream about. Go, Mark! And, of course, go readers! Log onto Facebook, and join Mark Zuckerberg's book club today! Happy new year, book lovers!