How Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club Selection Changed My Life
In January of 2008 Oprah Winfrey selected my book, The New Earth, for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club Selection. This, along with her mentioning of my previous book, The Power of Now, completely changed the destinies of these two works. Not only did I reach a much larger audience, but Oprah’s enthusiasm for The New Earth led to a ten part webinar that allowed us to explain in depth the ideas and techniques of the book.
Before Oprah Winfrey discovered me and chose my book for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club Selection, I led a very solitary, quite life. I enjoyed that life, and I really never imagined I would have any other type of existence. The Power of Now had moderate success, giving me a little more security after living many years as a wandering recluse.
Once she selected The New Earth as a Book Club Selection, the amount of attention it created was beyond anything I could ever imagine. What I loved about working with Oprah Winfrey on the webinars was her enthusiasm. She is obviously very well read and very sophisticated, but that does not tarnish her innocent love of new ideas and concepts. Much of what I said in The New Earth is very basic and simple, and can only really be grasped with a simple heart and spirit. We are very fortunate to have a person with such influence who is truly enlightened and desires only the best for all of us.
I can only wish good luck to all the writers in the running this year. I would like to make special mention of a novel I read recently, Cactus Land, from author Robert Bonomo. I believe this novel has a special meaning for our time, I hope many people read it, whether it selected for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection or not.
