In a move unlikely to pose a threat to Oprah but significant to publicists nonetheless, a book mentioned on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire took off in the hours following its airing last Tuesday.
Brad Herzog, a contestant who also happens to be an author, watched his title shoot up to #7 on Amazon after he appeared on the program. By Thursday afternoon, the title still lingered in the top 25, at #15.
Herzog is the author of States of Mind, a travelogue that visits far-flung towns uncovering tales of redemption.
Herzog won only $64,000 on the program, but his bookselling profits could prove much greater. The show's host, Regis Philbin, recommended Herzog's title, catapulting the book from the low 120,000s to the top 10. "We knew he was going to be on the show last week, but we couldn't send out a press release. And even if we could, what would we say?" said Anne Waters, v-p of marketing, at publisher John F. Blair. The Winston-Salem, N.C., house, printed 5,000 copies of the book when it came out last year, but now is likely to go back for more.
On the show, the sometimes awkward rapport between Regis and nervous players was not evident. Instead, the two chatted about Herzog's writing career. Not all online booksellers registered interest. At B&N.com, the book held at 159,107. The difference between B&N and Amazon's rankings can be attributed to the fact that B&N tracks sales over the previous six months while Amazon's algorithm is believed to weight the previous few days more heavily.
