Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening has had steady sales since it was published a decade ago by Conari Press, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser. A series of daily reflections, the book urges readers to stay vital and in love with life, and each entry is accompanied by an exercise. Now Nepo, a philosopher-poet and cancer survivor, can add one more life experience, the Oprah effect. Since The Book of Awakening was named one of her “Ultimate Favorite Things for 2010” on Monday’s television broadcast, Nepo’s book shot up to #4 on the Top 100 at Amazon, #3 on BarnesandNoble.com.
Since 2000, The Book of Awakening has gone into 15 printings for a total of 55,000 copies. But in anticipation of a pop in sales from the added attention—Oprah was given the book as a birthday present and said on air that she does one lesson from the book every morning—Red Wheel upped its 16th printing. It increased the in-print total by more than 50% with another 28,000 copies.
For Red Wheel/Weiser marketing director Bonni Hamilton, “It’s all pretty amazing. This is the first time a Red Wheel book has received this sort of recognition from Oprah.” In addition to being named a favorite, Nepo’s book was featured in an editorial in the November issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, and the author was interviewedon Oprah’s “Soul Series” radio show earlier in the year.
