The Glenn Beck Effect

Regardless of your personal opinion of Glenn Beck, we can probably agree on at least one thing; if Beck promotes a book, it’ll be sure to skyrocket to the top of the charts. We’ve seen this happen again and again in recent years, as Beck promoted both his own books and the works of other authors that he just happened to like (or so he says).

The only other media personality who has a similar ability to influence book sales is Oprah Winfrey, and with her retirement from television on the horizon, many folks are wondering if Beck is poised to take her spot as the champion of book promotions. Certainly Beck and Oprah share a few similarities (other than their political opinions) and their abilities to dramatically influence book sales during a tough time for publishers is amazing.

For instance, a few weeks ago Beck devoted an hour on Fox News to promote just one book that many people haven’t even heard of, called The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek. Almost immediately the orders began pouring in and the book quickly rose to the #1 spots on both the Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble bestseller lists where it remained for some time.

Here’s some footage from the program mentioned above:

Oh, and in case you were wondering, prior to Beck’s personal endorsement to “Please, pick it up. The Road to Serfdom. Make it part of your essential library,” the book was reportedly at #295 on the Amazon charts and #3,254 on the Barnes and Nobel charts. Now that’s what I call good marketing.

You see, all Beck has to do is mention a book once through any of his media outlets (television, radio, magazine, print, online, etc.) and the orders will start flooding in. To have this ability and influence over an audience is rare indeed and one must always wonder what his true motives are. Beck claims that reading is his favorite hobby and this self-described “fiscal conservative and common-sense libertarian” sees it as his duty to share his favorites with his audience.

Whatever the case may be, Beck is certainly making a killing through the various channels of his media empire. As Forbes magazine reported, Beck earned about $32 million last year and he’s just warming up. With a new novel of his own available now, as well as the ability to catapult virtually any book to the top of the charts, there’s no telling what Beck will do next.