April 21, 2005

You thought Tina Brown invented synergy? Oprah to publish books based on stuff in the magazine based on her TV show . . .

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Famous for her book club, Oprah Winfrey is set to try her hand at publishing books with her own imprint. As Matthew Flamm reports in a story for Crain’s, the books will be developed from material that appears in O, the Oprah Magazine. Says Flamm, “The books will be published by Birmingham, Ala.-based Oxmoor Books, a division of Time Inc.’s Southern Progress Corp., under an agreement with Manhattan-based Hearst Magazines, publisher of O magazine. Oxmoor specializes in lifestyle titles, including cooking and gardening books.” The series will be sold “in both traditional bookstores and by direct mail,” and will feature contributions from Oprah regulars Dr. Phil and Suze Orman. The first book, Live Your Best Life, will be released in September and will “feature 100 articles from the magazine’s past two years.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.

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