The Oprah Show sprints to its conclusion on Wednesday. In 1996, the show introduced Oprah’s Book Club. Although those segments didn’t bring the highest ratings, Oprah tells USA Today that she is “going to try to develop a show for books and authors” on her network, OWN.

What are low ratings for television are huge for publishing. The “Oprah Effect” has been unsurpassed in its influence on book sales; Oprah editions of the 70 titles in the club sold an estimated 55 million copies, according to USA Today’s source.

In a separate article, the AP analyzes the sales of specific titles, saying they present a “surprisingly erratic pattern” from title to title. The top Oprah author? Eckhart Tolle.

But the other living authors in the club have also found their lives transformed. In USA Today, Wally Lamb, author of two Oprah picks (She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True) describes what it was like to get the news, twice.

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