Thursday, January 29, 2015

As Seen on Dr. Oz: The Doctor Oz Effect on Book Sales

Yesterday, the book Chicken Soup for the Soul: Touched by an Angel, was featured on the Dr. Oz show. The title of the segment was "Proof of Angels: Can They Heal Us?"

Dr. Oz interviewed Gabrielle Bernstein, who wrote the foreword to the Touched by an Angel anthology, and he posed the question: How do angels help us heal? 

As a believer in angels and a contributor to the anthology, I was curious to hear both Gabrielle's explanation and Dr. Oz's thoughts on the matter. 

Dr. Oz spoke about neurotheology, which was a new term to me, so I looked it up in the dictionary. 

Neurotheology (also called neuroscience) is defined as "the scientific study of the neural correlates of religious or spiritual beliefs and practices." 

To demonstrate, Dr. Oz showed side-by-side graphics of a brain, which showed how much more active the frontal lobe is during prayer or meditation. Fascinating!

The segment also included interviews with three women who were contributors to the anthology. They shared their personal stories of their encounters with angels. Inspiring!

From my point of view, the feature combined the best of both worlds --  scientific method and anecdotal evidence as proof of beliefs.

Before watching the program, I was curious to learn about how being mentioned on the Dr. Oz show would affect book sales. I had a gut feeling that having a book on his show would increase sales, but I wanted proof. So, I did a mini-analysis of my own. 

Hours before the show aired, I collected data from two major book sites then compared it to data collected within 24 hours after the show aired.

Here’s what I found.

Hours before the show was aired on Wed, Jan 28, here are the book's rankings:

On Amazon
Kindle: # 102,888 in the paid Kindle store
#55 in Angels
#63 in Spiritualism
#74 in Faith

Paperbacks: #81,392 in sales
#66 on Angels
#13 on Faith

On Barnes & Nobel the book ranked #94,235 in books. I didn’t check Nook.

Within 24-hours -- the day after the show aired, Thurs, Jan 29:

On Amazon
Kindle: #2,683 in the paid Kindle store
#1 in Angels
#1 in Spiritualism
#1 in Faith

Paperbacks: #736 in sales
#1 in Faith
#1 in Angels
#1 in Self-help

For Barnes & Noble it ranked #323 in books. Again, I didn’t check Nook.


So, just as Dr. Oz pointed out how the frontal lobe of the brain experiences a chemical effect during prayer and meditation, I discovered that a book experiences a positive “retail effect” after being featured on the Dr. Oz show.

My brain has been overworked from all this data collection, so I'm going to take a break--just in time to watch today's Dr. Oz show.

13 comments:

  1. Donna--That sounds fascinating--that a part of our brain is more active during prayer or meditation. And good for Chicken Soup! It's amazing how a couple of segments on one show makes sales spike like that.

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  2. Hi Sioux,
    It is fascinating and amazing how the mention on Dr. Oz pushed sales.

    And, I'm so happy to be in the same anthology with you! Love your story!

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    Replies
    1. Your story was quite moving, Donna. Thanks for the kind words.

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  3. Wow! Now, I just need to write a book and have Dr. Oz mention it on his show :o) Congratulations on being included in the book.

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  4. Congratulations on having a story in the book! This is interesting, not just about how our brains respond but with the sales as well. I would have thought that might happen, but to see the numbers - wow. So from now on that will be our collective goal, to be on the Dr. Oz show with our books. :) I'm in.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Karen,
      Thanks for your kind words. It is a worthwhile goal!

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  5. I'm not surprised, Donna. Book exposure doesn't get much better than that. That's the kind of thing Oprah did for so many books....and the reason authors of political thrillers like to be on the cable new shows.

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    1. Hi Patricia,
      How true! I thought there would be a bump in sales after the book was featured on his show, but I was surprised at how dramatically the sales increased.

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  6. Similar to the Oprah effect, I suppose. It definitely pays for an author to get that sort of exposure. Fascinating stuff, Donna

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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  7. Congratulations! Can't wait to get a hold of a copy and read your story. I am always thrilled to hear of science and spirituality coming together, because I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. And I was impressed by your research - both the work you had the forethought to put in AND the results!

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  8. First, congratulations on your inclusion in the book! Second, thanks for the interesting info. :)

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  9. Hi Pat,
    You are so right!

    Hi Tammy,
    Thanks. I too enjoy when science and spirituality come together.

    Hi Lisa,
    Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the information.

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