No 'Oprah Effect' for 'Columbine' After Cancellation

Oprah giveth; Oprah taketh away.

Hachette Book Group's Twelve imprint was expecting a nice boost to sales of the nonfiction book Columbineafter landing author Dave Cullen on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The episode featuring Cullen was scheduled to air today, the 10th anniversary of the high-school massacre in Littleton, Colo. But that was before Winfrey reviewed a final edit of the show and decided to spike it, deeming it too focused on the killers.

What does that mean for Twelve? One publishing-industry expert who didn't wish to be quoted estimated that the publisher would most likely have ordered another 50,000 or so copies in expectation of "The Oprah Effect." But another, Bookreporter.com president Carol Fitzgerald, questioned whether the order would have been increased that much. "I don't know if anybody prints extra for anything these days," she said. "The business is so fluky right now." Meanwhile, Sara Nelson, the former editor in chief of Publishers Weekly," said Winfrey's decision was "a significant loss" for Twelve, but speculated, "They may get some publicity around the fact that the show was canceled."

Twelve's publisher and editor in chief, Jonathan Karp, declined to comment on the financial fallout from Winfrey's change of heart. It should be noted that Columbine is already on The New York Times bestseller list. And, Oprah-blessed or no, it was No. 10 among all books on Amazon.com as of Monday evening.