By Stacey J. Miller, Book Publicist
S. J. Miller Communications
[email protected]

Could Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, be the biggest thing to happen to book publicity since Oprah? If he has his way, he will.

According to CNN.com, Mark Zuckerberg has committed to starting a book club in 2015. He will read a book every two weeks, and he has invited his Facebook followers (and, presumably, the media) to join him. Mark Zuckerberg is calling 2015 “a year of books.” Amen to that!

So here are the big questions. Which books will Mark Zuckerberg read? How will that affect the books’ discovery potential? Could books ever receive a bigger book promotion boost than they’d get from Mark Zuckerberg’s endorsement?

The lucky book that will launch Mark Zuckerberg’s book club is The End of Power by Moisés Naím. As a book publicist, I expect to see Mark Zuckerberg’s book choices carrying as much weight as any television show could, and certainly, Zuckerberg’s support of a book will mean as much as any media personality’s in the world. Personally, I have some interest in what books the U.S. president is reading. But I really want to know the books that Mark Zuckerberg (and his followers) are reading, and what they have to say about those books.

This book publicist will also be curious to see whether Mark’s book club choices will include ebooks as well as traditional books, and self-published books (independent books, that is) as well as mainstream books.

However it plays out, I offer kudos to Mark Zuckerberg for using his influence as a thought leader for good…to get people reading books, and for giving the authors he chooses to support the best book publicity opportunity they could ever dream about. Go, Mark! And, of course, go readers! Log onto Facebook, and join Mark Zuckerberg’s book club today! Happy new year, book lovers!

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