Mark Zuckerberg’s “challenge for 2015” could prove to be a boon for authors.
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Thanks to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Moisés Naím's The End of Power has shot up over 44,000 places on Amazon's ranking of book sales, from 44,369th before January to 10th on Monday night. For its e-book edition in Amazon's Kindle Store, the book has gone from 191,086th to 34th, according to data provided by Amazon.
Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on January 2 that his "challenge for 2015" was to read a new book every other week. He said The End of Power, the first book he'll read as part of the challenge, "explores how the world is shifting to give individual people more power that was traditionally only held by large governments, militaries and other organizations."
Naím, the former editor of Foreign Policy, told the Washington Post "I am as surprised as I am thrilled that Zuckerberg has created an opportunity to have my ideas aired on a global scale." The book was published in 2013 and garnered positive reviews and blurbs and was featured in Post's notable books list for that year.
Zuckerberg could join the ranks of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Oprah in generating massive sales through book endorsements. Last year, Jon Stewart praised The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism on his show, leading it to jump from 556 to 2 on Amazon.
Zuckerberg also also started a Facebook group for discussions of his book picks. It already has more than 167,000 likes.
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The Zuckerberg Effect: Facebook CEO Book Pick Goes From 44,369 To 10 On Amazon