Oprah Winfrey: As she encourages fans to buy used books, is she hurting the business she formerly championed -- new books?

Subscribers to Oprah’s Book Club newsletter were greeted last Friday morning with the promise that “Your passion for reading doesn’t have to be quenched because of the economy. Fight back and find ways to trade, borrow or buy on the Internet.” The link takes you to a page titled “How to Find Cheap Books Online” where author Katie Arnold-Ratliff gives capsule introductions to book sites “for cost-conscious readers who want to trade, borrow, or buy…”

Exact data on how the used book market is eroding the market for new books is hard to come by but the consensus is — it ain’t helping.

The Wall Street Journal predicted in 2005: “While the market’s size is still modest — about $600 million, or 2.8% of the $21 billion that readers spent on consumer books in 2004 — it is growing at 25% annually. Jeff Hayes, group director for InfoTrends Research Group, suggests that it could reach $2.25 billion in U.S. sales by 2010, or 9.4% of a projected $23.9 billion in consumer book sales.”

And the Book Industry Study Group reported in 2006, “Overall used book sales are up 11%; new book sales are down 1.9%. Used book sales are up 33% online, but only 1% in brick-and-mortar.”

Oprah, who has been called the “savior of publishing” for her ability to shift units, may not have had publishers best interests in mind — according to at least one commentator — when she made all those bestsellers.