So, Oprah isn't the only natural force that can move book sales? Amazon.com, which commands 15 percent of the book sales market and has been marketing books for years through carefully selected homepage placements, gets credit today in the Journal for propping up books like David Wroblewski's 566-page coming-of-age The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which is now in its seventh printing. Other booksellers like CostCo and Barnes & Noble are moving more copies too.

This is a departure from the other "Amazon Force" story that was just told earlier this week, which focused not on how Amazon.com can move a book to blockbuster status, but on how it can totally screw a publisher out of sales, by disabling the Buy Now button and moving the book to its virtual dustbins (back pages that are harder to find), if they don't play by the retail giant's revenue-sharing rules.

But while we're on a happy note, it might be worth drilling down exactly how Amazon can send a no-name title to household name status with just a few clicks.

Driving that unexpectedly heavy demand has been strong reviews and promotional support from Amazon.com. The Web retailer chose the book as one of the best books of June and aggressively hyped it, including by posting a long and enthusiastic blurb from best-selling author Stephen King. The same blurb was printed inside "early reader" copies sent to reviewers, bloggers and booksellers.

Amazon also kept "Edgar Sawtelle" on its home page for two weeks at a 40% discount before the book hit stores, and posted an essay written by the author at Amazon's request. "We also had a preorder banner in May, which is something we do for books that we think will have significant interest for our customers," says Tammy Hovey, an Amazon spokeswoman.

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