Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories about Women New Edition

MORE THAN 500,000,000 COPIES SOLD. A PHENOMENON IN THE HISTORY OF PUBLISHING. THE BESTSELLING SERIES IN THE WORLD. THE SUCCESS STORY 1993: A book that no one wanted to publish / #1 New York Times Bestseller / 20,000 copies sold. 2003: + 180 new books in the series / Bestseller series / 80,000 copies sold. 2013: About 250 books in the series / The best-selling series in history / More than 500,000,000 copies sold. HOW IT ALL STARTED The story of the creation of the book “Chicken Soup” is as inspiring as the little stories it contains. Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, both popular motivational speakers, loved to “spice” their presentations with a couple of inspiring stories. After the training sessions, many would approach them: “Where can I find that story about the Girl Scout? I would buy the book for my son,” “Is that story about the boy and the puppy available somewhere?” For a year, Canfield and Hansen recorded stories they had experienced themselves or heard from acquaintances, and when they had gathered 101, they sent them out to publishers. They received 144 rejections. Then Jack and Mark decided to find buyers even before the book was published, hoping to persuade the publishers. They told their friends and training audiences about it, asking all interested individuals to write a promissory note to buy the future book. When they collected more than 20,000 such notes, Jack and Mark approached the publishers again. The book was printed, and everyone who had given a promise bought it. And then… sales stalled. Jack and Mark did not want to give up. They had a goal – to sell 1.5 million in 1.5 years. Then they came up with the “Rule of Five”: to take five active steps every day to promote and sell the book. From that moment on, Canfield and Hansen sent out 5 copies a day to journalists, Hollywood stars...