Lately I have been making sure that I’m always reading at least one self-help book at any one time. I like to read five, ten or more books at a time as that’s just what feels most natural to me, so one or more is always going to be motivational or discussing ways to improve my life. Which got me thinking about the best sellers in the self-help genre.
If I had to guess which books would be at the top of the self help list I would have said Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within or Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking. Probably because I read both of them 15 years or more ago but also because I still see both books in book shops quite a bit so they must be still selling well.
But no, it’s the 1984 self help classic You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay topping the list. Obviously good marketing and promotional activities will bump up book sales, even if it’s an ordinary book. Appearing on the The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Phil Donahue Show in the same week when they were super-popular will put you on the New York Times best seller list. The book being made into a movie will help sales. Having your own book publishing company (Hay House) that publishes some of the leaders in the new thought movement like Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer also can’t hurt.
But fifty million in sales is impressive for a book that doesn’t have any wizards, dragons or hobbits in it! That’s almost two books per person for the entire population of Australia or roughly one book per person for everyone in Spain or South Korea.
Which has got me thinking, maybe I should read it. So I have ordered a copy from my favorite second-hand online book seller for a fraction of the price of a new copy. Which means I won’t be adding to her impressive sales figures as the book isn’t new but I will get to see what all the fuss is about.
Top 10 Best-Selling Self-Help Books of All Time
- You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay (50,000,000 sales) First published in 1984
- Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer (35,000,000 sales) First published in 1976
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (30,000,000+ sales) First published in 1936
- Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson (30,000,000 sales) First published in 1998
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (25,000,000 sales) First published in 1989
- The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale (20,000,000 sales) First published in 1952
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (20,000,000 sales) First published in 2006
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (15,000,000 sales) First published in 1937
- Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (11,000,000 sales) First published in 1993
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (10,000,000 sales) First published in 2016
The book sales numbers are approximate but I would hope that they’re at least close to the real figures. I also left off self-help styled books that are novels or fiction with an inspirational story. For example Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist book has sold 65 million copies and James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy book has sold 23 million copies.
How many self-help books on this best sellers list have you read? I’ve read 5 from the top ten but I have decided to read them all this year in 2022 as it’s been at least ten years since I have read any of them. Lets see if the best selling self improvement books are the best reading books!
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