Self Help: Products that Motivate
Kyle Tran
Professor Ali
Writing 1
4/27/11
The Growth of the Self-Help “Banking, autos, publishing, retail, and manufacturing – the recession has hammered them all. But there is on squishy sector that just keeps on growing; the self-help industry,” according to Melanie Linder, an author for Forbes. It was in 1859 that Samuel Smiles, a Scottish social reformer and campaigner for universal suffrage, published his most famous seminal work, Self-help. With its opening “Heaven helps those who help themselves,” it became an instant phenomenon, exceeding the sales of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and selling a quarter million. Smiles advanced the principle that wealth was not a matter of will but of responsibility and hard work. He reinforced the idea that power lied in the hands of the beholder and certain goals can be achieved through changing. Following in Smile’s footsteps came many imitators in the practice of self-help; from Dale Carnegie and his massive seller, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” to Rhonda Byrne and her popular work, “The Secret.” And that is how the industry began to grow. Today, the self-help business is a multi-billion dollar industry marketed and promoted to target groups of individuals who have the desire to self-improve. Self-help is a growing movement empowering both men and women take charge of their lives and make a change. The self-help products have pushed its way into millions of lives suffering from insecurity and conformity. A recent study by Marketdata Enterprise, an independent base research firm, indicated that Americans spent $11 billion in 2008 on self-improvement books, CDs, seminars, coaching and stress-management programs, about 13.6% more than they did back in 2005, and it expected to have a 6.2% annual growth through 2012. Recent research by the American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI) found that there are over 150,000 titles in the self-help category
Professor Ali
Writing 1
4/27/11
The Growth of the Self-Help “Banking, autos, publishing, retail, and manufacturing – the recession has hammered them all. But there is on squishy sector that just keeps on growing; the self-help industry,” according to Melanie Linder, an author for Forbes. It was in 1859 that Samuel Smiles, a Scottish social reformer and campaigner for universal suffrage, published his most famous seminal work, Self-help. With its opening “Heaven helps those who help themselves,” it became an instant phenomenon, exceeding the sales of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and selling a quarter million. Smiles advanced the principle that wealth was not a matter of will but of responsibility and hard work. He reinforced the idea that power lied in the hands of the beholder and certain goals can be achieved through changing. Following in Smile’s footsteps came many imitators in the practice of self-help; from Dale Carnegie and his massive seller, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” to Rhonda Byrne and her popular work, “The Secret.” And that is how the industry began to grow. Today, the self-help business is a multi-billion dollar industry marketed and promoted to target groups of individuals who have the desire to self-improve. Self-help is a growing movement empowering both men and women take charge of their lives and make a change. The self-help products have pushed its way into millions of lives suffering from insecurity and conformity. A recent study by Marketdata Enterprise, an independent base research firm, indicated that Americans spent $11 billion in 2008 on self-improvement books, CDs, seminars, coaching and stress-management programs, about 13.6% more than they did back in 2005, and it expected to have a 6.2% annual growth through 2012. Recent research by the American Writers and Artists Inc. (AWAI) found that there are over 150,000 titles in the self-help category
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