It is not a small feat to sell over 500 million copies of the Chicken Soup for the Soul. I met Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul, at a conference in Philadelphia and it was an awesome experience! He shared his success story with the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Here are my takeaways:
- Stay with your passion—the book was rejected by over 140 publishers over the course of two years. It didn’t dampen his passion about the book. His “divine obsession” guided him to push on. Believe and be focused.
- Get feedback—for every story in the book, there was a rigorous process to get feedback from a panel of readers. Each story was rated and only the highest ranked stories were included in the book. Get unbiased feedback and improve.
- Build a dynamite team—co-author Mark Victor Hansen shared the same passion Jack had for the book. Jack recruited a brilliant assistant who was completely devoted to the book. She was enrolled in Jack’s vision and was committed to market the book every opportunity she had. Get help from good people.
- Take action—nothing happens unless you take action. In Jack’s words, “action is a demonstration of your belief. Action is the one thing that separates the winners from the losers. You can feel the fear and do it anyways.”
- Do the work—there is no easy track to success. Jack and his team had a Rule of 5. Every day, they would do five things to promote the book. That could be a radio interview, send books to reviewers, contact marketing companies, etc. It takes hard work to succeed.
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