The US market for self-help books has nearly doubled since 2013. In 2019, 18.6 million self-help books were sold. The entire industry is projected to grow to US$13.2 billion by next year. In Canada, book sales in the self-help/personal growth category increased 22% between 2016 and 2017.
That’s a lot of people who are not as happy or well-adjusted or successful or beautiful or enlightened as they want or think they should be.
We live in an insane economy, where economic growth is supposed to continue every year, forever. Apparently, the same holds true for people. “Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better.”
The advertising industry has tapped into this, manufacturing discontent for several generations: creating deficiencies here and inadequacies there which they (coincidentally) have a product to help with …
It begs the question, are we getting any better?
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** Next Thursday, April 15, I will be offering a free class called “Better Stories=Better Life” on Zoom. Here’s a link to sign up for the class. This is a good, no-risk way to take the next step into exploring the work I’m up to these days, or to share it with someone you think would be interested. There will be a special bonus offer at the end of the class.
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