The-Slight-Edge

The Quantum leap Myth 69
One Quality Story at a Time
the blockbuster series of books, understood
that long-term success is built not only on being prepared, but by
offering a quality product that people will continue to buy for years
and years to come.
a book concept that had never been done before. As speakers, they
were known for their motivational stories and quotes they would weave
into their speeches. Fans loved their stories so much they inquired if
they could put these stories and quotes into a book. instead of using
their own stories, they reached out to fans and others to submit stories
of people doing extraordinary things. All they had to do was carefully
edit and compile them into topics that people would want to read.
Once they had one title down, their plan would be to do other titles
based on the same format.
i have to admit, i wasn’t too sure that was a very good idea. in fact, i
told hansen he had a 50/50 chance of success. i didn’t know if people
would want to read a collection of stories written by everyday people.
But they had a clear vision of what they wanted to do, how they were
going to do it and how they were going to get there. it wouldn’t be a
slap-it-together-and-shove-it-out-the-door kind of project. They knew
it would take time to get the right stories, and a lot of work went into
evaluating each and every story they put in—101 to be exact in their
wanted the stories to have a healing effect, much like the chicken
When it was released in 1993, the media didn’t pay much attention
many people were buying several copies at a time to give to family
and friends.
By September of 1994 was on every bestseller
list in the U.S. and Canada. Over the next ten years, Chicken
Soup for the Soul branded merchandise reached over $2 billion in
retail sales. As of this printing, over 112 million books—not to mention
over 200 titles and 40 languages.
They knew that one quality story at a time would eventually get them
to where they wanted to be.