— and be yourself, and improve yourself, and organize yourself, and sell yourself! A key element in the world of self-help books is that you can – and should – be (as the old sales pitch for the US Army had it) Be All You Can Be. So there are a myriad of books showing how we, the readers, can start on that path to self-improvement.
A huge number of self-help books are about being organized.
Another huge amount of self-help books are about being inspired – often by the example of famously successful people (who may or may not have anything in common with your own situation).
Others involve being a great salesman. Indeed, there are so many books about being great at selling, that a few people have had successful careers simply telling others how to be great salesmen!
First of all, which self help-books actually help?
http://www.raptitude.com/2013/02/five-self-help-books-that-actually-helped/
The first book listed is Richard Carlson’s “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff (and It’s All Small Stuff”), a classic of its genre.
Now let’s look at a naysayer – someone who, having bought many, many self-help books, questions their value:
http://www.motivationalwellbeing.com/self-help-books-are-useless.html
So, even though some self-help books primarily help the publisher’s bottom line, others can be very useful to the reader – but only if the reader puts that advice into effective use.
