Chicken Soup for the Soul
American self-help and consumer goods company
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Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC is an American self-help and consumer goods company based in Cos Cob, Connecticut. It is known for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. The first book, like most subsequent titles in the series, consisted of inspirational stories about ordinary people's lives. The books are widely varied, each with a different theme.
 | |
Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing Licensing Internet Consumer packaged goods |
| Founded | June 28, 1993[1] |
| Founders | Jack Canfield[2] and Mark Victor Hansen[3] |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | William J. Rouhana, Jr.[5] (chairman & CEO) Amy Newmark[6] (publisher) |
The company has branched out into other categories such as food,[7] pet food,[8] and television programming.[9][10]
History
Books
In the 1980s, motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen met after Canfield attended Hansen's lecture, "How to Triple Your Income and Double Your Time Off in Two Years or Less", at a holistic health event. Both proponents of the law of attraction—a New Thought belief that one's thoughts, positive or negative, attract corresponding events in life—they compiled inspirational stories from other motivational speakers that exemplified the law of attraction. The compilation became the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, with the name coming from a dream Canfield had. Their pitch was met by rejection from major publishers in New York in 1991 before they found a small, self-help publisher in Florida called HCI, which they paid to print the first 20,000 copies of the book. Sales soon boomed; attendees of their speaking events were required to buy several copies, and the book was sold at shops and funeral homes.[11][12][13]
After the success of the first book, Canfield and Hansen, with HCI, published additional, similar Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, with many stories coming from reader submissions.[11][14] In 1997, the two "began asking contributors to sign a pledge affirming that the stories they had submitted were true"; however, they did not take further steps to verify the stories' authenticity.[11] Chicken Soup for the Soul books began to be aimed at specific demographics, such as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, which came out in 1997 and was a major best-seller.[15][16] New Chicken Soup for the Soul titles and sequels to existing books have been published on a regular basis since the first book came out in 1993.[14] In 2009, author Adeline Lee Zhia Ern was found to have plagiarized the story "Happiness" by Sarah Provençal from Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul IV.[17]
A 19-episode anthology series made up of stories from the series was produced and aired in the 1999–2000 television season by PAX TV, the current-day Ion Television.[18][19][20]
Expansion from books and failed entertainment venture
In 2008, the founders, Canfield and Hansen, sold the company to a new ownership group led by William J. Rouhana and Robert D. Jacobs.[21] Since then, all new titles have been published by Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC, and distributed by Simon & Schuster.[1]
Under the new ownership group, Chicken Soup for the Soul expanded into other products besides books. The company markets pet foods under the brand Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul and a line of soups, sauces, and other prepared foods under the brand Chicken Soup for the Soul.[22]
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment went public in 2017.[23] In November 2017, it acquired Screen Media Ventures, LLC, an independent television and film distribution company, which included Popcornflix, an ad-based online video service.[24][25]
On July 10, 2024, a bankruptcy judge ordered Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment to undergo a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation after accusing Rouhana of misusing the business and failing to pay employees or support healthcare. With the Chapter 7 conversion, the company's assets will be liquidated, resulting in the cessation of its subsidiaries, including Crackle, Popcornflix and Redbox. In addition, over 1,000 employees were laid off, and over 26,000 Redbox kiosks were shut down permanently.[26][27]
Reception
Historian David Gray contends that the series is "part of a rise in motivational rhetoric and 'neoliberal mysticism' that dovetailed with a decline in job security, medical benefits, and wages for American workers."[11]
Awards
The original series held a spot on the New York Times Best Seller list continuously from 1994 to 1998.[28]