The 12 months 1859 was an enormous one for British publishing. Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” was revealed, as was John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty”. So too was a now largely forgotten e-book by an creator named Samuel Smiles. It was boring, badly written and critically panned: one author known as books of its type “the silliest ever identified”. Naturally, readers liked it. It outsold Darwin, popularised a brand new time period and within the course of modified publishing for ever. It was known as “Self-Assist” and its intention was easy: to show readers that “with Will one can do something”. One might actually promote extra books: final 12 months in Britain, in line with figures from Nielsen BookData, 3% of all books offered have been self-help.
