Läs dig bättre: En analys av skapandet och mottagandet av bästsäljande självhjälpsböcker

Sammanfattning: The market for self-help books has rapidly expanded and gained influence over the last couple of years, partially due to social media users increasing the genres status on the book market. This essay will look at three different bestselling books within the genre: Atomic Habits, The Body Keeps the Score, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F'ck. It will analyse them using case studies and different theories such as bestseller-theory, paratext analysis, and convergence theory. It will analyse their marketing, reception, and status’ on both the international and Swedish book markets. It will also discuss the possible circumstances and causes that have attributed to the genres increased popularity, the books’ bestseller-status and their popularity on social media. The results show that the marketing of the books emphasizes their bestseller-status and promises the reader a better life in various ways, such as becoming more effective, healing trauma and being happier. In turn, the reception of the books is overall positive, with the criticism claiming that they are too repetitive and American. Their success can in part be attributed to social acceleration and the search for optimisation, as well as the pandemic and the increased influence over the market forces that consumers have gained due to social media and convergence culture.