Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is a self-help, consumer good and media 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 true stories about ordinary people's lives. The book became a major best-seller and something of a social phenomenon because of its ability to change others' perspective of certain topics. The books are widely varied, each with a different theme. Today Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC continues to publish about a dozen new books per year. The company has branched out into other categories such as food, pet food, and television programming.
History
Motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen collaborated on the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, compiling inspirational, true stories they had heard from their audience members. Many of the stories came from members of the audience of their inspirational talks. The book was rejected by major publishers in New York but accepted by a small, self-help publisher in Florida called HCI. After the success of the first book, Canfield and Hansen, with HCI, published additional, similar Chicken Soup for the Soul titles. Later, they published Chicken Soup for the Soul books for specific demographics, such as Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, which came out in 1997 and was a major best-seller. 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. As of late 2013, the series included more than 200 titles. In 2008, the founders, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, sold the company to a new ownership group led by William J. Rouhana and Robert D. Jacobs. Since then all new titles have been published by Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC and distributed by Simon & Schuster. Under the new ownership group, Chicken Soup for the Soul has 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. 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. In 2013, the company announced plans to produce a television series and movie with Alcon Entertainment. Chicken Soup for the Soul has produced television programming with other partners, including PBS. In 2016, Chicken Soup for the Soul acquired a majority stake in the website A Plus. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment went public in 2017. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment now owns Screen Media Ventures, LLC, a leading global independent television and film distribution company, and Popcornflix, an ad-based online video service.
