How to Win Friends and Influence People in publication, Carnegie originally began writing small booklets to go along with his courses. After one of his 14-week courses, he was approached by publisher Leon Shimkin of the publishing house Simon & Schuster. Shimkin urged Carnegie to write a book, but he was not initially persuaded. Shimken then hired a stenographer to type up what he heard in one of Carnegie's long lectures and presented the transcript to Carnegie. Dale Carnegie liked the transcript so much he decided to edit and revise it into a final form. He wanted it to be extremely practical and interesting to read. To
How to Win Friends and Influence People 1936, the book reached the "New York Times" best-seller list by the end of the year, and did not fall off for the next two years. Simon & Schuster continued to advertise the book relying heavily on testimonials as well as the testable approach the book offered. Carnegie had created a new kind of book, one that was not read with passive interest, but rather a manual of active participation. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" became one of the most successful books in American history. It went through 17 print editions in its first year of publishing and