How to Win Friends and Influence People market the book, Shimkin decided to send 500 copies of the book to former graduates of the Dale Carnegie Course, with a note that pointed out the utility of the book for refreshing students with the advice they had learned. The 500 mailed copies brought orders for over 5,000 more copies of the book and Simon & Schuster had to increase the original print order of 1,200 quickly. Shimkin also ran a full page ad in the "New York Times" complete with quotes by Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller on the importance of human relations. Originally published in November
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