chicken soup for the soul type private industry publishing licensing internet consumer packaged goods entertainment founded june 28 1993 1 founder jack canfield 2 and mark victor hansen 3 headquarters cos cob connecticut usa 4 area served worldwide key people william j. rouhana jr. 5 chairman & ceo amy newmark 6 publisher website chickensoup.com chicken soup for the soul is a publishing consumer goods and media company based in cos cob ct. it is known for the chicken soup for the soul series of books . 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 . today chicken soup for the soul publishing llc continues to publish about a dozen 7 new books per year . the company has also branched out into other categories such as food 8 pet food 9 and television programming . 10 11 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 notes 4 external links history edit 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 . 12 after the success of the first book canfield and hansen with hci published additional similar chicken soup for the soul titles . 13 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 14 and was a major best seller . 15 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 . 13 as of late 2013 the series included more than 200 titles . 16 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 . 17 since then all new titles have been published by chicken soup for the soul publishing llc and distributed by simon & schuster . 1 under the new ownership group chicken soup for the soul has expanded into other categories 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 18 under the brand chicken soup for the soul . in 2013 the company announced plans to produce a television series and movie with alcon entertainment . chicken soup for the soul has also produced television programming with other partners including pbs . 19 see also edit list of chicken soup for the soul books notes edit a b what is chicken soup for the soul . chickensoup.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . jack canfield biography at official website mark victor hansen biography at official website contact page at official website william j. rouhana jr. biography at official website amy newmark biography at official website amazon.com chicken soup for the soul chicken soup for the soul paperback books . amazon.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . webley kayla 10 september 2012 . pop chart . time.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . chicken soup for the soul . chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . alcon entertainment 8 august 2013 . alcon entertainment prescribing chicken soup for the soul los angeles aug. 8 2013 prnewswire . prnewswire.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . video chicken soup for the soul food and family watch pbs specials online pbs video . pbs video . retrieved 23 february 2015 . chicken soup for the soul 20th anniversary edition all your favorite original stories plus 20 bonus stories for the next 20 years jack canfield mark victor hansen amy newmark 9781611599138 amazon.com books . amazon.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . a b results for chicken soup for the soul worldcat.org . worldcat.org . retrieved 23 february 2015 . chicken soup for the teenage soul . worldcat.org . retrieved 23 february 2015 . independents chain bestseller list . nytimes.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . facts & figures . chickensoup.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . serving up a new chicken soup publishers weekly 2 february 2002 . home chicken soup for the soul foods . chickensoup.com . retrieved 23 february 2015 . chicken soup for the soul food & family august 2014 on pbs . youtube . 3 july 2014 . retrieved 23 february 2015 . external links edit official website original publisher of the best selling chicken soup for the soul books list of recent chicken soup for the soul books at simon and schuster s website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title chicken soup for the soul & oldid 731523459 categories series of booksmedia franchisesbooks about spiritualityself published books1993 introductions navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 25 july 2016 at 22 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view