The Secret of The Secret’s Success

Has a book ever borne a more ironic title? In recent weeks it's become hard to avoid armchair discussions and more formal analyses of what is surely the greatest success story in the annals of viral marketing: a positive-thinking juggernaut known as The Secret. The original DVD went platinum late last year, some 1.7 million copies selling at around $30, sans paid advertising. In true viral style, the project then infected publishing: A hastily written derivative grabbed the No. 1 slot on Amazon and the New York Times' best-seller list for advice books, a lofty station it defends to this day. All told, at least 5 million copies are in circulation, counting the book and DVD. Unsurprisingly, assorted sequels and spin-offs are in the works. Due soon is the Secret Workbook, as well as an anthology of Secret Success Stories. Another film should be upon us by August. There is talk of a TV series.
But despite The Secret's high visibility, and the sheer volume of verbiage expended on reviews and critiques, journalists largely missed the forest in the tease here. In truth, The Secret is less important for the outrageousness of what it says to us than for the outrageousness of what it says about us. It is quite simply a colossal cultural wind sock, encapsulating the zeitgeist in a way that few other recent events or enterprises have.
JUST TO RECAP: In concept, one might call The Secret self-fulfilling-prophecy-meets-PMA-on-steroids. It's anchored in the so-called Law of Attraction, which, in simplified form -- and it never gets much more complex -- posits that what we truly believe in our hearts and minds will come to us. Good or bad. Or as one LOA fan site puts it, we are "living magnets." Early in the viral campaign for her pet project, Rhonda Byrne, its creator and producer (and, you might say, its Patient Zero), gave an interview in which she termed The Secret "knowledge that has been known by the greatest leaders, discoverers and philosophers -- the greatest men and wome...