In 1992, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen phoned Dan to talk about their latest book idea - “Chicken Soup for the Soul.” Years before, Dan met Mark through the National Speakers Association and became instantaneous friends. Dan knew of Jack through his work with teachers and Jack knew of Dan in a mutual admiration society in the educational arena. Dan was flattered they called him and he willingly spilled the beans about his product sales success. Jack and Mark had targeted one of Dan's books called “One Minute Messages” where he took 200 of his stories and edited them down to 24 lines each so they would fit on one page. Dan had sold over 100,000 copies so they picked his brain about how he turned it into a gift book as a vicarious way to communicate deeply and quickly.
Dan's marketing phrase was “When you don't know what to say, give it away.” Jack and Mark asked Dan to contribute three of his best stories, which to their pleasant surprise became the most quoted and popular stories of volume one. They had shopped their book and had been turned down 33 times before Peter Vegso at Health Communications, Inc. said he couldn't get the manuscript out of his mind - especially Dan’s stories “Puppies for Sale” and “A Brother Like That.”
In 1993, HCI accepted the manuscript and 18 months later they had sold their first million copies. They asked for more of Dan’s time and audience tested stories and Dan graciously sent them three more, which appeared in the “Second Helping” volume two.
It’s a compliment to Dan’s extraordinary communication ability and unique writing style that when Jack and Mark negotiated and produced the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” television show on PAX Network, three out of the five stories used in the first show were Dan's - two of which being his most famous: “The Circus,” written about Dan and his Dad; and of course “Puppies for Sale” which Dan wrote in 1967 for an essay speech contest in junior high school that was later published into a children's book and made into an award winning short film by Ron Krauss at Paramount Studios starring the late Jack Lemmon.
Dan is the most beloved and popular author from the early stages of the “Chicken Soup” phenomenon and his major involvement in the first two books, as well as being an editor and writer for “Mothers” and “Woman's Soul,” “Teenage II” and “College Soul” with his stories appearing in many other volumes, make Dan the primary contributing author and one “soul” Jack and Mark will always remember and thank for their amazing success!
Dan’s incredible story of the deaf school counselor, “Pay Attention” and his masterpiece about his 87-year old fellow college student, “Rose” are classic Chicken Soup stories that are still circulated on the internet to millions throughout the world every day!
Dan's marketing phrase was “When you don't know what to say, give it away.” Jack and Mark asked Dan to contribute three of his best stories, which to their pleasant surprise became the most quoted and popular stories of volume one. They had shopped their book and had been turned down 33 times before Peter Vegso at Health Communications, Inc. said he couldn't get the manuscript out of his mind - especially Dan’s stories “Puppies for Sale” and “A Brother Like That.”
