In its 25th year of operation, Health Communications Inc. is weaning itself from Chicken Soup, although the popular book series continues to sell in impressive numbers and has 65 million copies in print. "Chicken Soup peaked in 1998 and 1999. It still does tremendously well, but not as well as it did in its heyday," HCI president and publisher Peter Vegso told PW. Vegso said he did not see any significant change in sales in the Soup line—either up or down—following the events of September, although he speculated that the entire area of self-help and recovery books could have an upswing over the next few months.
The recovery segment is where HCI began, and Vegso remains committed to the area. Adult Children of Alcoholics by Janet Woititz, HCI's first bestseller, has never gone out of print, and the company is revising another longtime bestseller, Perfect Daughters, for next spring. Also coming in the spring is The Complete ACOA Sourcebook: Adult Children of Alcoholics at Home, at Work and in Love, a compilation of three of Woititz's works. HCI's conference division runs several recovery and counseling conferences annually, and Vegso noted that the meetings "keep us in touch with current trends. They also serve as sort of a farm system for authors."
Another area where Vegso is looking for expansion is the teen market. The success of several Soup titles for teenagers—the most recent hit, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: On Tough Stuff, has sold nearly 400,000 copies since its release in October—prompted HCI to create the HCI Teen imprint. Among strong HCI Teen sellers are Taste Berries for Teens, which has sold 400,000 since its publication in 1999, and last year's More Taste Berries for Teens, which has 100,000 copies in print.
Vegso hopes that teens, as well as readers of all ages, will be attracted to its new How to Be Like series, which debuted this summer with the publication of How to Be Like Mike. The book, about Michael Jordan, has 50,000 copies in print and is the first in what Vegso sees as an ongoing line of titles about people who serve as role models. Other people to be featured in titles set for publication next year include Cal Ripken Jr., John Wooden, Martin Luther King and Jesus.
HCI will probably do 40 to 50 new titles in 2002, the same range it has been releasing over the last few years. The publisher's contributions to the post—September 11 books canon will include Chicken Soup for the Soul of America, set for release late January/early February with a first printing of 800,000, and Homer Hickam's We Are Not Afraid, a January release with a 400,000 first printing planned.
