In uncertain times especially, books with positive messages offer hope to eager readers. But defining what it is that makes a title inspirational can be almost as challenging as navigating the difficult situations that prompt readers to turn to such books in the first place.

Booksellers may shelve inspirational titles in several places, relevant BISAC codes cut across multiple categories (both religious and secular), and libraries use the Dewey Decimal System to make a distinction between religious books and those offering secular inspiration. Publishers, meanwhile, use the word inspirational to refer to everything from dieting memoirs and Amish romance novels to gift-book impulse buys.

The Book Industry Study Group, source of the BISAC subject headings that publishers use to categorize their titles, has several inspirational tags. Here’s where things get murky: some of those tags are found under religious headings—e.g. Religion/Inspirational, or Christian Life/Inspirational—while others are nonreligious, or not rooted in a specific faith or tradition. In the nonreligious realm, books classified as inspirational are found under two main BISAC headings: Body, Mind & Spirit, and Self-Help.

Ray Hinst, co-owner of Haslam’s Book Store in St. Petersburg, Fla., the state’s oldest independent new and used book retailer, says that deciding where to shelve a book is all about common sense, and just reading a blurb from the publisher isn’t enough. “It’s Bookselling 101,” he explains. “We take a hands-on approach to every book that comes into our store before it goes on the shelf.

Societal changes can cause shifts in the sections where books go. What used to be considered far-out, like metaphysics, might end up in general inspiration now, because it’s more universally accepted. But the buck stops with the booksellers, who have always been idiosyncratic retailers.”

For libraries that rely on the Dewey Decimal System, on the other hand, the approach to categorization can be more straightforward: the 200 class covers the Religion books, and the 100 class contain Philosophy and Psychology titles.

“Basically, if there’s a hint of religion, it goes in the 200s,” says Erin Boyd, director-at-large for the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association. “Inspiration fits in nicely with the 100s, which covers a wide spectrum. That’s where you will find everything from philosophy to occultism to personal growth. But no religion. We don’t want to spring any surprises on the patrons.”

Boyd says she’s seeing a surge in popularity for nondenominational inspirational books, as more people seek ways to center their lives and find inspiration without relying solely on a traditional belief system. Her observations seem borne out by a 2012 Pew Research Center study, which found that while fewer Americans than ever are affiliated with religious institutions—one-fifth of the U.S. adult population—two-thirds of the unaffiliated believe in God, and over a third consider themselves “spiritual, not religious.”

These blurred lines can make it difficult for publishers to find the right audience for their inspirational titles. “It’s been a little tricky for us,” says Patti Wayland, book division director of Blue Mountain Arts. “A lot of store owners see the word inspirational and associate it with religion right away. So that’s the section where the book ends up. But in our minds, inspiration means the book is positive and reinforces encouragement.”

Second Helpings

Peter Vegso, president and publisher of HCI, understands as well as anyone the appeal of the secular inspirational title.

He made his mark by publishing a landmark of modern inspiration: 1993’s Chicken Soup for the Soul, by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (see “Six Decades of Inspiration,” below). HCI published some 190 titles in the series until Bill Rouhana Jr. and Bob Jacobs acquired the franchise in 2008; the series lives on through Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, while HCI remains steeped in inspirational fare. This season, Vegso is one of three authors, along with Dadi Janki and Kelly Johnson, of Feeling Great: Creating a Life of Optimism, Enthusiasm and Contentment (HCI, Apr.).

The book, Vegso says, aims to inspire readers without using religion or any single spiritual approach. “That makes it less a religious book and more of an inspirational book,” he explains. “Like the Chicken Soup series, the potential readership for Feeling Great is large and all-inclusive.”

Algonquin found success in the inspirational arena with a fiction title, Breakfast with Buddha, by Roland Merullo (2007). This story about a cross-country road trip taken by two radically different men—a pedantic book editor living in suburban New York and a Mongolian monk who believes that keeping an open mind makes for a richer, fuller life—became a word-of-mouth favorite among book clubs and, according to the publisher, has sold more than 204,000 copies in hardcover and paperback combined. Publisher Elisabeth Scharlatt is hoping for a repeat performance with the forthcoming follow-up, Dinner with Buddha (June). “They are no doubt inspirational without being self-consciously so,” Scharlatt says of Merullo’s novels. “His books are in general fiction. But I pass them along to friends who need a lift. Is that inspirational publishing?”

Another Algonquin title, Find the Good, by Heather Lende (Apr.), is a memoir of the author’s experiences in a small, sometimes dangerous Alaskan town, and how she approaches writing obituaries for the local newspaper. It serves as a lesson on how to live a more meaningful and optimistic life, according to editor Amy Gash. Though it may be marketed as a self-help book, Gash says it could end up in any one of several sections in the bookstore. “Spiritual, religious, mind/body—I think a reader could be looking for a book in any of those categories and be satisfied with Heather’s worldview.” Lende’s memoir, she adds, makes readers think about their time on Earth and how they want to spend their days—and that’s inspirational, to Gash and to other editors.

“I think there are people of all stripes looking for inspiration who will be drawn to books that speak to them in a specific way,” says Rodale trade editorial director Jennifer Levesque. “Someone who may be drawn to an incredible narrative nonfiction story may not pick up a book with a spiritual or religious bent, but the feelings and motivation that each book might foster in the reader are equally powerful.”

And as great a demand as there is for religious books, their reach is segmented, Levesque says. Secular books that are inspirational have the potential for an even broader appeal. Rodale aims to publish more titles in this category, she adds, and has adopted a motto that promotes this commitment: inspire people to live their best lives. Telling stories in which people overcome great odds is part of that mission, as with books such as I Am Because You Are: How the Spirit of Ubuntu Inspired an Unlikely Friendship and Transformed a Community (May), by Jacob Leif with Andrea Thompson, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu. Part memoir and part guide for would-be development activists, the book portrays the challenges and rewards of the nonprofit world while proposing a vision for a new model of development.

Personally Inspired

Before people can change the world, however, they have to start with themselves. That’s where inspiration, self-improvement, and personal growth titles can overlap. This phenomenon is old hat to New World Library, which has adopted the slogan Books That Change Lives. Its biggest sellers are personal growth titles, followed by animal communication and animal inspiration books.

“We like to think all of our books are inspirational,” says associate publisher Munro Magruder. Spring offerings include Wild Women, Wild Voices: Writing from Your Authentic Wildness (Apr.), in which writing coach Judy Reeves encourages women to explore the various stages of their lives, and The Calm Center: Reflections and Meditations for Spiritual Awakening (May), by Steve Taylor, which guides the reader through the self-discovery process with spiritual exercises.

On the lighter side of inspiration, Blue Mountain Arts will publish Suzy Toronto’s The Sacred Sisterhood of Wonderful Wacky Women, a compilation of artwork, recipes, poems and personal essays about the women in the author’s life, and Pawprints of Wisdom: Life Lessons from Our Dogs, by Carol Grace Anderson, both in September. And, Andrews McMeel Publishing turned to a fashion photographer with ancestral ties to Polish royalty to produce a lifestyle guide aimed at boys and young men: Princely Advice for a Happy Life (Apr.), by Alexi Lubomirski, offers advice on living a meaningful life and cultivating one’s “inner nobility.”

“Books like this are an antidote to the fast-paced technological world we live in,” says Kirsty Melville, president and publisher of Andrews McMeel. “They are literally inspiring people to slow down.”

It Takes a Village

Workman brought together more than 20 artists and designers to illustrate a pocket-sized gift book called You Are Doing a Freaking Great Job and Other Reminders of Your Awesomeness (Apr.), which quotes everyone from Walt Whitman and Maya Angelou to Judy Garland and the Beatles. The book is typical of the publisher’s broad approach to the notion of inspiration.

“We want readers to pick up a Workman book and know immediately they’re going to come away smarter, or a better cook, parent, person—you name it,” says Susan Bolotin, publisher and editorial director. She says she isn’t a fan of the BISAC codes, finding them “extremely limiting—I’m constantly being disappointed that I can’t invent my own.”

Another book that defies easy categorization is A Dog’s Gift: The Inspirational Story of Veterans and Children Healed by Man’s Best Friend (Rodale, June), by Bob Drury. It’s being marketed as a military book, but according to Levesque, it could also land in the sections for biography/autobiography, psychology, and pets/dogs/breeds.

PublicAffairs associate publisher Jaime Leifer says that her company looks for authors with a strong sense of purpose when considering whether to make an acquisition. Be Safe, Love Mom: A Military Mom’s Stories of Courage, Comfort, and Surviving Life on the Home Front (out now), by Elaine Brye, is (like A Dog’s Gift) positioned as a military book. But, Leifer says, the experiences of the author, an Army brat turned military wife and mother of four officers in four branches of the military, lend an authenticity to the advice she has to give to other parents, regardless of individual experience.

The variety of titles either classified or promoted as inspiration (for more books, see “What Inspires You?"), show that inspiration is a robust theme, even if its exact definition is difficult to pin down.

“Frankly, I think you can put the inspiration label on a wide spectrum of categories. It’s pretty subjective,” says Magruder, of New World Library. “I honestly don’t even know why there needs to be a separate category for this type of book. Inspiration is where you find it, whether it’s from the divine or somewhere else.”

Michelle Bearden is a two-time winner of the Supple Religion Writer of the Year award and a longtime print and broadcast journalist based in Tampa, Fla.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article referred to the title of Bob Drury's book as A Dog's Life. The correct title is A Dog's Gift.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article referred to Kirsty Melville as v-p of marketing at Andrews McMeel. She is president and publisher.

Below, more on the subject of inspirational books.

What Inspires You? Inspirational Books 2015