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Last summer, a book changed Kohn Glay’s life.
A TikTok ad had him to “The Shadow Work Journal,” a slim workbook that to parts of their — their selves, in the book’s . He a , and soon was back on TikTok, recommending it to his followers.
“If you’re on your , you need to go and get you one of these,” he says in the video, viewers to buy the book in the TikTok .
The video went viral, drawing more than 58 views. Glay, who is 43 and lives in Baltimore, began holding online classes to people the . Over the next few months, people who watched his videos bought more than 40,000 of the book on TikTok, and Glay more than $150,000 in . By December, he had quit his job as a representative for Home Depot and now runs his own business, “Happy Healin,” which offers subscribers and coaching Zoom sessions.
Glay is part of the army of TikTok influencers who helped “The Shadow Work Journal” into a mega best seller. He’s so closely with the book that people often assume he wrote it. “It a thing to tell people I’m not the ,” he said.
The real creator of “The Shadow Work Journal” is Keila Shaheen, a 25-year-old writer from Texas with a in who the book in 2021, and has since been “the self-help queen of TikTok.”
After the , Shaheen went on to sell more than a . Most of those — 700,000 — were sold the TikTok , and were by passionate influencers like Glay, who a 15 commission on each from Zenfulnote, Shaheen’s .
Shaheen’s unusual to shows how radically book and have been changed by TikTok. Over the past few years, publishers have frantically to the of the platform as viral videos and reviews by influencers have for blockbuster like Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry and Sarah J. Maas.
But Shaheen is perhaps the first self-published to in a big way on the platform, a she by fully its potential not just for , but for .
Her has left many and publishers whether that formula can be , and how publishers can the new online retail — a fast moving, algorithm- marketplace that to them out .
“The Shadow Work Journal” has a title in white letters on a black . Below it is the subtitle and the ’s name, Keila Shaheen, also in white. An of , decorative surrounds the text.
“To think that she achieved a sold in the United States alone, without a publisher, without any international , without brick and mortar , it breaks all the of what makes a best seller,” said Albert Lee, a literary with United Talent Agency, which Shaheen.
Others just how much bigger Shaheen’s self-help can get. Earlier this year, Shaheen a five-book with Simon & Schuster, after months of being by big publishing houses.
Simon & Schuster won her over with an unusual : a seven-figure , plus a 50-50 . Publishers typically give an and then a 15 of if they back the . The a new, of “The Shadow Work Journal,” which was released in late April, with a first of 100,000 , plus two new books by Shaheen.
“We really wanted to show Keila that we had a -term ,” said Michelle Herrera Mulligan, the vice and publisher of Primero Sueño Press/Atria, the Simon & Schuster that Shaheen. “There is still a huge for this book.”
Shaheen by the of , and money, that her book has . The next day, she appeared on “Good Morning America” to the new of “The Shadow Work Journal,” then had meetings at her publisher and literary ’s offices.
Shaheen, who has from anxiety in the past, was surprised by how she felt, she said.
“I’m a huge introvert, so that was a to how much I’ve grown,” she said.
Shaheen first the idea of in 2021, when she was and in the wake of the pandemic. After graduating from Texas A&M in 2020 with a in business and , she in online retail and — a as a creative strategist for TikTok. Coming out of the isolation of Covid, Shaheen felt disconnected, and in a corporate .
Shadow has helped her, Shaheen said, but it isn’t meant “to .”
One day, while online for therapeutic prompts, she came across to the Swiss Carl Jung’s idea of the self, which holds that parts of our can mask and . She about a called , a somewhat field that draws on Jung’s ideas to people as they their selves, with the of parts of themselves that make them feel guilty, or afraid.
Shaheen started videos on Instagram and TikTok about exercises she was trying, and began getting messages from viewers asking for a . So in the of 2021, she the , and began selling for $19.99.
The first — which didn’t have Shaheen’s name on the cover — was a that with interactive exercises. Sales were slow at first. Then, in late 2022, TikTok into online retail. The platform started selling the app, and an program, which allowed influencers to videos about in the and a . Once Shaheen started selling the TikTok, came .
TikTok was soon with videos of users filling out the ’s pages; some that the is cheaper than .
The also drew some . Some on media as anti- and . Others said it to live up to the , or that their to be with ads for the .
Still others questioned Shaheen’s as a health . Shaheen — who is in her bio as “a certified sound healer and behavioral practitioner” — an online in , but is not a licensed therapist.
Some in Jungian worry that “The Shadow Work Journal” Jung’s ideas.
“My about it is that the is really ,” said Connie Zweig, a psychotherapist who has published books on . “It can be risky to go in the dark without guidance, without expertise.”
Shaheen said that she always the to be an introduction to , not a .
“The is meant to be a bridge,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s to .”
By September, the book No. 1 on Amazon. In October, Shaheen met with two from United Talent Agency, Rebecca Gradinger and Albert Lee. The could help her build an international and get her book in , they told her.
Shaheen with them about a week before the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest fair for international rights in publishing, and the then sold rights to “The Shadow Work Journal” in 27 countries, Lee said.
Shaheen was still to hand over U.S. rights to “The Shadow Work Journal.” She was already a best seller, and “the initial offers weren’t ,” she said. Her agreed that a typical publishing might not her.
“Keila’s at the of unlocking this new and ecosystem,” Lee said. “It very obvious that in traditional publishing, we were all behind what Keila was doing.”
Shaheen was by Primero Sueño’s -splitting offer, which came with a to publish and -language . Shaheen, whose father is from Puerto Rico and whose mother is from , saw the to her reach among speakers.
It’s still unclear whether “The Shadow Work Journal” will with a , or if it owes its popularity to a viral trend that has . So far, the new has sold 18,000 , according to Circana Bookscan — a healthy amount, but hardly a .
Herrera Mulligan, Primero Sueño’s publisher, said “The Shadow Work Journal” is just the beginning: “We really want her to be the new of self-help.”
Primero Sueño is now to the self-help with Shaheen’s books, and has set an publishing schedule, releasing two more of Shaheen’s self-published titles this year — one in July, another in October. The titles, along with her , are big on TikTok and have sold 100,000 on the platform.
She is also on two new books: one about the and of and another titled “The Light Work Journal,” which to on and their .
And Shaheen, no held back by , ready to the . Unlike the first of “The Shadow Work Journal,” the new her name in large font — under a that says “more than 1 sold.”