In Simply Happy, Newmark draws life lessons from a career path that’s taken her from Wall Street to publishing and editing the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul self-help series.
What made you leave Wall Street?
After nearly 30 years, I was ready for a change, and so was my husband, and becoming self-help publishers sounded fulfilling to us. And it has been. I’ve always written—press releases, annual reports, security analyst notes.
What do you look for in Chicken Soup stories?
We get an average of 5,000 submissions for each book, and we can only use about 100. The stories have to be entertaining and engrossing—I want to be moved in some way, whether that’s laughing or crying. I get to choose the cream of the crop, and I want stories showing how an experience helped someone move forward. I want someone to pick up a Chicken Soup book and find 100 new friends within the pages.
Most of your projects are collaborations; this is the first book you’ve written solo. What has this taught you?
I have far more empathy now for my authors. My son is a professional writer, and he made me do what I always make others do: cut stories drastically, rewrite entire chapters, delete some of the stories. For me, though, the hardest thing was finding my voice. I was originally going to do this book last year, but couldn’t find my voice. Then, in February, I started doing podcasts, and I realized that the book should sound the same: a casual, first-person voice, as if I were just speaking to one person.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Not to take things personally. Wall Street was very rough, and learning to not take things personally in stressful situations helped so much. When you realize that it’s not all about you, you can laugh at it. I was on a chairlift on a skiing trip when I shared that advice with a woman who was having difficulties with her teenage daughter—she immediately said, “This changes everything.” She realized that her daughter was a typical teenager who was frustrated and acting out, and that it really wasn’t her fault.
What do you most hope that people will take from this book?
The realization that they are much more powerful and resilient than they might think. That’s really what the Chicken Soup franchise has been built on: ordinary people who find incredible strength in challenging situations.
What’s next for Chicken Soup for the Soul?
Lots more books! We have two Christmas books coming, a kind of anti–New Year’s resolution book about loving your body no matter what its size, and, in February, a book on random acts of kindness.
