The week's bestselling books, July 27
2. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine Books: $30) A story of friendship, love and adversity during the 1980s Space Shuttle program.
3. The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey: $29) Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft.
4. James by Percival Everett (Doubleday: $28) An action-packed reimagining of 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'
5. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (Penguin Press: $30) An unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond.
6. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between a group of teens 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist.
7. Culpability by Bruce Holsinger (Spiegel & Grau: $30) A suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
8. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (Tor Books: $30) A vampiric tale follows three women across the centuries.
9. The River Is Waiting by Wally Lamb (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books: $30) A young father grapples with tragedy and the search for redemption.
10. Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild (St. Martin's Press: $29) A sweeping love story explores the price of a new beginning.
…
1. The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins (Hay House: $30) How to stop wasting energy on things you can't control.
2. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea.
3. Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $30) A study of the barriers to progress in the U.S.
4. The Mission by Tim Weiner (Mariner Books: $35) A history of the modern CIA featuring interviews with former directors, spies and other insiders.
5. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green (Crash Course Books: $28) The deeply human story of the fight against the world's deadliest infectious disease.
6. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values.
7. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.
8. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person.
9. The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator) (Scribner: $20) On gratitude, reciprocity and community, and the lessons to take from the natural world.
10. Who Knew by Barry Diller (Simon & Schuster: $30) A frank memoir from one of America's top businessmen.
…
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $20)
3. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
4. All Fours by Miranda July (Riverhead Books: $19)
5. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker (Crown: $19)
6. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $20)
7. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)
8. Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley: $20)
9. A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Berkley: $19)
10. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (Scribner: $20)
…
1. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
2. The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (Penguin: $21)
3. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $12)
4. The Wide Wide Sea by Hampton Sides (Vintage: $19)
5. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
6. The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger (Harper Perennial: $20)
7. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Harper Perennial Modern Classics: $24)
8. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)
9. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
10. All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (Simon & Schuster: $19)
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Byrne's influence on the U.S. motivational speaker circuit While Byrne herself is not a prolific public speaker, her influence shaped the U.S. motivational speaker economy. Speakers at events like Mindvalley Live or Hay House summits frequently cite The Secret , with some even licensing Byrne's messaging in seminars. In return, Byrne's team has engaged in content partnerships and cross-promotion across high-traffic U.S. podcasts and social media channels. This integration not only enhanced visibility but created downstream revenue—many motivational coaches now serve as de facto brand ambassadors, funneling new American audiences back to The Secret ecosystem. How her brand shaped online coaching and wellness marketing models The Byrne brand prefigured the now-common coaching economy—think Law of Attraction coaching, manifestation mentors, and mindset consultants. Many of today's digital wellness entrepreneurs credit The Secret as their inspiration and often structure their business models similarly: digital downloads, email courses, private Facebook communities, and branded merchandise. Her approach gave rise to a template for belief monetisation: package an ideology, attach it to a lifestyle, build community, and layer it with content upsells. This structure is now common among American wellness influencers and spiritual coaches. A unique business legacy: What Rhonda Byrne's model tells us about U.S. spirituality commerce Rhonda Byrne didn't just publish a book—she catalysed an entire economic movement rooted in individual agency, emotional branding, and spiritual consumerism. In the United States, where belief and capitalism often intersect, Byrne's business model offers a textbook case of how spiritual ideologies can be turned into commercial IP portfolios. Her influence on U.S. self-help media and Gen Z spiritual entrepreneurs From TikTok manifestation videos to Instagram pages filled with affirmation quotes, Byrne's legacy is imprinted across Gen Z spiritual commerce. Many younger entrepreneurs now build businesses by combining social media virality with spiritual frameworks—exactly what Byrne did before the era of influencers. Her success proved that there's a scalable audience in America for content that blends hope, empowerment, and consumerism—and that spiritual messaging can be both emotionally resonant and highly profitable. Precursor to influencer-driven wellness empires in America Byrne's empire predated the influencer economy, yet foreshadowed it. Like today's YouTubers or meditation app founders, she built a niche, created high-conversion content, and scaled vertically across platforms. From that perspective, Byrne can be seen as a proto-influencer—except her product wasn't herself, it was belief itself. Modern figures like Jay Shetty or Gabby Bernstein have replicated aspects of the Rhonda Byrne business model, monetising mindfulness, manifestation, or spiritual insight via digital memberships, workshops, and product sales. Why the Rhonda Byrne business model may become a Harvard case study Given its unique blend of ideology, IP management, media strategy, and emotional marketing, the Rhonda Byrne business model offers a rich case study for American business schools. It intersects key subjects: branding, publishing economics, cultural psychology, and platform monetisation. In many ways, it's a model of soft power capitalism, where personal transformation fuels commercial transactions. Conclusion: Rhonda Byrne and the monetisation of belief in America's digital spiritual economy Rhonda Byrne's billion-dollar success was never just about The Secret —it was about strategically packaging belief for a country where hope sells. Her brand preceded the modern wellness boom, prefigured the influencer monetisation playbook, and created a repeatable framework for how spiritual ideas can thrive in America's digital economy. Like Calm or Headspace, Byrne built a business not from tangible products, but from an emotional and cognitive experience. The difference? She did it before mobile apps or Instagram ever existed. As U.S. consumers continue to spend billions on spiritual self-help, Rhonda Byrne's model remains a blueprint for monetising metaphysics—one that continues to shape the future of belief-driven capitalism in America. This article is intended for informational and editorial purposes only. It does not constitute endorsement or promotion of any individual, company, or entity mentioned. Business Upturn makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information provided.
