Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in the World was originally published in 1968. It tells the story of Hafid, a poor camel boy that finds success and begins to live a life of abundance. Through charting Hafid's beginnings, his initial success, and then his profound success, Mandino also aims to help people with salesmanship and success. In that sense, Mandino's novel is a fictional self-help book, something that is very rarely seen. The novel is broadly a book about how to become a great salesman; however, it is also a novel on the philosophy of how to lead a good life. Mandino's most significant piece of advice: "do it now."
When his novel was released, Mandino suggested that it should take — if one were to follow the reading structure outlined in the book — ten months to read his novel cover-to-cover. Despite the novel's unique structure, it received incredibly positive reviews when it was initially published in 1968. Because of The Greatest Salesman in the World's success, a sequel was commissioned. That novel, which continues Hafid's story, was published in 1988 and received positive reviews — just like its predecessor.
