author
Melvin Powers
b. 1922
Known for practical books on self-hypnosis, sales, and personal improvement, this American writer and publisher built a career around making ambitious ideas feel usable. He started young in mail-order bookselling and later founded Wilshire Book Company, which helped bring his straightforward self-help approach to a wide audience.
1 Audiobook
A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis
by Melvin Powers
About the author
Born in Boston in 1922, he began working in the book business remarkably early: at 16, he was already running a mail-order operation selling books, first in niche subjects like chess and then across a wider range of practical topics. That entrepreneurial start shaped the rest of his career.
He went on to found Wilshire Book Company and became closely associated with accessible self-help and instructional publishing. His books covered subjects such as self-hypnosis, positive thinking, advertising, and mail-order business, with A Practical Guide to Self-Hypnosis among his best-known titles.
Readers who pick up his work today will usually find a direct, no-frills style aimed at everyday improvement rather than theory for its own sake. Available sources also describe him as living from 1922 to 2013, though detailed biographical information beyond his publishing career appears limited.