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‘The Hidden Hindu’ by Akshat Gupta – book review

Mythological fiction is trending in Bharat these days. Authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Akshat Gupta, Amish Tripathi, Anand Neelakantan, etc. have made their mark in this genre by taking the base of their stories from Hindu itihasa and then weaving fictional stories around these. Some of these works go back to the past and reimagine these stories from the Hindu epics like the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and sacred texts like Puranas. Others reimagine the Hindu itihasa in a contemporary setting by reinterpreting some of these characters in the modern context. Most of these mythological fiction novels are written in fantasy and science-fiction style, drawing the reader into a world of suspense and intrigue even as they get to know elements of the Hindu itihasa.

Although the phrase “mythological fiction “is misleading when it comes to describing works inspired by Hindu itihasa, Sattological fiction would be a more apt title perhaps. The use of the word mythology reinforces the stereotype of Hindu epics and sacred texts being works of fiction which is highly problematic. But that’s the way it is within mainstream publishing. “Mythological fiction” is the standard term used for such works and debating the term is definitely a legit concern. But if we get stuck in that debate, we keep ourselves away from appreciating the current wave of Hindu renaissance that many of these authors are proudly heralding.

There are many such interesting titles to talk about. “Samsara: Enter the Valley of the Gods” by Saksham Garg, “The Shiva Trilogy” by Amish Tripathi, “The Magicians of Mazda” by Ashwin Sanghi, “Nala Damayanti” by Anand Neelakantan, etc. But I want to talk about a specific title here, “The Hidden Hindu” by Akshat Gupta.

“The Hidden Hindu” trilogy stands out for its choice of title. Most of the books in this genre choose neutral-sounding titles. Even though the subject matter is from Hindu epics, they avoid using the term Hindu. But author Akshat Gupta doesn’t mince words and calls his book “The Hidden Hindu”. In a detailed interview with a TV news channel, he reveals how he faced pressures to change the title of his book and call it “The Hidden Immortals “or something. Even as he was talking to various producers for the film rights of his yet-to-be-published book, they were highly skeptical about the use of the word Hindu in the title. But Akshat Gupta stood his ground and the resounding success of the book reaffirms the power of his conviction.

“The Hidden Hindu” reimagines Bharat’s puranic itihasa in a contemporary context. A twenty-one-year-old guy called Prithvi is anxiously looking for a rather mysterious 40- something Aghori, Om Shastri. The Aghori, who has been captured and transported to a high-tech facility on an isolated island in Bharat, claims to have been a witness to all the four yugas (epochs), Satyuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, and Kal Yuga. He is being interrogated by a team of experts who subject him to a heavy dose of sedatives and subsequently ask questions. What baffles them even more is that Om Shastri claims to be immortal! When they research and investigate his profile, they are perplexed further as they find multiple people with the same identity residing in different parts of Bharat at different points in time.

Om’s narration of his past lives, intertwined with various events of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, along with the history of advances of the ancient Bharatiya medicine system and the story of Sushruta, known as the father of plastic surgery. The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Bharatiya surgery, the “Sushruta Samhita” (circa 600 B.C.). In the course of the interrogation. Om Shastri also reveals he has been in search of the seven immortals of Hindu Dharma including Parashurama, Ashwatthama, P               rabhu Shri Hanuman, Ved Vyasa, Krupacharya, Vibhishana, and Mahabali.

“The Hidden Hindu” weaves a fictional narrative in a contemporary setting with a dash of science fiction. There is an exciting intersection of Hindu Dharma and technology in the narrative. The matter-of-fact way in which Om Shastri narrates the story of his existence across the four yugas and the stories of the seven immortals within a modern setting of psychiatrists and techies seems incongruous, even somewhat comical at first. But as the narrative progresses and Om Shastri’s revelations get more intense, even the most dismissive of the team members start to get convinced about the authenticity of Om Shastri’s story, and thus the authenticity of the stories of Hindu Dharma by extension.

“The Hidden Hindu” is thus also the story of the struggle of faith and its subsequent victory. In the 21 st century, even as Hindu Dharma is repeatedly mocked and many of the Puranic stories are dismissed as make-belief fantasy, a character like Om Shastri emerges whose powerful presence and unsettling stories make even the most cynical of Kalyuga inhabitants pause and think about the veracity of Om Shatri’s claims, and the authenticity of the stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata he narrates, by extension.

“The Hidden Hindu” is an extremely gripping narrative that keeps the reader hooked till the end. Once you finish the first part, you want to move on to the 2 nd and subsequently the 3 rd . The storytelling is akin to the style of cinematic screenplay. There is never a moment of boredom. The screenplay-like quality of the written text explains why the film rights of the novel were acquired by Dhoni Entertainment even before the book came out.

The greatest strength of a book like “The Hidden Hindu” is that it has the potential to get Bharatiya youth drawn to Hindu Dharma. The plot might be fictional, but the base material is stories and happenings from the Hindu itihasa. Akshat Gupta’s rendition of the stories from the epics is true to their original version. He doesn’t distort or misrepresent those stories. That’s why “The Hidden Hindu” is a great book for the Bharatiya youth. After reading the book, one would be compelled to google “The 7 immortals of Hinduism” or be drawn to reading original texts and seek more information on figures like Ashwathhama, Parshurama, Sushruta, etc. If a book of fiction can get the Bharatiya youth drawn to Hindu itihasa, that I think is no mean achievement.

Different people have different takes on the current wave of popularity being enjoyed by fiction books inspired by Hindu epics. Some are uncomfortable about the merging of fantasy and Hindu Dharmic itihasa concerned that such a merger will further embolden the lobby that declares all Hindu itihasa as “fictional” or mythological”. But I think one needs to look at the success of such books positively.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Hidden Hindu” by Akshat Gupta and nowhere did I feel, the author tried to sensationalize stories from the epics or tried to disrespect Hindu Dharma. On the contrary, the choice of the title “The Hidden Hindu” rather than an ambivalent neutral title tells the reader that the author is proud of his Hindu identity and doesn’t shy away from reinforcing the authenticity of the stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata which form the base material of the book.

The story of Om Shastri might be fictional but nowhere does the narrative voice create the impression that the stories of Hindu epics are fictional. On the contrary, the way the narrative is handled by the author, the authenticity of the stories of Hindu Dharmic texts is subtly reinforced at every step.

The fascinating character of Om Shastri can also be read as a microcosm of the Hindu identity. He is everywhere, and yet he is nowhere, he has been through all the yugas and yet, he is on an interrogation table, forced to prove his existence time and again. This then is also the story of Hindu identity.

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The Hidden Hindu | Akshat Gupta | Book Review

After a long time, I have chanced upon a book belonging to the modern-day mythological thriller genre. As far as I recall, it’s been quite a while since I last read a blend of mythological fiction, adventure thriller, and sci-fi. And with my expectations set quite high, I sat down for a roller coaster of a ride and started reading Akshat Gupta’s The Hidden Hindu. Read on to know more about the book and my experience of reading it.

First Impressions

From the cover image and background graphics to the bold font and the blurb at the back, to the glaring recommendation coming from stalwarts like Anand Neelakantan and Ravi Subramanian, everything seems to work really well. Thus, as far as first impressions are concerned, The Hidden Hindu creates a mighty good one.

Who can read?

The language used is simple yet impressive and keeping that in mind, the book can be easily read by a beginner-level reader. That being said, it will be a treat for everyone across the broad spectrum of readers from beginners to voracious.

However, elements from the Hindu  puranic  universe and  Itihaasa   are woven throughout the book, and hence, a little prior knowledge may prove helpful.

Starts with a bang

One of the best things about the book is that it starts with a bang. The first scene opens in 2041 with a worried old lady and Prithvi, a young man of 20, conversing about something. An unbelievable and tragic incident of the past that defies all logic and reasoning, and that forever changed the course of their lives.

Soon after, we are taken to a remote research facility in the heart of the Andaman Islands, where a highly covert mission is underway. The plot thickens quickly and the reader is hooked throughout.

The story as it goes

Book one of the trilogy mainly revolves around the eccentric, baffling, but charismatic character of the  Aghori  Om Shastri, who claims to have lived for thousands of years and has witnessed all the four yugas, including the events of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

After tracking him for over 200 years, it is decided to capture and interrogate the mysterious man. And it is during the covert interrogations that these unbelievable truths are revealed.

The fact that every modern tool and technique of lie-detection available to man fails to detect a single lie in Om’s story leaves everyone shocked and perplexed.

Further, his extraordinary strengths and super sharp instincts add to the enigma, for Om has the uncanny habit of doing the most extraordinary of things that aren’t humanely possible.

So, who is Om, and how does he accomplish such impossible feats?

Why is he taken into custody?

Who is conducting this super-secret operation and with what objective?

What further revelations are waiting to be unravelled? 

Om Shastri’s story challenges the very foundations of the concept of mortality as we know it.

What did I like?

One of the major plus points of The Hidden Hindu comes from its ability to flawlessly intertwine mythological events from thousands of years ago to historical events and events in the recent past. Stories of  puranic  characters like Sushen, Lakshman, Vidur, etc are connected to modern historical figures like Subhash Chandra Bose.

A major focus of the book is on the concept of the seven  Chiranjeevis  in the Hindu universe, which has been woven into the context of the modern world, thus creating an intriguing link between ancient, medieval, and present-day India.

Even though a large part of the book is about Om’s interrogation, but the pace and ideas, are constantly thrown in and then stirred, to create the maximum impact.

The writing makes use of a good amount of research. The way  Itihaasa , history, mathematics, science, and ancient knowledge are correlated and then plugged into the story is bound to leave the reader intrigued.

Character sketches and arcs are yet another strong points of the story. With every character, there is an additional layer of mystery. The pace is a little uneven. Fast, and then medium, and then fast again. But apart from that, every single aspect of the book calls for it to be labeled as a ‘must read’.

As for me, I cannot wait to delve into part 2 of the trilogy.

Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of The Hidden Hindu using the link below.

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About the Author

Sankalpita singh.

Meet Sankalpita, the bookworm extraordinaire! With an insatiable appetite for reading (over 100 books annually!), she started her blog, bookGeeks, in 2013. Now India's top-tier book blog, it attracts 700,000 monthly readers. She also runs a popular YouTube channel, inspiring a passion for Indian literature in all ages. Her ultimate goal? "To serve a nation through literature." With a passion for Indian literature, she's on a mission to ignite the reading spark in both kids and grown-ups alike.

Check latest articles from this author:

Balamurugan k a talks about his book, ‘a man eater in kasan kadu’ | interview, it happens | nishant gang | book review, everyday people | salini vineeth | book review, related articles, one of the good guys | araminta hall | book review, bobo and the magic cloak | reeham ahmed | book review.

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By Raheel Shakeel | Bookmark | Published 6 years ago

Sanatana dharma — ‘the eternal way’ — is a more apt term for all the diverse creeds, doctrines, sects and belief systems that have originated from the spiritually fertile terrain of the Indian Subcontinent. This is but one of the many misconceptions that Shashi Tharoor aims to dispel about the faith, in his new book, Why I Am Hindu .

He begins with a personal account, having been raised by religious parents, who instilled in him a deep reverence for their strand of Hinduism. On family trips to the southern tip of India, they would make pit-stops at every temple and pray to its presiding deity.  

Despite a religious upbringing, by his own admission, Tharoor is not a fundamentalist. Instead, he goes on at great length about the tolerant and inclusive spirit of the Hindu faith, that he and the majority of its believers, practice on a daily basis. The initial chapters are about the origins of the belief systems that come within the ambit of sanatana dharma .  

The six main branches of Hinduism — doctrines contained within the vast body of its sacred texts, including (but are not limited to) the Vedas , Upanishads , the epics of Mahabharata and the Ramayana (similar to The Illiad and The Odyssey ) and the Puranic texts that came later — all contributed to Hindu thought over the centuries. What sets it apart from the Abrahamic faiths is that it is a religion without a founder, prophet, or rigid dogmas.

Despite, or perhaps because of its ancient roots, the author contends that it has shown a remarkable tendency to adapt, absorb and even reform within itself the many belief systems that it encountered, as well as the ones that originated from within its fold. He alludes the sanatana dharama to the banyan tree, which is deeply rooted in the ground, but spreads its branches far and wide, sheltering a multitude of different beliefs within its shade. Over the ages, it has met with its fair share of existential challenges.

The first such threat posed to Hindu orthodoxy, was at the advent of Jainism and Buddhism. The emphasis of these two religions on   non-violence ( ahimsa ) and liberation of the self ( moksha ) to escape the cycle of rebirth, won them an increasing number of followers.  

The 8th century philosopher sage, Adi Shankara, not only incorporated the many precepts of Jainism and Buddhism in Hinduism’s fold, but also formulated his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta — the union of Atman (self) and Brahman (the whole). He travelled the four corners of the Indian landmass professing his beliefs and setting monastic orders along the way, all of which exist to this day.  

Within a few centuries, both Jainism and Buddhism ceased to be a threat to Hinduism. Similarly, the syncretic Bhakti movement of the 16th century, and its emphasis on one God, egalitarianism and devotional hymns, were inspired in response to the threat posed by an ascendant Islam, after the formation of the Delhi Sultanate and later, the Mughal Empire. It claimed devotees from Muslims — notably the 15th century mystic Kabir — as well as Hindus.  

Sikhism was also a by-product of the intermingling of Islam and Hinduism. Even though it is a separate religion, it still is considered a branch of sanatana dharma . In a similar vein, there was a whole slew of reformist movements by luminaries such as Ram Mohan Roy — the founder of the Brahmo Samaj movement — and Swami Vivekananda, who founded the Ramakrishna Mission that countered Christian missionaries. It was the creative adaptability and resilience of its votaries that Tharoor contends led to Hinduism’s dominance, at least in the spiritual landscape of India, through the ages.

The book is not a hagiography by any means. Tharoor critically examines   some of the controversial tenets of the Hindu faith, including the inequities of the caste system, heavy reliance on superstitious beliefs, acceptance of horoscopes as fate and the many charlatans that have posed as spiritual gurus, bringing the faith in disrepute.

The second part of the book delves into the origins of political Hinduism, chiefly its most virulent form — Hindutva — and the threat it poses to Indian polity. He goes on at length about Golwalkar, Savarkar and Upadhyaya, whose exclusionary nationalism gave birth to the far right movements of RSS, VHP, Mahasabha and eventually, their political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which holds the levers of power in India today. The demolition of the Babri Masjid, the massacre of more than 2,000 Gujrat Muslims right under the nose of the then chief minister Narendra Modi, the lynching of Dalits and Muslims for eating beef, and the removal of the Mughals from history textbooks, are only a few of the horrific manifestations of this insidious ideology.  

Ironically, it is Hindutva — a doctrine that aims to go back to a pristine version of the Hindu faith — that poses the biggest threat to the Hindus in present times. It is all the more alarming that the ruling party, the BJP, is the by-product of the Hindutva ideology, which won a landslide victory in the general elections using anti-minority sentiments as a ballast to its electoral triumph.

The last part of the book focuses on the ways in which Hinduism can be won back from its abusers. Besides a personal avowal to hold on to the inclusive, tolerant spirit of Hinduism and a recapitulation of its glorious history, the author doesn’t present any political manifesto or strategy to counter it. There is no mention about how moderate Hindus and other minorities in today’s India, may assemble and resist a movement that wants to consign them to the margins.  

Another glaring bias of the book is how the author paints Pakistan as some sort of a theocratic state. As a historian, he should be well aware that the need for Pakistan arose out of the obstinacy of the Nehru-led Congress, to concede any ground on the question of Muslim representation in an Independent India. It was first and foremost a political dispute with a religious dimension, rather than vice versa. Another extraordinary claim he makes is that the Pakistan Army declared war on the ‘unbelievers’ in 1971, when in fact it was the Indian army that proactively intervened in the war on ‘humanitarian grounds,’ with the intention of dismembering Pakistan’s eastern flank.

He lauds the unity in the diversity of Indians, citing Hinduism’s inclusive spirit as one of the major factors behind this, but gives scant attention to the various insurrections that have been raging ever since India’s independence — be it in Kashmir, Nagaland and its Northeast frontier provinces   or the Naxalite rebellion. The affected populations of these states include both Hindus and non-Hindus.  

Tharoor’s latest work is, nevertheless, timely. It comes at a time when India is at a crossroads. The book simplifies the many strands of Hindu thought for a general audience, and outlines the threat posed to it by the enemy within.

Written by Raheel Shakeel

The writer has been associated with media and the social sector.He tweets @hadesinshades

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Book Review: ‘When the Sea Came Alive’ expands understanding of D-Day invasion

This cover image released by Avid Reader shows “When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day” by Garrett M. Graff. (Avid Reader via AP)

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Writing about the Allied invasion of Normandy , Garrett M. Graff is treading onto familiar history with his latest book.

From books by historian Stephen Ambrose to films like Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” there’s ample works chronicling the June 6, 1944, landing during World War II that ultimately led to the downfall of Nazi Germany.

But in “When The Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day,” Graff weaves together hundreds of eyewitness accounts to create a history that stands alongside those works, expanding readers’ understanding of D-Day and offering a new, complete portrait in time for the 80th anniversary commemorations .

The oral history begins with a look at the planning of the operation, going back to 1943, and the buildup of personnel and equipment in the months leading up to the operation.

Graff uses a wide array and diversity of voices that give a fuller picture of the lead-up to the invasion, as well as the fighting itself. The book excels in highlighting the experiences of Black soldiers who landed on D-Day beaches and women who were part of the story, such as correspondent Martha Gellhorn.

But it should come as no surprise that the most harrowing portions of the book remain the landing and the battles that occurred on D-Day itself, with vivid first-hand account. Graff skills at sifting through the accounts and documents propel the action throughout the book.

Graff’s book is a testimony to the value in preserving memories from grand historical events, demonstrating how much can be unearthed from even the most familiar stories.

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

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How a Self-Published Book Broke ‘All the Rules’ and Became a Best Seller

Keila Shaheen’s “The Shadow Work Journal” shows how radically book sales and marketing have been changed by TikTok.

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By Alexandra Alter

Last summer, a book changed Kohn Glay’s life.

A TikTok ad had steered him to “The Shadow Work Journal,” a slim workbook that directs readers to explore hidden parts of their unconscious — their shadow selves, in the book’s vernacular. He ordered a copy, and soon was back on TikTok, fervently recommending it to his followers.

“If you’re on your spiritual journey, you absolutely need to go and get you one of these,” he says in the video , urging viewers to buy the book in the TikTok store.

The video went viral, eventually drawing more than 58 million views. Glay, who is 43 and lives in Baltimore, began holding online classes to guide people through the journal. Over the next few months, people who watched his videos bought more than 40,000 copies of the book on TikTok, and Glay earned more than $150,000 in commissions. By December, he had quit his job as a sales representative for Home Depot and now runs his own business, “Happy Healin,” which offers subscribers spiritual mentorship and coaching through Zoom sessions.

Glay is part of the army of TikTok influencers who helped turn “The Shadow Work Journal” into a mega best seller. He’s so closely associated with the book that people often assume he wrote it. “It became a daily thing to tell people I’m not the author,” he said.

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The real creator of “The Shadow Work Journal” is Keila Shaheen, a 25-year-old writer from Texas with a background in marketing who self-published the book in 2021, and has since been crowned “the self-help queen of TikTok .”

After the journal blew up on TikTok, Shaheen went on to sell more than a million copies. Most of those — nearly 700,000 copies — were sold through the TikTok shop, and were marketed relentlessly by passionate influencers like Glay, who earn a 15 percent commission on each sale from Zenfulnote, Shaheen’s company.

Shaheen’s unusual path to bestsellerdom shows how radically book marketing and sales have been changed by TikTok. Over the past few years, publishers have frantically rushed to harness the power of the platform as viral videos and reviews by influencers have propelled sales for blockbuster authors like Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry and Sarah J. Maas.

But Shaheen is perhaps the first self-published nonfiction author to break out in a big way on the platform, a feat she accomplished by fully harnessing its potential not just for marketing, but for direct sales.

Her stunning trajectory has left many authors and publishers wondering whether that formula can be replicated, and how publishers can navigate the new online retail ecosystem — a fast moving, algorithm-driven marketplace that threatens to cut them out entirely.

“To think that she achieved a million copies sold in the United States alone, without a publisher, without any international expansion, without brick and mortar support, it breaks all the rules of what makes a best seller,” said Albert Lee, a literary agent with United Talent Agency, which represents Shaheen.

Others wonder just how much bigger Shaheen’s self-help empire can get. Earlier this year, Shaheen signed a five-book deal with Simon & Schuster, after months of being courted by big publishing houses.

Simon & Schuster won her over with an unusual arrangement: a seven-figure advance, plus a 50-50 profit share. Publishers typically give authors an advance and then a 15 percent cut of royalties if they earn back the advance. The deal included a new, expanded edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” which was released in late April, with a first printing of 100,000 copies, plus two new books by Shaheen.

“We really wanted to show Keila that we had a long-term vision,” said Michelle Herrera Mulligan, the vice president and associate publisher of Primero Sueño Press/Atria, the Simon & Schuster imprint that signed Shaheen. “There is still a huge untapped audience for this book.”

In person, Shaheen comes across as soft-spoken and reserved, not as a hyper-driven entrepreneur or a charismatic wellness guru.

During an interview in late April at a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, Shaheen seemed slightly stunned by the flood of attention, and money, that her book has generated. The next day, she appeared on “Good Morning America” to promote the new edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” then had meetings at her publisher and literary agent’s offices.

Shaheen, who has suffered from acute social anxiety in the past, was surprised by how calm she felt, she said.

“I’m a huge introvert, so that was a testament to how much I’ve grown,” she said.

Shaheen first encountered the idea of shadow work in 2021, when she was feeling anxious and adrift in the wake of the pandemic. After graduating from Texas A&M in 2020 with a degree in business and psychology, she found work in online retail and marketing — including a stint as a creative strategist for TikTok. Coming out of the isolation of Covid, Shaheen felt disconnected, and found working in a corporate environment overwhelming.

One day, while searching online for therapeutic journaling prompts, she came across references to the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s idea of the shadow self, which holds that parts of our unconscious can mask hidden fears and desires. She learned about a practice called shadow work, a somewhat fringe field that draws on Jung’s ideas to guide people as they interrogate their shadow selves, with the goal of accepting parts of themselves that make them feel guilty, ashamed or afraid.

Shaheen started posting videos on Instagram and TikTok about shadow work exercises she was trying, and began getting messages from viewers asking for a printed guide. So in the fall of 2021, she self-published the journal, and began selling copies for $19.99.

The first edition — which didn’t even have Shaheen’s name on the cover — was a slim paperback that guided readers through shadow work with interactive exercises, including Mad Lib-style fill-in-the-blanks (“As a child, I was told not to ___, this made me very ___”), inner child affirmations (“I am protected”) and journaling prompts (“What is your biggest fear in life?”).

Sales were slow at first. Then, in late 2022, TikTok expanded into online retail. The platform started selling products directly through the app, and created an affiliate program, which allowed influencers to post videos about products in the store and earn a commission. Once Shaheen started selling the journal through TikTok, requests came pouring in from influencers who wanted free copies in exchange for video promotion.

TikTok was soon flooded with emotional videos of users filling out the journal’s pages; some gushed that the journal is cheaper than therapy .

The journal also drew some skepticism. Some on social media attacked shadow work as anti-Christian and even demonic. Others said it failed to live up to the hype, or complained that their feeds seemed to be wallpapered with ads for the journal.

Still others questioned Shaheen’s credentials as a mental health guide. Shaheen — who is described in her author bio as “a certified sound healer and behavioral therapy practitioner” — completed an online training course in cognitive-behavioral therapy, but is not a licensed therapist.

Some experts in Jungian psychology worry that “The Shadow Work Journal” oversimplifies Jung’s ideas.

“My concern about it is that the shadow is really complex,” said Connie Zweig, a retired psychotherapist who has published several books on shadow work. “It can be risky to go exploring in the dark without guidance, without expertise.”

Shaheen said that she always intended the journal to be an introduction to shadow work, not a comprehensive guide.

“The journal is meant to be a bridge,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s created to replace therapy.”

By September, the book hit No. 1 on Amazon. In October, Shaheen met with two agents from United Talent Agency, Rebecca Gradinger and Albert Lee. The agency could help her build an international audience and get her book in physical stores, they told her.

Shaheen signed with them about a week before the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest fair for international rights in publishing, and the agency then sold translation rights to “The Shadow Work Journal” in 27 countries, Lee said.

Shaheen was still reluctant to hand over U.S. rights to “The Shadow Work Journal.” She was already a best seller, and “the initial offers weren’t compelling,” she said. Her agents agreed that a typical publishing deal might not benefit her.

“Keila’s at the vanguard of unlocking this entirely new market and ecosystem,” Lee said. “It became very obvious that in traditional publishing, we were all well behind what Keila was doing.”

Shaheen was swayed by Primero Sueño’s profit-splitting offer, which came with a plan to publish and market Spanish-language editions. Shaheen, whose father is from Puerto Rico and whose mother is from Brazil, saw the potential to expand her reach among Spanish speakers.

It’s still unclear whether “The Shadow Work Journal” will catch on with a wider demographic, or if it owes its popularity to a viral trend that has waned. So far, the new edition has sold nearly 18,000 copies, according to Circana Bookscan — a healthy amount, but hardly a hit.

Herrera Mulligan, Primero Sueño’s publisher, said “The Shadow Work Journal” is just the beginning: “We really want her to be the new empress of self-help.”

Primero Sueño is now aiming to saturate the self-help market with Shaheen’s books, and has set an aggressive publishing schedule, releasing two more of Shaheen’s self-published titles this year — one in July, another in October. The titles, along with her poetry collection, are big on TikTok and have sold around 100,000 copies collectively on the platform.

She is also working on two new books: one about the origins and applications of shadow work and another titled “The Light Work Journal,” which prompts readers to reflect on and enhance their strengths.

And Shaheen, no longer held back by social anxiety, seems ready to embrace the spotlight. Unlike the first edition of “The Shadow Work Journal,” the new edition features her name in large font — under a banner that says “more than 1 million copies sold.”

Alexandra Alter writes about books, publishing and the literary world for The Times. More about Alexandra Alter

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