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Business Movers

An Elf-Made Success | Elfy Profits: How The Elf On The Shelf Found Its Place At Christmas | 2

Business Movers

Wondery

History, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.81.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Mensch on a Bench author Neal Hoffman discusses how he was inspired to write his book by The Elf on the Shelf, the reasons behind the original book’s success and the growth of self-publishing over the last two decades. 

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:02.2

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0:05.7

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0:09.6

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0:14.3

Wonderly.

0:15.0

The Wondry! It's mid-December, 2014, inside a bed, bath, and beyond, in a small Georgia town outside of Atlanta.

0:36.2

Shanda Bell and her mother, Carol Abrasel,

0:38.6

stroll through the brightly lit store, navigating their half-filled shopping car through the maze

0:43.1

of bed sheets, vacuums, and bathroom accessories. Nearly a decade ago, Shanda and Carol wrote

0:49.2

the best-selling children's book, The Elf on the Shelf. Christmas is a busy time of year for them and their company, creatively classic activities

0:56.7

and books, but that doesn't mean that Shanda and Carol don't have their own holiday shopping

1:01.0

to do.

1:02.3

Shanda peers at the shelves, with some frustration.

1:05.3

Oh, God, any ideas for Dad?

1:07.2

I know.

1:07.9

Your father's impossible.

1:09.5

But anything's better than nothing.

1:11.7

Shanda picks up a footbath and starts reading the back of the box, wondering if perhaps this might make a good gift for her father.

1:18.5

What in the world is that? It's a footbath, Mom. He's always complaining about his aching feet.

1:24.6

Shanda looks up, but Carol isn't beside her anymore. She's walking further down the aisle

1:29.3

where she's staring at a very different display. Honey, come look at this. Shanda places the

1:35.3

footbath in her cart and then joins her mother. Carol is holding a box that looks a little

...

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