The Top 10 Bestselling Women Books
Women are redefining success on their own terms—in the boardroom, in their communities and in every arena that matters. That’s why we’ve curated the bestselling books by and for women who are leading, building and breaking barriers.
From memoirs of trailblazers to practical guides for navigating today’s professional landscape, these books celebrate ambition, resilience and the power of women lifting each other up.
And don’t just take our word for it: The SUCCESS® Bestsellers list is compiled using data from print and eBook sales from various online and brick-and-mortar retailers to provide you with a reliable and comprehensive list of the bestselling books for women.
For more information about how the SUCCESS® Bestsellers list is compiled, check out the methodology.
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The Success Lie
BY CHANTELL PRESTON
The success women were promised is often the very thing holding them back. The Success Lie shows how to build a life and career that actually fit. They say you can have it all—but at what cost? In The Success Lie , leadership expert and growth strategist Chantell Preston challenges the deeply ingrained beliefs that tell us success means doing more, earning more, sacrificing more—until there's nothing left of us. Through candid storytelling, research-backed insight, and practical reflection, Preston exposes the cultural lies that keep high-achieving women stuck in cycles of overperformance, guilt, and self-doubt. From "you can have it all" to "your worth is tied to your productivity," Preston dismantles the narratives that shape our choices and teaches us how to reframe those stories to redefine what success means to each of us. Drawing from her own journey across global leadership roles, motherhood, and burnout, she offers a compassionate but clear-eyed guide to building a rich and satisfying life—without walking away from ambition, purpose, or impact. In The Success Lie , readers will learn how to: Identify the 9 lies shaping their definition of success Reframe achievement without sacrificing health, joy, or relationships Set boundaries that protect energy and purpose Integrate career, family, and personal growth without constant guilt Build confidence rooted in self-trust—not external validation This is not a book about quitting your career or lowering your standards. It's about alignment—learning to make decisions and take actions that reflect who you are now, not who you were told to be. Grounded, honest, and deeply relatable, The Success Lie is a call to stop chasing someone else's version of an extraordinary life—and start building yours. Let's do this
Getting You Ready for Power
BY ALEXIS MERUELO
Power is not about becoming someone else. It's about returning to who you've always been and choosing to lead from that place. Women don't lack ambition or talent; they lack permission. Permission to trust themselves, to take up space, and to lead without apology. In Getting You Ready for Power , Alexis Meruelo discusses the importance of being seen, supported, and encouraged to lead authentically. Blending personal insight with practical strategy, Meruelo guides you through the mindset shifts and tools required to move from self-doubt to self-belief. Along the way, you'll learn how to release limiting narratives, challenge systems that were never designed with you in mind, advocate for yourself with confidence, and build a community of women who elevate and support your growth. Drawing from her own career and pivotal experiences with women who led differently, Meruelo reveals how we have always been powerful, but we have simply been taught to doubt it. That moment of being seen, supported, and encouraged to lead authentically reshaped how she shows up and now informs how she mentors women to recognize their own strength and step forward with clarity and conviction. Written as a guide for women of all ages, backgrounds, and career levels, Getting You Ready for Power meets you exactly where you are-whether you're starting your career or taking the next step as a seasoned professional-and guides you with confidence as you achieve your dreams. You are ready. And the world is waiting for you to step into your power.
Stop Asking for Referrals
BY FLOR DE MARIA MCNALLY
Most agents are taught to beg for referrals, buy leads, and grind until they burn out. Flor de Maria McNally did the opposite and built a business that closes more than 120 homes a year, almost entirely by word of mouth. In Stop Asking for Referrals , McNally shares the relationship-first playbook that took her and her husband from owing $350,000 to a debt-free, referral-powered life while raising six kids under eight. No gimmicks. No billboards. No "please send me business" scripts. Instead, you'll learn how to become the kind of professional people talk about naturally, because your service is memorable long after closing day. Readers will learn how to create clients for life with simple, repeatable systems: meaningful follow-up, personal touches that scale, events that build community, and boundaries that protect what matters most. You'll also discover how to stay consistent when volume rises, how to strengthen your database without sounding transactional, and how to build trust through a clear, values-driven client experience. Written with warmth, humor, and hard-earned candor, it's for top-producing real estate agents with families who feel stretched thin and want a better way to grow, serve, and lead at home and at work, every day.
Start with Yourself
BY EMMA GREDE
Emma Grede dropped out of high school in East London and became one of America's wealthiest self-made entrepreneurs — here's how she thinks. Cofounding culture-defining global businesses while raising four children, Grede built her success by dismantling what she calls "Old Thoughts" — stale, ingrained beliefs about work-life balance, money and ambition that aren't rules at all, but biases masquerading as wisdom. Start with Yourself translates her philosophy into structured, immediately applicable takeaways: how to manage emotions, clarify goals, recover from failure, stay accountable and move forward without waiting for permission or a perfect moment. For anyone who feels like a passenger in their own life, Grede's blueprint is bracingly direct — no inherited advantages required. She doesn't promise shortcuts, but she doesn't tell you to ignore them either. This is ambition reframed as a practice, not a personality trait.
Drop the Ball
BY TIFFANY DUFU, GLORIA STEINEM
The most important skill ambitious women need isn't doing more—it's learning to let go of doing everything. Tiffany Dufu was a standard-bearer for the women's leadership movement and a self-described poster girl for doing it all—until having her first child exposed the unsustainability of that ideal. Drop the Ball blends memoir and manifesto to argue that women's leadership stalls not from lack of ambition but from an excess of obligation. Dufu shows how reevaluating expectations, shrinking the to-do list and meaningfully delegating to others creates the bandwidth necessary to pursue what actually matters. For driven women who have been told that having it all requires doing it all, this book offers a direct counterargument: embracing imperfection and expecting more from others isn't a concession—it's the strategy that allows real goals, deeper relationships and lasting success to coexist.
Better Allies
BY KAREN CATLIN, SALLY MCGRAW
A more inclusive workplace isn't built by good intentions—it's built by people who know exactly what to do. Karen Catlin, a sought-after expert on workplace allyship, lays out a practical, scenario-based approach to becoming a more effective ally at every level of an organization. This fully revised second edition of Better Allies draws on years of talks, workshops and community interactions to show readers how to attract diverse talent, amplify overlooked voices, give equitable feedback and use language that includes rather than excludes. For anyone who wants to move beyond awareness into action, Better Allies is built for the realities of daily work life—not just the big moments. It offers concrete steps for creating cultures where people from every background can contribute fully and thrive.
The Good Boss
BY KATE EBERLE WALKER
When it comes to a woman's day-to-day experience and her career trajectory, one key player has the most significant impact: her boss. If we really want to support women in the workplace, managers must step up. The good news is that many of the things you can do to be a better manager for women are easy. In The Good Boss , CEO and business consultant Kate Eberle Walker offers timely, tactical advice based on her experience coaching managers, as well as the lessons she learned working her own way up the corporate ladder. Eberle Walker outlines nine straightforward rules that any manager can follow to help the women on their team—whether they oversee one, one hundred, or one thousand employees. You'll learn: - How to build stronger working relationships by being your authentic self - How she balances work and family, and what you can do to help - What to do (and what not to do) when a new mother returns to work - How to identify and deal with problematic comments and behaviors from her coworkers - When is the right time to be a tough boss and how to navigate difficult conversations Eberle Walker also shares insights from CEOs across a range of industries who use creative, forward-thinking methods to support women throughout an entire organization. This guide is for all managers—male and female—who want to avoid common missteps, get great results from their employees, and put them on the path to happy and fulfilling careers.
The Whisper Way
BY CARRIE KERPEN
Women-owned businesses earn half what men's do — and when it's time to sell, even the most successful women entrepreneurs settle for less. Carrie Kerpen, who built and exited her own company for eight figures, calls this the exit gap — and The Whisper Way is her method for closing it. Told through a fable following seven women as they transform their businesses into sellable assets, the book blends leadership lessons from women who have achieved substantial exits with practical evaluations, tools and implementation guides for applying Kerpen's start-scale-sell framework to your own company. For women who run lifestyle businesses and want to turn them into lasting, lucrative assets, The Whisper Way offers a concrete, profitable path — whether you're just starting out, building momentum or getting ready to cash in.
Map Your Ascent
BY ASHWINI BALASUBRAMANIAN
Change is inevitable, but learning to rise through it is a choice. When the world shifts around you, when your voice feels drowned out, or when the next step is unclear, courage becomes your greatest compass. In Map Your Ascent , global executive Ashwini Balasubramanian reveals how to transform uncertainty into momentum. Through vivid storytelling and deeply personal reflections—from her childhood in India to engineering leadership across iconic US companies—she illustrates how identity, belonging, reinvention, and resilience shape every chapter of our ascent. Blending lived experience with practical tools, including her powerful 3Ps Framework (Personality, Perspective, and Presence) and the Opportunity Filter, Balasubramanian shows readers how to pivot with intention through personal and professional transitions. Both a compelling narrative and a practical guide, Map Your Ascent offers a road map for anyone standing at the edge of change—ready to grow, ready to rise, and ready to lead.
I See You
BY AMY KEMP
Increase your influence, impact, and income without destroying yourself Are you giving your all every day only to be left feeling like you're falling short at work and at home? Are you committed to growing your influence, impact, and income but unsure how to achieve more without sacrificing yourself in the process? CEO and business coach Amy Kemp has been there. She knows what it's like to want more professionally while simultaneously feeling like there is no more time or energy left to give. And she has answers. In I See You , Amy draws on her twenty years of experience growing her own successful business, as well as what she's learned from coaching thousands of women, to give you the tools you need to increase your level of success while working fewer hours. You will learn how to set clear boundaries, how to leverage your natural genius to increase your income, and how to redistribute the enormous quantity of unpaid work you do at home to free up your energy and time. Written in an intimate style with relatable stories and end-of-chapter exercises that will have you digging deep into each concept, this guide feels like a one-on-one coaching session with Amy. And while the idea of working less to achieve more may seem unconventional, if you bravely work through the book, making small daily changes and trusting the process, you will rediscover the best and most successful version of yourself personally and professionally.