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.

When you purchase an independently ranked book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

1
Getting You Ready for Power
#1 in Women▲ Up 9

Getting You Ready for Power

BY ALEXIS MERUELO

#WealthBuilding #CEOLeadership #Communication

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.

2
Likeable Badass
#2 in Women

Likeable Badass

BY ALISON FRAGALE

#LikeableBadass #WomenInfluence #PowerAndWarmth

For women in the workplace, the real barrier isn't competence or credentials—it's status, and status is something you can build. Behavioral scientist and professor Alison Fragale spent decades researching why capable women stall out despite doing everything right. Her answer centers on a concept psychologists call status—how others perceive you—which no title, degree or salary can manufacture on its own. Likeable Badass lays out a research-backed framework for cultivating two qualities simultaneously: warmth and assertiveness. Together, they create the kind of reputation that earns real influence, not just formal authority. Equal parts behavioral science and practical playbook, this book is written for women navigating any workplace, their allies and anyone who wants evidence-based strategies for rising without sacrificing the goodwill of the people around them.

3
The Success Lie
#3 in WomenNEW TO LIST

The Success Lie

BY CHANTELL PRESTON

#SpiritualGrowth #PersonalGrowth #WealthBuilding

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

4
Start with Yourself
#4 in Women▼ Down 1

Start with Yourself

BY EMMA GREDE

#PersonalGrowth #WealthBuilding

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.

5
Clock in
#5 in Women▼ Down 1

Clock in

BY EMILY DURHAM

#ECommerce #WealthBuilding #SuccessMindset

The average job search takes more than five months—and most of that time is wasted on advice that was never designed to help you. Emily Durham, known to her following as Emily the Recruiter, has spent years inside the hiring process watching candidates stumble over obstacles that never needed to exist. Clock In draws on her experience as both recruiter and career coach to demystify job hunting, salary negotiation, networking and workplace confidence—covering everything from optimizing your résumé and LinkedIn profile to defeating impostor syndrome and communicating with authority. For anyone tired of corporate doublespeak and vague career platitudes, this is the no-filter guide to getting hired, getting paid and building a career that doesn't consume your entire identity.

6
Better Allies
#6 in WomenNEW TO LIST

Better Allies

BY KAREN CATLIN, SALLY MCGRAW

#BetterAllies #Inclusion #WorkplaceEquity

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.

7
The Good Boss
#7 in WomenNEW TO LIST

The Good Boss

BY KATE EBERLE WALKER

#CEOLeadership #WealthBuilding #DigitalMarketing

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.

8
Man-Made
#8 in WomenNEW TO LIST

Man-Made

BY KAREN KORELLIS REUTHER

#Poverty #WealthBuilding

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read " A powerful and urgent call to action—for the health and safety of half of our population, it's time we rethink the male body ideal and build a world that includes us all." —Dr. Elizabeth Comen, MD, medical oncologist, associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone, and bestselling author of All in Her Head "This book challenges us to ask new questions and, more important, to question old answers." —John Hoke III, chairman of the board of MillerKnoll and former chief innovation-design officer of Nike, Inc. An industrial designer and former Global Creative Director at Nike delivers a sharp critique of the consequences of a world built by and for men, and offers an optimistic look at how we might build a better world for us all. Women and men inhabit the same world, yet it does not suit them both equally. Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a car crash than men. In the military, women suffer pelvic fractures at a much higher rate than their male counterparts. In construction, 90% of women are unable to find proper fitting safety gear. These outcomes are not a coincidence—they are a result of products where the female population is an afterthought at best. Automobile crash test dummies used for safety tests are designed based on male anatomy, as is firefighting gear and personal protective equipment. Using a "shrink it and pink it" strategy, sneakers for women are scaled down versions originally designed for a man's foot, and colored a stereotypical feminine color - like pink. In the design of products and places, the female body is often invisible and ignored. The result is a world less hospitable and more dangerous for women. It doesn't have to be this way. A designer for over 40 years at some of the world's top corporations, including Reebok and Nike, Karen Korellis Reuther has witnessed the way women continue to be excluded from critical product design decisions. But Man-Made , isn't a patriarchal lament; it is a rousing call to action drawn from research-backed insights, market analyses, and expertise from leading designers, executives, and economists. From the simply insulting and uncomfortable to the dangerous and deadly, the effects of exclusively man-made designs are wide-ranging. Rethinking and expanding product design and architecture, Reuther contends, will not only create a world that better fits women, but a world that better fits everyone.

9
Your Time to Rise
#9 in WomenNEW TO LIST

Your Time to Rise

BY ARIVEE VARGAS

#StressManagement #WealthBuilding

Are you ready to rethink your beliefs, let go of heavy expectations, and rise to claim the joy and fulfillment you deserve? Growing up as a first-generation Latina and navigating fast-paced corporate work environments, Arivee Vargas is well-versed in how heavily cultural and societal expectations can weigh on women of color trying to traverse life, work, and, for some, motherhood. Arivee wrote this book primarily for women of color who are ready to embark on the path of change, get honest with themselves, and decide how they want to live and work. Your Time to Rise is about increasing self-awareness, gaining clarity, uncovering your truth, envisioning possibilities, and aligning what's inside with what you're doing, saying, and pursuing on the outside. Arivee shows you how to use her simple, four-part framework to navigate personal and professional inflection points. She also gives relatable examples of what women (and specifically, women of color) face at the intersection of work and their personal lives. Most importantly, Arivee provides actionable strategies and tools to help you break free from the often harmful and limiting beliefs and expectations you've internalized that are keeping you stuck and dissatisfied. Your Time to Rise will equip you with what you need on your journey to rise up to claim your truth and the long overdue clarity, joy, and fulfillment you deserve.

10
The Whisper Way
#10 in WomenNEW TO LIST

The Whisper Way

BY CARRIE KERPEN

#WealthBuilding #Workplace #Ethics

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.

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