Sark’s philosophy is wrapped around simple adages, such as “Learn to celebrate your self” and “Every day there are experiences of self-healing.” By combining these phrases with bright, scribbled pictures and handwritten pages, she’s attracted a large following. So what does this succulent wild woman have that other women need? 

For starters, SARK does not ascribe to the logical presumption of self-help authors: They know more than you, and that’s why they wrote the book and you paid for it. SARK professes - and, to her credit, seems to believe - she doesn’t know any more than anyone else. She’s not trained as a therapist or clinical psychologist, nor is she as mainstream as other household-name pop psychologists such as Deepak Chopra, John Gray, author of Men Are from Mars, Women are from Venus, or Jack Canfield, editor of the kitschy Chicken Soup for the Soul series. And though she does seem like a self-help author on the surface, SARK isn’t as easy to classify. 

SARK encourages reviewing and revamping identity, but her books read more like personal journals than treatises on healthy living. She says, “This is what I did and maybe you should try it,” instead of, “This is what you should do.” In doing so, SARK paints herself as a fellow traveler joining her followers in the journey of self-discovery. She offers her readers a refuge, a friend who can empathize as well as provide inspiration.

SARK was born Susan Kennedy. During an interview in May with National Public Radio host Diane Rehm, SARK explained that Henry Miller appeared to her in a dream and told her to adopt Ariel Rainbow as her middle name. She tells readers she is a college graduate between 40 and 50 years old, has had dozens of jobs and lived in dozens of places. She attempted suicide and battled an eating disorder that she labels “currently inactive,” and has been in therapy for a long time. She once was - and periodically still is - deeply insecure. In one form or another, SARK has spent most of her life searching for herself.

She also speaks poignantly about being physically and sexually abused by an older brother for several years, and the profound effect the abuse has had on her life. She’s a survivor who writes openly and honestly about her experiences, and who considers herself very much a work in progress. Her audience, the women who find solace and inspiration in her work, likely identify with the need for acceptance to varying degrees, but based on her sales, her general message is clearly on target.

Adrienne Steele is SARK’s business partner and close friend. (The story of their meeting is quintessentially SARK and too involved to repeat, but it involves Steele’s life being profoundly changed by SARK’s “How To Be An Artist” poster, and results in Steele going to work for SARK after interviewing her for a magazine piece.) During a phone interview from Camp SARK’s second headquarters in Los Angeles, Steele gently lamented the lack of publicity SARK has attracted in the past. “There are more obscure authors who have had more press, and I think it’s because she’s kind of a good news author. There’s not as much of a market for that,” Steele said. “Most of the media is focused on negativity and sensationalism, and she’s really not about all that, but obviously she’s doing well.”

Quite well. Steele quotes SARK’s financial success with a measure of pride: about $22 million worth of book sales and $4 million from other retail products. More than 2 million books have been sold, roughly a quarter of which are 1997’s Succulent Wild Woman, her most popular book and the first with her current publisher, Simon and Schuster. Steele said at least 3000 people call the inspiration line each month to hear SARK’s recorded message. The Web site gets 7,000 to 10,000 unique visitors daily, and the site’s message board often gets more than 100 posts a day. “We get thousands of letters and e-mails from people saying she’s literally saved their lives,” Steele said.

The dialogue on the message board ranges from whimsical to desperate, but almost all of the posts are deeply personal. Many of the same names appear on a regular basis; the women have clearly gone beyond forming a personal connection to SARK’s work to creating a tight-knit virtual community. Some of the women refer to SARK and her work specifically, but most don’t - many simply take her core ideas and incorporate them seamlessly into their thinking. One message, from a woman who spent Thanksgiving in a hospital and whose family hadn’t acknowledged her, thanked the community of “SARK women” for their support. Another woman replied: "Some people are blessed with great birth families, some are not, some are blessed with loving non-related “family” members. Just know that you are looooved!"

Not surprisingly, Steele said 98 percent of SARK’s fan base is women; the target audience is between the ages of 15 and 60, though no additional information on their backgrounds is available. Certainly much of what attracts these women, whether teenagers or grandmothers, is SARK’s basic premise: People deserve more acceptance, love, respect and gentleness. It is what Oprah preaches daily, and a booming industry - from spa retreats that encourage self-indulgence to books that promise fulfillment - has built up around this nurturing philosophy.

“People in general read self-help books because there’s a need they can’t fill alone but might not be ready to talk about,” said Trisha Souders, a clinical social worker and founder of the Growth and Recovery Center in Fairfax, Va. “I can’t tell you how many times I go to Borders or Barnes and Noble because a client’s told me about a book - I go to check it out and the self-help area in the bookstore is incredibly crowded. People are searching for answers.”