Carnegie had been conducting business education courses in New York since 1912.[3] In 1934, Leon Shimkin, of the publishing firm Simon & Schuster, took one of Carnegie’s 14-week courses on human relations and public speaking, and later persuaded Carnegie to let a stenographer take notes from the course to be revised for publication.[3] The initial five thousand copies of the book sold exceptionally well, going through 17 editions in its first year alone