The Non-Obvious Trend Series
One book every year from 2011 to 2020, each one researched and written by Rohit, each one built around fifteen curated trends. The series won more than twenty awards, reached more than a million readers, and ended on schedule with the Wall Street Journal bestselling Non-Obvious Megatrends.
One Shelf, One Decade
Every edition from 2011 through 2019 is now free to read in full. Non-Obvious Megatrends, the finale, is available as a free excerpt or in print.
Edition By Edition
The series changed shape as it went: a free slide deck, then an Amazon bestseller, then a full-length book, then a redesign, then a finale. Here is what each edition set out to do.
Released free as a slide presentation rather than a book, the first edition introduced fifteen trends and the concept of Likeonomics, which later grew into a full book of its own.
The lens widened from marketing to business as a whole, taking in corporate culture, charitable causes, the early promise of big data and the digital afterlife of the people we lose.
The third edition topped Amazon’s Marketing Research category for nearly three months and drew more than 250,000 views of the online edition.
This edition introduced the five research categories used in every edition after it: culture and consumer behavior, marketing and social media, economics and entrepreneurship, technology and design, and media and education.
The first edition published as a full-length book, with an extensive new section on the craft of trend curation itself. It became an instant Wall Street Journal bestseller and put the Haystack Method into readers’ hands.
Few trend forecasters grade their own homework. This edition added an index rating all sixty trends from the previous four years, with an honest mark on how each prediction had held up.
Fifteen new trends paired with a recap of four years of research, and a Silver Medal for Business Theory from the Axiom Book Awards.
A full visual upgrade: color interiors, far more illustration, and every trend icon redrawn. It won six major business awards and was a finalist for the American Marketing Association’s Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Prize.
The format evolved again with large text callouts and a comprehensive appendix reviewing every trend from the previous eight years.
The finale, published exactly as planned. Instead of fifteen new trends, a decade of research distilled into ten megatrends built to last, alongside the complete Haystack Method.
Award-Winning Research
Across ten editions the series has been recognized by business award juries, independent publishing programs and reader panels alike. Here is every award the series has earned, and what each one is for.
Presented by the American Business Awards, often described as the world’s premier business awards, the Stevies recognize achievement across every industry and category.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
The Axiom Awards recognize exemplary business books. The Business Theory category rewards big-picture thinking about how business itself is changing.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Soundview summarizes the year’s most important business books for an audience of CEOs, government leaders and entrepreneurs, and names a short list of the very best.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Named for the longshoreman philosopher, the Hoffer Award honors salient writing and the independent spirit of small publishers.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
The IPPY Awards honor the best independently published titles from around the world. This medal recognized the ten-book series as a whole rather than any single edition.
The Non-Obvious Trend Series
Judged on quality of content, originality, design and production in the Business, Career and Sales category.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
The largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, won by the series in two separate years.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition and Non-Obvious Megatrends
A global competition for independent publishers in which judges weigh each book against a broad set of editorial and production criteria.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
A program that has evaluated and promoted thousands of independently published books since 2007.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Created to honor excellence in nonfiction books, judged by a panel drawn from the association’s membership of writers and publishers.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
Books are evaluated on content, quality, writing style, presentation and cover design.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
A program designed to foster the promotion of new authors and books, with a single title named across all nonfiction each year.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
A global competition that honors excellence across all types of literature, with separate placings inside each subject category.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Hermes honors the messengers and creators of the information revolution. Platinum is its top tier, awarded to work judged exceptional in its field.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Granted to books that demonstrate notable merit through engaging and inventive content.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
An international competition open to independently and traditionally published authors alike, with Distinguished Favorite marking the runners-up to each category winner.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
A special distinction inside the Hoffer Awards given to the most thought-provoking books, those that illuminate, progress or redirect thought.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
Named for the media theorist, this award recognizes books that study media environments and the ways they quietly shape how people think and behave.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
The AMA’s book prize recognizes titles whose innovative ideas have significantly impacted marketing thought and practice.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
A competition that receives more than two thousand entries from authors and publishers worldwide each year.
Non-Obvious 2018 Edition
One of the largest mainstream book award competitions in the United States, judged across dozens of business subcategories.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
An inclusive writing and book awards program that has been called the Rolls Royce of writing awards.
The Non-Obvious Trend Series
Unusual among book awards in that every entry is judged and reviewed by actual readers rather than an industry panel.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
An annual selection of notable books featured on the floor of the world’s largest technology tradeshow.
Non-Obvious 2017 Edition
Chosen by the editorial team to be condensed into a full book summary for their subscriber library.
Non-Obvious Megatrends
After The Series
The annual editions closed in 2020, but the trend work continued in The Future Normal, co-authored with futurist Henry Coutinho-Mason, and continues this October in Future Words. Every trend from all fifteen years is catalogued in one place.
Want To Use These Trends?
Bring this trend and more to your group with a customized keynote presentation or workshop session with Rohit Bhargava. Non-Obvious Thinkers win the future. Let’s explore how we can help you do this for yourself.
Learn More & Check Availability
Want More Non-Obvious Ideas?
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter brings you the five or six most fascinating and overlooked stories of the week, with a quick take on why each one matters.
One email every Thursday. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter
The most interesting stories of the week, and why they matter. Join more than 25,000 readers.
One email every Thursday. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.