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I think I might write a self help book around that idea.

If I said the same about technical documentation, I bet you'd tell me I was either reading it wrong or I wasn't the target audience in the first place.

No, I'd tell you that you are taking a statement about one class of books and apply it to a different one, with different target mission and utility.

Technical documentation has a very narrow scope, and deeply technical writers. It's target users also are engineers directly applying what they read or looking at it for reference to something very specific.

It hasn't been historically the province of any hack and/or snake-oil salesman.

Nor do people buy book after book of technical documentation trying this and that fad to no avail to fill some psychological void. Hmm, now that I read this last sentence again...

I love this. Just as cigarette packs state: "Smoking kills", self-help books should state "This book will have no effect".

I agree many books in the self-help genre are basically just "motivational porn", but I wouldn't dismiss all of them. I have read some self-help books that gave me genuine insights that I have put into successful practice with real effects.