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The biggest lesson in Suze Orman’s new book Women and Money isn’t about balancing your checkbook or investing in Roth IRAs. It’s a lesson in marketing, because as basic as this tome is and as much as it regurgitates the directives of every financial high priest out there (including Orman), there it is firmly planted on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

It’s not just a study in marketing, it’s marketing to women specifically which makes Orman’s eighth book an interesting case. At the heart of Women and Money is a five-month plan intended to get the average woman up to financial speed. Month One includes selecting a no-fee checking account. Month Three is about choosing the right retirement investment vehicle.

But amid the caveat emptor fare is something else: finger-wagging about the long and failed relationship women have had with money, followed by an Oprah-esque “imagine what’s possible” pep talk about how to blast oneself out of the muck. There are even eight qualities to learn to embody, and specific instructions about looking into the mirror—and stating with authority—your own name. Those combined elements have produced a book that’s flying off the shelves.

“Like it or not, pop psychology is incredibly appealing to many audiences. That’s why this format is all over the place,” says Katie Sternberg, principal of the Baton Rouge-based firm The Marketing Source.

Maybe that’s why Orman repeatedly uses the terms “power” and “control,” as in women have handed over both, even as they have made major social and career advancements. Orman does go to the trouble of listing them: Women make up half the total work force in America. Their income has risen by 63% in three decades. At least half of the income in all U.S. households is brought in by women, and women own 40% of all companies in the United States.

But, writes Orman, “I know and you know that women still don’t want to take responsibility when it comes to their money.” Hmmm.

From there, Orman slaps her sisters around, accusing us of having closets full of trendy power wear while our credit cards are maxed out. As Time columnist Anita Hamilton recently pointed out, this tendency to indict women for being absent-minded spendthrifts is the latest tendency among female financial gurus. Single women do spend slightly more than men on clothing and more than double on personal care items, but single men spend more overall annually by a long shot, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And then there are the references to giving away negotiating power (to bosses) and of giving away money (to wayward family members) and to generally feeling shame at how dysfunctional we’ve been about financial matters all these years. Funny. While all that dysfunction was going on, women still managed to pull off the accomplishments listed above. What multitaskers we are.

The book does drive the point home that if women aren’t taking responsibility for budgeting, insurance, health care, retirement, wills and so forth, they’re leaving these important issues in the hands of others, like husbands or financial consultants. As we all know, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. And even if it does, there’s still a good chance a woman will outlive her husband. That’s why as silly as the book sometimes reads, it is good advice, especially for women just beginning their careers—women who actually have time to benefit from one of Orman’s favorite subjects, compounded interest.

In a recent Q&A with New York Times Magazine reporter Deborah Solomon, Orman, who is worth more than $30 million, kept at her preachy banter. “Women don’t understand money. They will go into debt to pay for this and that.”

After breezing along with Solomon, talking about her personal favorite savings vehicle (zero-coupon municipal bonds) and flippantly outing herself, Orman, without a hint of irony, admitted her greatest pleasure is jetting off on private planes. “I spend between $300,000 and $500,000, depending on my year, on flying private.”

Get marketing down, and you, too, can do that.