Traditionally, the New Age category has catered to aficionados of the esoteric and the occult. Today the genre gratifies a more mainstream consumer. Fading is the era of crystals and tarots. Nowadays, readers seek science-based titles that will help them become healthier and more spiritually aware. As New Age is continuing to expand into other categories, many titles that were once the provinces of health, psychology, self-help and spirituality (to name a few) have now assumed the New Age mantle. According to Jo Ann Deck, publisher of Celestial Arts and Crossing Press, the new New Age reader is “more practical and less interested in nebulous philosophical and spiritual exploration.” As a result, the genre reads more like Dr. Phil and Jack LaLanne than Carlos Castaneda and Ram Dass.
Llewellyn publisher Bill Krause cites current world events as the reason behind the drastic change in New Age literature. “Political, environmental and cultural changes are upon us in the form of elections, wars and even 2012 [see sidebar, p. 34]. The public is looking at a wide range of spiritual practices to find solace,” he says. “Things that were once looked upon as niche or fringe are now looked upon as interesting solutions worthy of exploration.” Llewellyn's Soul Visioning: Clear the Past, Create Your Future by Susan Wisehart (Oct.) combines self-help principles with New Age philosophies to “connect you with your higher self to guide you into the ideal expression of your soul in your work, relationships, health, finances and spirituality.”
This shift in focus presents new challenges for publishers while simultaneously providing a new and more expansive market. Though Gina Clark, editor at Alight, agrees with Deck's and Krause's assertions about why New Age works have changed, she has an additional theory. “[Today] publishers of New Age titles are looking to do more than entertain,” she says. “They have a vested interest in improving quality of life.” Because traditional New Age books were geared more toward enjoyment and enlightenment than the new breed of didactic literature, Clark thinks the category's biggest challenge is determining a proper definition for itself, “since [the category] can include everything from numerology to astrology to the beliefs and ritualistic practices of ancient cultures.”
Scientific Analysis
One of the newest topics explored in this season's releases is the use of scientific analysis to examine New Age philosophies. “The more abstract propositions, practices and assertions put forth in [traditional] New Age books were never really proven,” says Two Trees senior editor Sheila Moody, referring to the 1960s works of Castaneda, Dass and Alan Watts. “Readers in search of 'real answers' remained unsatisfied.” According to Moody, readers didn't want to know only that certain practices worked, they wanted to know why they worked and how they fit in with the tenets of science. The Quincunx That Ate the Universe: A Real Theory of Everything by Eulalio Paul Cane (Apr., 2009) “puts the outer world of matter and the inner world of consciousness onto the same page,” says Moody, “based on a simple model that begins from the binary opposites, yin and yang.” Moody claims the book is accessible even as it deals with such weighty topics as how to bridge the gap between metaphysics and hard science.
Another title that attempts to blend science with a popular New Age concept is The Love Response: Your Prescription to Transform Fear, Anger, and Anxiety into Vibrant Health and Well-Being by Eva M. Selhub, M.D., with Divina Infusino. According to Ballantine executive editor Marnie Cochrane, this January 2009 release asserts that evoking love can counteract the effects of fear and stress. The “Love Response” is “a series of biochemical reactions in the body that lower blood pressure, pulse, respiration and adrenaline levels,” says Cochrane. Selhub combines her years of research and clinical practice to explain how one can reverse the debilitating effects of fear and stress using “nature's own antidote: love and affection.” If readers aren't convinced by the book's premise, one should take into account Selhub's credentials—not only is she a senior staff physician at the Benson Henry Institute for Mind/Body at Massachusetts General Hospital, she's also a clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
According to Nightengale Press publisher Valerie Connelly, today's books are taking a “more serious look at the science that supports intuitive thought.” Nightengale has just published The Sage Age: Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom by MaAnna Stephenson, which provides a “comprehensive method of understanding the full range of new science as it relates to intuitive wisdom,” according to Connelly. For more than two decades, Stephenson studied the philosophy of new science (a term coined for all science that has been directly influenced by quantum physics). Utilizing her technology degree and experience as an intuitive practitioner of music and sound, Stephenson questioned the common understanding of the terms “frequency” and “dimension.” Connelly claims that this book is new because it “illuminates the tie of leading-edge science to current intuitive practice.” The book also includes more than 50 illustrations for those whose brain throbs while reading about quantum physics and intuitive music.
DeVorss & Company will also publish a book that explores the curative benefits of sound. Toning: The Creative and Healing Power of the Voice by Laurel Elizabeth Keyes with Don Campbell is an updated version of Keyes's Toning, which was published more than three decades ago. This new edition includes a CD of recordings by Keyes, Campbell's comments on his healing experience and a toning demonstration. Says DeVorss buyer Melinda Grubbauer, the book shows “how to reform life patterns through sound that will stimulate health and vitality in the body.”
As Devorss illustrates, not all New Age titles need to espouse new principles. At Tarcher, editor-in-chief Mitch Horowitz notes, “One of the things we're finding is an extraordinary market for well-conceived, well-packaged reissue books—including titles that have existed for years in multiple editions.” This summer Tarcher's Cornerstone Editions imprint published The Kybalion, which Horowitz reports was #1 in the occultism category on Amazon Kindle—“and it's a hundred-year-old book.” The publisher is continuing this approach in the spring, with new editions of Napoleon Hill's first book, The Law of Success, and a new edition of The Hermetica, a collection of Greek-Egyptian magical writings.
Mind/Body/Self-Help
Even more popular than scientific analysis is the amalgam of the New Age genre with mind/body/self-help. Though none of the publishers with whom PW spoke knows whether or not these titles should carry the New Age label, all agree that the traditional New Age reader finds them fascinating. Moody at Two Trees believes that the category should be split into two distinct subcategories: the aforementioned “scientific context” titles and the “self-help or motivational” works. Alight's Clark contends that distinctions should be made for differing types of New Age titles. She says that Tannis Blackman's just-published The Mystical Seductress Handbook “could be categorized as a spirituality and mind/body/spirit title. It is neither a study of the occult, nor does it involve worship of any deities... it might be better for publishers to categorize New Age books as spirituality titles instead.” What Clark has noticed in recent years is a newfound acceptance of New Age titles by the mainstream. Whereas in the past, “New Age was considered by many to be silly, synonymous with witchcraft and promoting sorcery,” Clark says that the category has evolved and isn't perceived as adversely as in the past, thanks in large part to genre hybridization.
A prime example of the New Age fusion is a May 2009 Crossing Press title, Planetary Apothecary: An Astrological Approach to Health and Wellness by Stephanie Gailing, which, in Deck's words, “explains the healing connections between the signs of the Zodiac and natural remedies and healing treatments.” The book provides a profile for each astrological sign, she explains, without “focusing on abstract concepts such as love.” Coming in December from Celestial Arts is another hybrid, Writing as a Sacred Path: A Practical Guide to Writing with Passion& Purpose. According to the publisher, Jill Jepson's work will “provide a method for writers to continue to explore their spirituality while also expanding their skills as storytellers.”
Also typifying the merging of related categories is John Bradshaw's Reclaiming Virtue (Bantam, Apr.), which executive editor Toni Burbank says “exemplifies the category breakdown in the areas of self-help, spirituality and so-called New Age.” She explains that Bradshaw, a major force in the addiction recovery movement of the late '80s and early '90s, “now returns to his roots in psychology and theology in a sweeping reconsideration of the nature of virtue, how we learn to act virtuously and how we can teach virtue to our children. He synthesizes new brain science with the idea of 'soul,' and locates the core of virtue not in following rules but in recognizing the 'better angels' of our true self.”
Yoga continues to be an activity that blends spirituality and physical health. The NBN-distributed Quest Books, part of a theosophical society based in India, features this fall Tom Pilarzyk's Yoga Beyond Fitness—“a bridge to yoga's serious meaning.” Palace Press's Mandala imprint tackles physical health, too, in Yoga and Vegetarianism: Global and Personal Transformation, Spiritual Practice and Enlightened Activism by Sharon Gannon (Oct.). “New Age covers many categories,” says Brenda Knight, sales and marketing v-p for the Palace Publishing Group. “I have definitely seen a downward trend in 'spiritual stew' books and a big uptrend in books that offer very distinct paths.” Gannon's book draws the link between yoga, diet, physical health and maintaining positive karma. The endorsement of hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons provides clear evidence of the genre's mainstreaming: “I recommend this book and these ideas to anyone who has set their sights on the greatest and only human goal: self-realization,” says the Def Jam Records founder.
Another major celebrity who has endorsed mass-friendly, self-help—style New Age books is that media bookseller extraordinaire, Oprah Winfrey. Diana Baroni, editorial director at Grand Central's Wellness Central imprint, contends that Oprah has been the key to the genre's recent accomplishments. “With Oprah's recommendation of Eckhart Tolle,” Baroni says, “consumers now seem to be seeking information on mind/body philosophies that merge with the self-help category [see sidebar, p. 30].” The author of Wellness Central's forthcoming New Age title No Matter What!: 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love (Apr.), Lisa Nichols, has not only been featured in O Magazine, she has appeared on Oprah as well as Larry King Live and Extra. Her book “helps readers strengthen their bounce-back muscles, giving them the strength and agility one needs to navigate life's speed bumps,” says Baroni.
Grubbauer at DeVorss echoes Baroni's view on Oprah's influence on the genre. “The recent buzz surrounding the phenomenal success of The Secret and Tolle's A New Earth has led to... a more mainstream audience expressing interest in classic gems.”
Many New Age titles are so popular that they have moved beyond the mainstream—now these philosophies are being taught in prisons. Coming this month from Pariyatti Press in Onalaska, Wash., is Letters from the Dhamma Brothers by Jenny Phillips. Pariyatti editor Julie Schaeffer explains that the title “chronicles, in their own words, the profound changes experienced by inmates in the four years after completing a 10-day Vipassana meditation course taught in the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Alabama.” Through interviews and letters to her from 15 of the student-prisoners, Phillips offers an overview of the course and how these men used the teachings to help them come to terms with the consequences of their crimes. The course has now become a regular treatment program at two Alabama prisons.
Fortunately for publishers, the genre has also found its way onto the Internet, spawning what North Atlantic Books sales and marketing manager Allegra Harris calls a New Age “golden era.” Online communities have grown with Web sites like realitysandwich.com, which, Harris says, “caters to multiple subcategories in a community-based way.... Up until recently, New Age has been a little behind in the Internet race.” Because of online publicity and marketing, Harris says the demand for books in this genre is greater than ever. North Atlantic's Starseed Dialogues: Soul Searching the Universe by Patricia Cori (Apr.) is a reflection of this trend. This title is a compilation of questions posed to Cori by her readers. According to Harris, the book claims that “the dark hours are already upon us” and describes what awaits as “a brilliant new age of truth, light and beauty.”
Not everybody agrees that traditional New Age titles have taken a backseat to the new hybrids. In fact, Weiser Books publisher Jan Johnson credits the “shaky economy... unpopular war... and the global economic crises” as the impetus for more readers turning to “books that admit the possibilities of extraterrestrials and other entities.” Cosmic Connection: Messages for a Better World by Carole Lynne (Apr., 2009) looks to outer space to answer Earth's difficult questions. According to Johnson, “Lynne shares information from her off-planet guidance about what we can do to survive the coming changes.” Johnson promises more books from Weiser on topics similar to Cosmic Connection—“We're seeing much more openness to what used to be considered esoteric, strange or weird.”
The unanimous opinion is that the New Age category is thriving, regardless of which types of books sell better. Whether authors are trying to teach readers to live better on this planet or to learn from beings on other planets, readers appear open to new suggestions. Most of the publishers with whom PW spoke felt that at its core, this category's most basic role is to bring people together. “In a world plagued by war and misunderstanding,” says Clark at Alight, “it seems more people are looking for ways to connect with others.” Recently, Alight has seen increased interest from African-Americans and the European market. “The New Age category allows people of various ages, races, nationalities, cultures and beliefs to come together,” Clark adds. Not to mention beings of various dimensions, planets, galaxies and universes.
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