In looking at trends for fall 2007, several themes have emerged that indicate that independent authors and editors clearly believe that “shifts happen,” both collectively and on a personal level. Recovery has returned in a big way, folks are looking at health modalities beyond the mainstream medical options, and there is an overall sense of the need for urgent spiritual evolution. According to the fall lists of many independent publishers, we stand on the cusp of one of the greatest shifts of all time. This has added up to visionary publishing at its finest—bold and innovative. Certain independents such as Inner Traditions/Bear & Company, New Page, Sounds True, New World Library, and Weiser Books have been publishing to the coming changes for years.

Inner Traditions is leading the way with Barbara Hand Clow’s The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and the Awakening of the World Mind (978-1-59143-070-4). Some regard this as the definitive book on the 2012 end of the Mayan calendar. Clow’s case is compelling in its argument that personal healing is the most important factor as civilizations prepare to make this critical leap in human evolution. Destiny Books takes another spin on this topic with Mantak Chia’s Cosmic Fusion: The Inner Alchemy of the Eight Forces (978-1-59477-106-4): a guide to integrating the physical with the forces of nature.

Learning from past earth changes and from spiritual classics

Llewellyn Worldwide gives answers and new theories about the lost city that has endured in legend for 2,000 years in Atlantis: Ancient Legacy, Hidden Prophecy (978-0-7387-0978-9). Gleaning from the dialogues of Plato to the modern age of Atlantology, occultist John Michael Greer proposes his own revolutionary theory of a civilization doomed by natural disasters at the end of the last Ice Age. As the threat of global warming makes headlines today, Greer poses the ultimate question: Is the legend of Atlantis a legacy of the distant past, or a prophecy of our own future?

One trend boosting the sale of backlist books is the popularity of The Secret. Author Rhonda Byrne has sent readers searching far and wide for the foundational writings upon which she based her blockbuster. Munro Magruder of New World Library states, “For us, books like Creative Visualization, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and Seth Speaks are selling at substantially better rates in 2007 than 2006 because they offer teachings and core wisdom that can be viewed as ‘the secret behind The Secret.’” Among their new offerings is The Three “Only” Things (978-1-57731-596-4), in which bestselling author and dream expert Robert Moss writes that only through dreams, coincidence, and the workings of the imagination can we journey to the world beyond the obvious one—a world where we awaken to who we are and who we are meant to become. Five Wishes: How Answering One Simple Question Can Make Your Dreams Come True (978-1-57731-598 8) came out of an amazing, life-changing conversation author Gay Hendricks had at a party. With a foreword by Neale Donald Walsch, this is a little book with a big message and is bound to be a much-discussed this fall.

HCI is bringing out a powerful new publishing partnership with The Chopra Center, and the debut title, Freedom from Addiction (978-0-7573-0578-8) by Deepak Chopra and David Simon, addresses every type of addiction with a thorough plan for personal growth and healing. With the distribution of Hazelden and their own legendary Chicken Soup series, HCI is publishing extensively in recovery. Hazelden’s 12 Step Prayer Book (978-1-59285-095-2) and Codependent No More Handbook (978-1-59285-470-7) are destined to become classics.

It’s not often that one can really say that anything under the publishing sun is truly new, but HCI author Paul Pearsall’s upcoming AWE (978-0-7573-0585-6) is about the newly identified “eleventh emotion” of awe that can “cause us to believe that there is something more beyond the grasp of our limited human consciousness.”

Wellness, healing, and the recovery movement

Celestial Arts is leading the way in wellness. Publisher Joann Deck points out that “the spirituality and energy of food will be a hot topic this fall,” as evidenced in titles like New Good Food (978-1-58008-750-6) by Margaret Wittenberg, and Deborah Kesten’s The Enlightened Diet (978-1-58761-311-1). Self-healing is also growing in importance and their key new books are The Reiki Magic Guide to Self-Attunement (978-1-58091-184-9) by Brett Bevell, and Ambika Wauters’ Homeopathic Color and Sound Remedies (978-1-58091-183-2).

The lead title for the Weiser Books imprint speaks to 2012 and beyond with The Serpent of Light (978-1-57863-401-9) by Drunvalo Melchizedek. Every 13,000 years, a sacred and secret event takes place that changes everything, he writes. Mother Earth’s Kundalini energy emerges from its resting place in the planet’s core and moves like a snake across the surface of our world. Red Wheel/Weiser & Conari Press is also taking a major stake in the “Recovery 2.0” movement. Earnie Larson, whose Stage II Recovery is a seminal text, released this fall his seven-step process for becoming whole in The Healer’s Way: Bringing Hands-On Compassion to a Love-Starved World (978-157324-3094), and Joe Bailey’s Fearproof Your Life (978-1-57324-307-0). Both offer a brave new take on fear addiction. Publisher Jan Johnson states, “I think that Fearproof points to maybe the most important idea I’ve seen emerge out of spiritual writings from many traditions in past several years. Fear is killing us. Our government, our elected leaders, our media, much of our mass communication and our personal communications are aimed at guarding against whatever bogey person or idea or ‘other’ we are afraid of. To operate from that fear-based place wastes a lot of energy.”

New Page’s lead titles include Meg Blackburn Losey’s The Children of Now (978-1-56414-948-0). Losey argues that a large number of kids come into the world bearing strange inherent gifts—they are telepathic, understand subtle energies, and/or have amazing psychic abilities. Many of them remember where they were before they came to Earth and some can even describe past lives. Frequently mislabeled and misdiagnosed with ADD, autism, or Asperger Syndrome, these children actually bring gifts and special knowledge, the author says.

Morning Light Press’s To Live Within (978-1-59675-016-6) suggests that the science of awakening is “an inside job.” Author Lizelle Reymond had traveled widely, studied deeply, and searched for an inner path through yoga, spiritual discipline, and traditional philosophy. In none of them did she find what she calls, “a possible answer.” When she met co-author Sri Anirvan, she discovered that the inner work he fostered was rooted in silence. He taught the need to isolate “the direct experience you are living until it becomes a part of you…connect it with something known and precise.”

Spiritual movements and new consciousness

Sounds True presents the “fastest growing spiritual movement in recent history” in Awakening Into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness (978-1-59179-573-5). It is the phenomenon called the Oneness Blessing (also known as “deeksha” in the East), a powerful transfer of energy believed to elicit the realization of unitive consciousness. Author Arjuna Ardagh tells the remarkable story of this radical new gateway to personal and global transformation.

Hampton Roads Sales and Marketing Director Greg Brandenburg offers what he calls “Eat Pray Love goes to Hollywood,” with their big fall book Stay Tuned, (978-1-57174-551-4) by Emmy-winning TV producer Jenniffer Weigel. The book takes the reader on a witty, irreverent tour through popular spiritual beliefs and the insights of masters and celebrities—including Don Miguel Ruiz, James Van Praagh, and Russell Crowe—as this intelligent, award-winning broadcaster transforms from “cynical daughter” to “spiritual woman.”

Reid Tracy of Hay House has a fall list full of mind/body/spirit stars such as Wayne Dyer, Sylvia Browne, Esther and Jerry Hicks, Doreen Virtue, Sonia Choquette, and Dr. Emoto. Amongst their lead titles is Your Soul’s Compass (978-1-4019-0776-1) in which Joan Borysenko asks compelling questions such as, “Why am I here? What does a life worth living look like?” Weaving in sacred texts ranging from the Torah to the New Testament, to the Tao Te Ching, Buddhist scriptures, the Vedantas and the Koran, Your Soul’s Compass provides direction in some of the deepest mysteries.

Again, the expanded readership in New Age publishing owes much to The Secret phenomenon. It is gratifying to see renewed interest in such gems as Genevieve Behrend’s Your Invisible Power (DeVorss & Company, 978-0-87516-004-7), Catherine Ponder’s Millionaire series, Raymond Holliwell’s Working With the Law (DeVorss & Company, 978-0-87516-808-1), and the books by Robert Collier (1885–1950) or Wallace Wattles (1860–1911). Alim Thompson of New Leaf, the preeminent new age book distributor, said it best at the June 2007 International New Age Trade Show: “Now that people have had a taste of new consciousness thinking, they are ready to go deeper, read further. Old backlist classics are being sought out in addition to brand new frontlist. It’s been great for us and our publishers.”

Now that’s a change we can all live with.