26 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ AUGUST 5, 2019
around which books cluster and reflect the zeitgeist.
Among the most striking current trends in MBS books is the
still-accelerating growth of interest in witchcraft. Peter Turner,
associate publisher at Red Wheel/Weiser, points to a June 10
New York Times column by David Brooks, “The Age of Aquarius,
All over Again,” in which Brooks wrote that, as a spiritual
movement, “witchcraft is surging.” He added, “In 1990, only
8,000 Americans self-identified as Wiccans. Ten years later
there were 134,000, and today, along with other neo-pagans,
there are over 1 million.”Witchcraft is one of the hot trends in the mind-body-spirit category
BY LYNN GARRETT
he mixed bag of books labeled mind-body-spirit
is filled with an array of categories and subjects—
including self-help titles on topics such as alter-
native health, positive psychology, mindfulness
and meditation, and yoga, as well as occult and
esoteric topics such as crystals, astrology, channeling, neo-
paganism, divination, and auras. As different as these books
may be, they have a goal in common: they offer readers tools for
tackling problems and seeking personal growth. And amid the
plethora of titles, for every season there are specific subjects © [email protected]\depositphotos.com