After the New Age: Is there a Next Age?

5. A holistic model of mind-body-spirit

Despite these provisos, it is significant that MBS has been selected as the term to classify this area. There is a strong philosophical and structural justification for grouping these diverse titles together, since the common theme is self-development. All the books offer some means of improving and developing the self, from the most basic 'how to' (lose weight, get fit, stop smoking etc) to the most esoteric and mystical heights of self-transformation. 7 The subject area can be seen in its broadest extent as a spectrum from the secular to the spiritual, stretching from self-help at one end (e.g. diet and fitness, motivation and positive thinking, overcoming addictions, stress management), through personal development (books offering to improve your life through deeper, more emotionally and intellectually engaging psychotherapies (both traditional and alternative), to esoteric and spiritual subjects such as psychics and healers, angels and fairies, divination, shamanism and paganism, magic, meditation, and mysticism.

This spectrum reflects literally the meaning of mind-body-spirit (corresponding more exactly with the more logical US term 'body-mindspirit'). Whether or not one agrees philosophically with this model, it certainly forms the empirical basis of publishers’ and booksellers’ taxonomies. For example, a random but typical fortnightly preview of MBS titles throws up a mixed bag including: Ethical Ambition, The Bitch in the House, Manage Your Student Finances Now, Embracing Uncertainty, Teen Angel. (Bookseller 25 March 2003)
6. Readership profiles

Once the market for these books was shown to be sizeable and profitable, publishers became interested in consolidating their lists and increasing their market share. Now that so many resources and serious budgets were devoted to the genre, it was important to be sure the books were delivering what readers wanted. So who was the new wider readership at which MBS books were targeted? The specialist publishers had a precise sense of their readers, who were similar to their authors. However, a broader readership was likely to be more diverse, harder to pin down, yet still a niche within the massmarket readership.

In 1999, HarperCollins spent £500,000 on market research into MBS. The survey revealed that rather than the market being segmented into different interest areas, 'readers are very open to cross-purchasing and experimenting with new techniques and ideas.' Respondents were grouped according to lifestyle, ranging from 'healthy explorers' (entrants) to 'sisterhood of the shaman'(experts) (Bookseller 3 September 1999). This typology stems not from standard socio-economic classification but from the approach to market research pioneered by Christine MacNulty in the 1970s, focused on values, beliefs and attitudes. MacNulty (1985) made a broad distinction between outer-directed and inner-directed values, divided into seven groups, headed by ‘self explorers’ who ‘are characterized by their concern with … self-development'.

The reader types revealed by the HarperCollins research can be seen as subcategories of the 'self-explorer', a group that has since been typologised under various labels, including Bobos (Bourgeois Bohemians) and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, comprising 30% of US households).

But the tag that has gained most currency is Cultural Creative, the term invented by Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson, whose bestselling book is subtitled 'how 50 million people are changing the world'.8 It is significant that this is the group that advertisers most aim to target since its members are often wealthy and, unlike the counter-cultural seekers of the 1970s and many modern Pagans, tend to see no contradiction between spirituality and consumerism. This is the group most responsible for 'spiritual spending', a current term coined by Virgin Money in a widely reported 2003 survey, which revealed that a staggering £670 million is spent each year in the UK on 'pampering' including yoga, spa days, health farms and complementary therapies.
7. Media attitudes to holistic spirituality

The growth of holistic spirituality is particularly impressive since it has happened in the face of almost uniform hostility from the rest of society. Opposition from within the scientific and religious establishments is understandable, given the challenge to both paradigms, but it is also encountered among the intelligentsia and media. The 'London literary mafia' is wedded to their stance of 'ironic detachment' and is suspicious of enthusiasm. MBS books are not published by literary publishers (apart from the occasional journalistic investigation), nor reviewed by literary editors9.

Scepticism has obvious virtues, but can sometimes function as a thought police, blocking innovative new ideas that challenge the orthodox mind-set. This prejudice is at least partly aesthetic – the books being considered lowbrow despite the literary quality of some titles. It could also be argued that there is a gender bias to the prejudice, since the main readership for these books is female, and the criticism and scepticism mainly emanate from male journalists.

Until very recently, spiritual ideas, individuals and groups have been labelled as either 'cultic' or 'wacky', at best exotic and eccentric.10 The Guardian newspaper in the UK is the most antagonistic, with the honourable exception of Madeleine Bunting who has persistently championed the positive aspects of these ideas. More recently, an article on the enduring success of The Road Less Travelled was headed: 'Are you a fat, chain smoking, alcoholic neurotic? Then these books are for you.'11 Yet, arguably, the intelligentsia have as many emotional problems and addictions as anyone, and therefore stand to benefit from holistic therapies.

Recently there have been signs of change, particularly following the publication of Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (1996). This bestseller gave a catchy term to a deep-seated shift of attitudes and values pioneered by the human potential movement, which now permeates journalism. The tabloids, particularly the Daily Mail, have covered MBS for many years. The broadsheets are also giving more coverage; most of them even devote whole sections to health and personal development, with names such as 'Spirit', 'Body and Soul', though somewhat segregated in the weekend magazines. This change has been partly encouraged and led by the adoption of alternative health and spiritual practices by so many celebrities and leaders of style and opinion, including the late Princess of Wales, Cherie Blair, and numerous film and pop stars.

Magazines, particularly the health and women’s magazines sector, have been revitalised by holistic spirituality. MBS magazines were formerly perceived as specialist, unable to achieve wide distribution. However, in the last couple of years, a crop of new MBS magazines have been distributed by WH Smith and other mainstream magazines, including Spirit & Destiny, Holistic Health & Healing, and the newcomer Lifted. This new generation of magazines are appreciably, dramatically more mainstream than their predecessors, and even the ultra New Age Kindred Spirits is becoming more mainstream; the current issue has Madonna on the cover, along with special offers of free holidays and cases of organic wine.

Perhaps the most unexpected and symbolic example of this process is that Cosmopolitan now has a spirituality editor.12 This seems a fitting appointment, not least because for mainstream publishers the 'Cosmo Babe' is a more important target reader than the 'Shamanic Sister'.

A recent newspaper article epitomises the current ambivalence of media attitudes, and the polarisation of attitudes:

This is how the self-help publishing phenomenon divides the nation. Either you do, in which case, you really, really do (statistics suggest that even the most standard issue self-help disciple owns an average of 12 help books); or you don’t, in which case you are perpetually backing away from friends who offer up dog-eared copies of Deepak Chopra or M Scott Peck, with feverish glints in their eyes, promising 'It’ll change your life, like it did mine.'

But even if you don’t do self-help it is impossible to deny the power of the genre. The self-help publishing industry is directing the way we think, feel and act. Even if we don’t buy into it directly, those we date, work with, socialise with, live with and/or share blood with probably do. (Vernon 2003)

Underlying the hostility is the fear of the undermining of empirical thought, criticism and reason by 'self-styled gurus … the sleep of reason has duly brought forth many such monsters, exploiting and expanding the demand for mumbo-jumbo' – as expressed by Francis Wheen (2004), the first in-depth if somewhat disparaging account of this movement by a literary journalist. This can be taken as another sign of the extent to which holistic spirituality has become mainstream, thus compelling even the most sceptical and cynical members of the British intelligentsia to take it seriously.
8. The magic of marketing: author branding

In order to sell MBS titles in sufficient quantities, publishers had to invest in the area, including increases in marketing spend, ensuring their lead titles were included in in-store promotions and prominently displayed. Publishers prefer authors who reciprocate marketing campaigns with their own self-promotion efforts, as explained by Joel Fotinos, director of religious publishing at Penguin US:

Publishers buy authors as much as they buy their projects. There’s so much competition that it’s vital that the author have a platform of some stature to help the publisher sell the book. The rule is the better connected the author, the easier it is to publish a book successfully. The reality is, this is a media savvy country. (Publishers’ Weekly, 23 September 2002)

A published book can help fast-track its author to wider recognition, providing an entrée to the mass media, giving quality assurance to promoters, producers and audiences. MBS authors have fewer opportunities for massmarket self-promotion than novelists, cookery writers, celebrities or sporting heroes. However, there is a growing network of venues and media platforms such as Alternatives, Neal’s Yard and the College of Psychic Studies in London; events such as the Mind-Body-Spirit Festival and Vitality Show; increasing opportunities on radio and television (particularly cable, e.g. the predominance of psychic shows on Living TV). Giving a talk or workshop at which the speaker’s books are available means that the participants can take away the extended teaching to consolidate and deepen the experience.13 As the network grows and strengthens, it provides a more solid, accessible base for the consolidation of a social and spiritual movement. In sociological terms, it facilitates the move from 'audience cult' to 'client cult' (Stark & Bainbridge 1985).

The most easily promotable author is a branded or brandable author, and branding is the core of marketing: Nicholas Clee, editor of the Bookseller, explained to the general public in The Times: 'Leading publishers need brand-name authors and big books, just like Hollywood studios need blockbuster films' (26 May 2003). Belinda Budge, outlining her strategy for

Thorsons emphasised her intention to make the list 'more author-driven than subject-driven', with marketing focused on their 'author brands'. Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, have come up with a slogan: 'Brands are the new religion'. The most powerful, the company said, are the 'belief brands', like Nike, that have 'passion and energy to change the world and to convert people to their way of thinking through outstanding communications'. Trainers might seem an unlikely product for such a high concept, but it springs from capitalism’s need to continually revitalise its products for sophisticated, cynical consumers. Cool hunters are now turning to holistic spirituality for inspiration, particularly Taoism. There are over 1000 books featuring the word, including the Tao of Sex, Money, Management, and Politics, while yin and yang sell anything from software to insurance ('ying, yang, the whole shebang'). In this climate, it is easy to see the applicability of 'belief brands' to spiritual authors and their work.

Sales and marketing people, and booksellers, like branding because it makes books easier to sell. The instant recognition conferred by a celebrity endorsement or TV series acts as shorthand assurance of mass-market appeal – essential in a time-poor culture where a sales rep may have half an hour to sell a list of 200 books to a bookseller (competing with 130,000 new titles a year). No wonder successful book titles include 'weekend life coach', '10-minute yoga workouts' and – most successful of all, a brand with about 50 spin-offs – the 'one minute manager'. In this culture of instant gratification, it seems that even a week is too long to transform your life in.

Branding works as a methodology for selling books, but it is a two-edged sword, risking trivialisation and routinisation. An American editor complained anonymously: 'Books are being merchandised like soda pop and washing powder. In the retail environment these days, it’s all about real estate' (Publishers Weekly, 26 May 2003). Branding can overshadow the finer points of the message, and ultimately even the messenger. Barefoot Doctor (Stephen Russell) has now dropped his name altogether from his books. How many people remember the name of the main author of the Chicken Soup series (Jack Canfield)? Chicken Soup for the Soul well illustrates both the success and danger of branding. It has been endlessly sub-categorised and reinvented into spin-offs (308 on Amazon in February 2004, and still growing). The Jewish soul does not have a monopoly on chicken soup, there are also books for the Christian (and Christian woman, and teenager), the American, Canadian, and now finally the UK soul.

We also have chicken soup for the mother’s soul, the expectant mother, the fifth portion of chicken soup for the woman’s soul, the sister, preteen, teenage, grandparent, bride, single and couple souls. Occupations and leisure activities also have versions including: teacher, writer, nurse, prisoner, pet lover, cat, dog and horse lover, gardener, golfer, and baseball fan. Books have inevitably been joined by merchandise: the journal, calendar, recipe book, poster, personal organiser, and of course the T-shirt. As a marketing strategy, Chicken Soup can only be viewed as an unqualified success: the series has sold 71 million copies so far.

One of the most successful recent inspirational titles is Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now – a worldwide bestseller, which reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Until the book came out, Tolle was an obscure teacher known only to a small group of students; now he is considered one of the top gurus with an ever-increasing range of sequels and spin-offs. Paulo Coelho’s first book The Alchemist was a runaway bestseller in Brazil, and to a lesser extent in the USA. However, he was almost unknown here in 1995 when Thorsons published the UK edition, which became another inspirational bestseller. His subsequent books have been published by the main trade division as HarperCollins, and nowadays he is revered both as a novelist and a guru to many of his readers – one of the few MBS authors to break through the snobbery of the intelligentsia. Osho’s books were originally self-published by the Rajneesh Foundation for sannyasins; later by cutting edge houses for a wider counter-cultural readership (see above); nowadays the teachings are being repackaged for the MBS mass market with titles such as Meditations for Busy People, Pharmacy for the Soul, Sex Matters. In total the books have sold over twenty million copies.

Branding works for the handful of authors who reach the bestselling league; it is a barrier for authors who may have great talent, even genius, but are unable to package their message in a sufficiently marketable form. As the midlist disappears, they are finding it increasingly difficult to get published at all, let alone receive major promotional support. Nowadays, authors rejected by the conglomerates as too specialist or unfashionable can find a readership through self-publishing and e-publishing, as the technology becomes increasingly cheaper and simpler; web-marketing also provides effective communication tools. The internet is now becoming the first portal of research for many people, and may replace small publishers as the cutting edge of the future. However, most web-generated material is of inferior quality; higher quality is conferred by the availability of published texts. The mantra that emerged out of publishers’ research into multimedia development was: Content is king.

Meanwhile, publishing as a whole is still fed and revitalised by small independent companies who are more flexible and responsive to originality, able to take risks with new talent, and as a result often produce the books that set new trends, win literary prizes, become surprise bestsellers. This is also the case with MBS. Most of the independent companies from the 1920s and 1970s have disappeared or merged, but Piatkus continues, and there are new ventures continually starting, which publish some of the most innovative, cutting edge ideas. Currently the most successful new venture is Hay House, founded in 1984 in the USA by Louise Hay to self-publish her first book You Can Heal Your Life (an international bestseller), and now a global company that recently opened a UK office.

Regarding promotion, there is still recognition of the pre-eminence of word-of-mouth, which 'has to be there for anything to take off and stay that strong,' says Bob Friedman, the first publisher of Neale Donald Walsch. 'I know authors who spent $1 million promoting their books, but the strong start didn’t continue because the word of mouth wasn’t there' (Publishers’ Weekly 23 September 2002). Publishers’ own marketing campaigns also cannot guarantee success, whereas some of the bestselling authors in all fields were originally self-published or published by small independent companies, and their reputation grew slowly through readers’ grapevines.

This process has similarities to the growth of new religious movements (NRMs), which also require grass-roots endorsement of the guru and the practice in their early stages. Readers – like consumers generally – have the final vote, the power to create a bestseller. And what makes a bestseller – thus potentially creating a new trend – is as much a mystery as ever.

9. Conclusions

These trends can be interpreted negatively as symptomatic of the general dumbing down and decadence of the culture. Capitalism has an inherent driving force towards expansion, routinisation and replication. When this process is harnessed to holistic goods and services, the result can be seen as the commercial equivalent of Weber’s 'routinisation of charisma'. However, there is also a positive side to mainstream acceptance. The crossover between MBS and lifestyle together with increasing recognition of name-brand authors are indications of the integration of holism into popular culture and daily life as an immanent, world-accepting spirituality, rather than a Sunday religion. Many books are still aimed at the 'healthy explorers' and other entrants, but the introductory series that dominated the market ten years ago have mainly been dropped, and the market is perceived as maturing. On the bigger scale, holistic spirituality needs business, to get its message to the market as well as its goods and services. And mainstream society needs holism.

I see the primary challenge currently facing the holistic movement as one of adapting its ideas and practices for the mainstream, taking them out into the mass market, without losing integrity. This is possible if tough to achieve.

There is some tension in publishing between the Cultural Creatives (especially editors and publishers) and the accountants, but on the whole the challenge is relished. Judith Kendra, the current publisher of Rider, describes how the integrity and character of the list has survived 100 years of continual change in ownership and publishing trends, keeping classics in print while serving the needs of contemporary readers:

I always look at a book and ask myself first: Will this appeal to people living stressful, difficult, urban lives? Will it give them practical suggestions about what they can do to cope with this kind of lifestyle? And second: Is it accessible? I always have one eye on the mainstream reader.

I subscribe to a theory of social change (Puttick 1997a; 2000). Mainstream society is a relatively static, stable conglomeration that throws up more dynamic, creative groups on its margins. True innovation happens on the cutting edge in all fields, including politics, science, health, gender, the arts, and religion. New spiritual movements are marginal groups in society, but they function as agents of transformation, crucibles for new experiments.

Some ideas and practices are too avant-garde or impractical for the mainstream, but the best are taken up – usually in a more diluted, digestible form – and used to transform and revitalise the culture. Holistic spirituality has now grown to the point where it encompasses both polarities: global brands at the centre, promoted by media conglomerates; innovative, regenerative ideas on the fringe, serviced by smaller, more radical publishers and the internet.

It is hoped that this paper will help identify new and productive areas of research, based on empirical data. As discussed, holistic spirituality is not an ephemeral phenomenon but a highly significant, deep-seated socio-spiritual movement as well as a fast-growing, mainstream publishing genre; it is therefore of milestone importance in the arts and social sciences. Trends come and go, in waves and cycles, but the core beliefs and values are steadily gaining in power and influence throughout society.

References

Note: This article draws on a wealth of data and commentary from both the trade press (particularly the Bookseller in the UK and Publishers’ Weekly in the US) and the popular press. These are referenced either in the main text or in the notes.

Bloom, William, forthcoming 2004, Soulution: The Holistic Manifesto, London: Hay House.

Book Sales Yearbook, published biannually in January and July, London: Bookseller Publications.

Brooks, David, 2000, Bobos in Paradise, New York: Simon & Schuster.

Emerich, Monica, 2003, "Creating a 'Sustainable Spirituality' through the Convergence of Media, Marketplace and Social Consciousness: A Case Study of the 'LOHAS' Marketplace" (revised version of paper given at ASANAS conference, 31 May 2003).

Heelas, Paul, 1996, The New Age Movement: Religion, Culture and Society in the Age of Postmodernity, Oxford: Blackwell.

MacNulty, Christine, 1985, Future Health Needs (paper for The Other Economic Summit).

Puttick, Elizabeth, 1997a, Women in New Religions, London: Macmillan.

Puttick, Elizabeth, 1997b, "A new typology of religion based on needs and values", Journal of Beliefs & Values, 18(2).

Puttick, Elizabeth, 2000, "Personal Development and the Human Potential Movement", pp 201-219 in Beyond the New Age, Steven Sutcliffe and Marion Bowman, eds, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Ray, Paul & Anderson, Sherry, 2000, The Cultural Creatives: how 50 million people are changing the world, New York: Harmony Books.

Stark, Rodney & Bainbridge, William, 1985, The Future of Religion, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Vernon, Polly, 2003, Feel the Fear and Read it Anyway, Observer, 26 October 2003.

Wheen, Francis, 2004, How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World, London: Fourth Estate.