The next book, which came to define New Harbinger, 'completely fell into our laps,' McKay said. 'It gave us a nest egg to do other books.' 'The Guide was our first publication that made any money, and went through two editions,' McKay said. postal instructions that were important for anyone shipping abroad. Earlier, when they were fresh out of college, the friends had published and sold a mimeographed literary magazine as they traveled around the country.Īt first, the fledgling company published poetry broadsides and a children's book its first major publication was a pamphlet called International Postal Handbook, which in the era before the Internet, UPS Global and FedEx, consisted of U.S. Fanning, who retired in 2000 but is still close to the company, worked on industrial reference books, learning as much as he could about publishing and direct mail. To understand New Harbinger best, it helps to go back to the company's founding in 1973, which took place, as co-founder and CEO Matthew McKay said, 'in a bar, where so many good things begin.' At the time, McKay was a graduate psychology student while his good friend and imminent business partner Patrick Fanning worked at Miller-Freeman, the former book and magazine publisher and trade show organizer. Last year the company's sales rose to more than $15 million, and it had its first New York Times bestseller, The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.New Harbinger is an ESOP, an employee-owned company, with staff owning 54% of stock, which, among other benefits, maintains the house's independence and improves staff morale and sense of ownership.

The company, which focused initially on mail order sales, then worked with a distributor, now has its own sales team and sells directly to the trade, which has increased revenue, margins and its contact with the market.

This has solidified its connections with authors and practitioners and kept it on the cutting edge of new trends.

New Harbinger continues to be the leading publisher in the field of cognitive behavioral therapy as well as 'third wave' behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy.

The house continues to concentrate on publishing evidence-based self-help titles that have steady sales from year to year that help readers and practitioners deal with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, OCD, PTSD and other diagnoses.

Among publishers, New Harbinger Publications stands out for its 40 years of focused publishing, for its long list of perennial bestsellers, for its independence, for its success financially, for helping its reader-customers understand problems and improve their lives and, perhaps most important, for publishing books that, as it says, change the world and address human suffering.

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