New Day for
a New Age at INATS
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (JULY 2003)
“Not
your father’s New Age,” trade rag New Age Retailer’s
current marketing tagline, was the message being
touted at the 2003 International New Age Trade Show
(INATS) West on June 28-30 at the Denver Merchandise
Mart. What began as a metaphysical and jewelry
show in 1996 has grown three times in size to its current
320 exhibitors, with 1,400-1,500 attendees, where you
can find just about anything. This year’s show size
is “right on track with the 2002 show, a positive sign
in light of the sluggish economy,” explains Andrew
Toplarski, INATS Director of Show Production.
In fact, New Age is growing out of its category in so
many directions that it’s hard for publishers to agree
on one classification. “Mind-Body-Spirit,” “Conscious
Living for a New Age,” and “Spirituality/Metaphysical”
are just a few of the monikers being thrown at the segment.
What’s clear from publishers who attended INATS is that,
despite a slow year in general, they see increasing
opportunity in the New Age category from mainstream
America. Publishing powerhouses such as Penguin,
HarperCollins, and Barron’s Educational
Series put a stake in the INATS ground several years
ago. And word has it that Random House is looking
to attend INATS-East next January.
So why now? Stress and uncertainty in the US market
— not to mention world politics — continues to take
a toll on mainstream consumers who don’t see the light
at the end of the tunnel, according to INATS-West Marketing
Director Aubin Wilson. “9/11 brought the world’s
struggles to our home soil, and we’re seeing a whole
re-evaluation of peace, the meaning of life, the family,
and home as reflected in the abundance of spiritual
‘how-to’ books and home accessories now available.”
It’s no coincidence that Hay House had the most
successful month in their history right after 9/11,
and their inspirational/self-help category sales have
increased 33% year-over-year in the past five years,
according to Publicity Director Jacqui Clark.
Perhaps a bigger factor in warming up mainstreamers
to New Age — young adults in particular — has been the
proliferation of supernatural-focused TV shows such
as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, not
to mention the whole Harry Potter phenomenon.
Once-taboo topics such as Wicca, Pagan, and Tarot are
now sold in adult-version kits at your local Target,
Sam’s Club, or Costco. “People want to
take more control over their lives and they want to
find all the answers in a single product,” explains
Llewelyn Vice President Gabe Weschcke.
Penguin sees the New Age segment as a way of identifying
new accounts for such cross-category megasellers as
The Secret Life of Bees as well as to promote
backlist, according to Marketing Manager Christine
Duplessis. Likewise, Barron’s Sales Rep Don Rausch
notes that sales of “middle-of-the-road” spirituality
series to New Age distributors have been extremely strong
— 2002 sales with New Leaf Distributing were
up 35% over 2001, due to increasing acceptance of backlist
titles such as The Book of Spells. New Leaf CFO
Santosh Krinsky states that he’s “very happy”
about mainstream interest in New Age, as it “prepares
the ground for more people wanting to go to the next
level.”
Red
Wheel•Weiser•Conari President and CEO Michael
Kerber agrees that there’s a benefit to the big
and small outfits playing together in the New Age market.
“For frontlist titles, we rely on the chains to establish
the new titles; then we rely on the independent stores
to keep the new titles alive over the longer term,”
Kerber says. “Our most successful independent booksellers
are marketing interactive workshops and/or reinventing
themselves as ‘lifestyle resource centers,’” a development
that’s consistent with the all-in-one approach consumers
are demanding today.
We
thank Denver-based freelance business writer Kelly Roark
for contributing this report.
©2003
Publishing Trends
