Self-help was already one of the fastest-growing nonfiction categories in the 2010s, according to NPD Group. Then came the global pandemic in 2020, with its social isolation, a host of novel stressors, and information overload, triggering stress, anxiety, and all manner of mental health disorders.

“A lot of experts are saying it really was a point where we became more open about mental health,” says Michael Aulisio, vice president and publisher of Harper Celebrate. “We’re having conversations about it that we never would have had in the past. I don’t know if it was the pandemic, but [discussing mental health] has become less taboo.”

Margo Beren, sales director at New Harbinger Publications, agrees that the stigma of discussing mental health is decreasing, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z and points out that New Harbinger’s title Anxiety Happens sold especially well in Urban Outfitters stores. “It’s a really good time for self-help,” she says. “Our whole mission is to reduce pain and suffering, and if more people are willing to get the help, that’s such a great place to be.”

Mental health titles are just one growing niche of the vast category, though. North Atlantic Books seeks more intersectional titles, particularly in the healing and social justice realms. “As individuals, we are connected to other people, the planet, our neighborhoods, other living beings,” says publisher Tim McKee. “So, to talk about changing ourselves without integrating an understanding of how we’re impacted by society and also how our actions impact those around us is inherently limiting.
Here, publishers share the self-help titles they’re most excited about for 2024.
North Atlantic Books

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, California-based nonprofit publisher North Atlantic Books has been publishing books on somatics, herbalism, and other healing modalities since the 1970s. “A lot of what we’re doing is amplifying and bringing to the public healing ideas, healing histories, healing modalities that have been invisible-ized much to our collective detriment,” says Publisher Tim McKee.

Lebanese American herbalist and healer Layla K. Feghali’s The Land in Our Bones: Plantcestral Herbalism and Healing Cultures from Syria to the Sinai, February 2024, ISBN 9781623179144, invites Arabs in the diaspora to reclaim the herbal healing tradition within the Arab world. “Her book is also a love letter to the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region,” says Communications Director Bevin Donahue. “So much of what she advocates for is an embodied wellness that's interconnected with our ancestors and our lineages and the people and places we call home.”

Returning Home to Our Bodies: Reimagining the Relationship Between Our Bodies and the World by Abigail Rose Clarke, January 2024, ISBN 9781623179380, offers healing practices connecting somatics, nature, and social change. In her somatic bodywork, Clarke realized that she couldn’t help people heal in their bodies until they had a fuller understanding of them. One chapter aims to normalize pain, sorrow, grief, and difficulty, as opposed to seeing them as unwelcome. “She’s not saying it’s great to feel pain in your body,” McKee says. “She’s saying that we’re built for it, it’s part of the human experience, and our bodies have systems for it.”

In Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy, March 2024, ISBN 9781623178475, author Christopher Marmolejo reimagines mainstream practice through an indigenous lens for radical liberation. “Christopher looks at the assumptions we make in the way tarot is traditionally practiced, that have been informed by the systems of domination that have socialized us all,” McKee says. For example, Marmolejo says the binary way the masculine and the feminine are traditionally talked about in tarot limits its power. The book also subverts the mainstream Hellenistic tarot imagery by introducing indigenous gods and other figures in their place.

For writer and activist Vanessa Rochelle Lewis, online abuse catalyzed a reclamation project in book form: Reclaiming UGLY!, January 2024, ISBN 9781623175863. Lewis redefined “UGLY” for herself and her readers to stand for Unlearn oppression and uplift, Glorify, Love Yourself. “Vanessa uses the term ‘uglification’ throughout the book to describe the process that we use socially and culturally to deem some people ugly and some people not,” says Julia Sadowski, associate publicity director. The term, as Lewis uses it, also extends to cover body size accommodation, or lack thereof, in public spaces, as well as access to health care, education, and other opportunities.

Roger Kuhn, PhD, identifies as a Two-Spirit Poarch Creek indigenous person. He’s also a psychotherapist, somatic practitioner, and the author of Somacultural Liberation, February 2024, ISBN 9781623178826. Growing up in a wider culture that taught him to feel shame about his indigenous and queer identities, Kuhn eventually embraced and embodied his two-spiritedness through deep study and powwows for two-spirited people. “Eventually, as he questioned the ways he’d been gaslit by society, this thing that he’d felt so shameful about ended up being the source of his own liberation,” McKee says.
New Harbinger Publications

At 50 years old, New Harbinger Publications is a longtime leader in the self-help category. “Self-help is what we do,” says Sales Director Margo Beren. “We started the company working with psychologists and giving them tools to work with their clients and then saw there was really a need for laypeople to have these books.” New Harbinger has become a trusted resource for self-help, priding itself on putting out only evidence-based, clinically proven titles.

The Black Woman’s Guide to Coping with Stress: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Skills to Create a Life of Joy and Well-Being by Cheryl L. Woods Giscombé, PhD , June 2024, ISBN 9781648481147, addresses the additional stress and pressure society puts on Black women through the pervasive “Strong Black Woman” stereotype. In her research, Giscombé found Black women believed they must (1) present an image of strength, (2) suppress emotions, (3) resist help from others, (4) succeed despite inadequate resources, and (5) help others while neglecting self-care.

“Obviously we have books on stress,” Beren says. “But we really felt strongly that we needed one to speak to Black women by a Black woman. Giscombé is hoping to help Black women begin prioritizing self-care and to manage the way they care for their family and others.”

In Adult Survivors of Emotionally Abusive Parents: How to Heal, Cultivate Emotional Resilience, and Build the Life and Love You Deserve, March 2024, ISBN 9781648482649, author Sherrie Campbell, PhD, helps readers see the way their parents’ toxic behaviors—pitting siblings against each other, talking down to you, neglectfulness, lying, gaslighting—continue to influence mental health, beliefs, and feelings of self-worth into adulthood. She offers skill-based strategies for dealing with the resulting stress, anxiety, depression, and fear, including boundary setting, mindfulness practices, reframing, and self-compassion. “Readers can go on to develop deep and loving relationships themselves and build a vibrant, meaningful life,” Beren says.

When a Loved One Won't Seek Mental Health Treatment: How to Promote Recovery and Reclaim Your Family's Well-Being, May 2024, ISBN 9781648483134, comes from a team of authors, including C. Alec Pollard, PhD; Melaine VanDyke, PhD; Gary Mitchell, LCSW; Heidi J. Pollard, MSN; and Gloria Mathis, PhD, at the Center for OCD and Anxiety Related Disorders in St. Louis, MO. The book helps families understand “recovery avoidance” and how their own efforts and responses can sometimes exacerbate or perpetuate the problem they’re trying to solve. A five-step process, based on cognitive behavioral therapy and family systems theory, is designed to improve quality of life for the whole family.
Harper Celebrate

An imprint of HarperCollins, Harper Celebrate launched in spring 2021. The imprint publishes 10 to 12 author-driven gift book titles per year in high-design coffee-table and smaller, more portable formats. The content primarily fits into the lifestyle and self-help niches.

New York City–based organizational psychologist Brittany Gowan noticed that whenever she got out of the city and spent time in nature, she felt more grounded and peaceful. That prompted her to write Turn to the Sun, February 2024, ISBN 9781400243723.“The book’s premise is that no matter where you are, you can unlock the stress-relieving properties of nature,” says Michael Aulisio, vice president and publisher. The portable, small-format title includes accessible exercises for engaging with the natural world wherever you are, positive affirmations, and centering meditations. Gowan’s own botanical photography is included as chapter openers.

In Why Do We Stay? How My Toxic Relationships Will Help You Find Freedom by Stephanie Quayle with W. Keith Campbell, PhD, April 2024, ISBN 9781400244515, Quayle, a singer-songwriter, tells the story of a long-term relationship she once had. Her partner was a pilot and died in a plane crash. At the funeral, it came to light that he’d been leading a double life with other women for years, and she’d had no idea.

“The book is very cool because it’s part memoir,” Aulisio says. “In each chapter, Stephanie tells a little bit more of her story; in counterpoint to her story, Dr. Campbell clarifies what Stephanie has experienced, in psychological terms.” He defines terms we all throw around, like “love bombing” or “narcissist.” He also provides questions for readers to evaluate their own situations, including signs to look for about when to get out or when to stay.

Author Katie Clemons’s mission is bringing families together through stories. She’s done it with a line of journals. Now The Daily Family Conversation Starter, May 2024, ISBN 9781400247462, offers families one accessible activity to check off each day of the year. “These are short little topics to get kids talking,” Aulisio says. There are open-ended questions, checklists, and simple true-false questions like, “A hot dog is absolutely a type of sandwich. True or False?” “What I like is that none of them, on their face, are these really philosophical questions,” Aulisio says. “But they’re conversation starters that can lead to something deeper.”

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