Red Wheel/Weiser, also known in different periods in its history as RedWheel/Weiser/Conari and Samuel Weiser, Inc., is a book

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

with three

imprints Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

: Red Wheel, Weiser Books and Conari Books. It is America's second-largest

occult The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mysti ...

and

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

books, behind

Llewellyn Worldwide Llewellyn Worldwide (formerly Llewellyn Publications) is a New Age publishing, publisher based in Woodbury, Minnesota. Llewellyn's mission is to "serve the trade and consumers worldwide with options and tools for exploring new worlds of mind & sp ...

, and is also one of the oldest American publishers to concentrate exclusively on that

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

. It publishes on average 60-75 new titles per year and maintains a large backlist, partly of books that it originally published, and partly of older

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

rare occult books.

Imprints

Weiser Books

This main imprint is also the oldest. It was founded as ''Samuel Weiser, Inc.'' in 1956, a time when few other publishers were willing to tackle occult subjects, and was originally an offshoot of the New York City retailer, Weiser Antiquarian Books. This imprint publishes the backlist and continues to acquire books on occultism,

astrology Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

subjects, Eastern religions,

Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...

and related topics.

Red Wheel

Red Wheel was founded in 2000 as an imprint for spiritually oriented or occult

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

and

how-to How to or how-to (among other spellings) may refer to: * A user guide ** An owner's manual, more narrowly * A tutorial ** Especially, instructional material created for the do it yourself market In titles of specific works * How to... (film serie ...

books, and at that time the company name was changed from Samuel Weiser, Inc. to RedWheel/Weiser, with several other variations being commonly seen, including Weiser, Inc.

Conari Books

This imprint was acquired in 2002. Before this, Conari Books had been a separate publisher, based in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, dating back to 1989. This imprint focuses on books that view

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and

parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...

issues through a spiritual or New Age perspective. Mango Publishing acquired Conari in 2019.

Turning Stone Press

Turning Stone was founded in 2012. It is a self-publishing imprint in collaboration with Hampton Roads Publishing Company and Hierophant Publishing.

Disinformation Books

Disinformation Books was founded in 1997 as the publishing division of

Disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

. It was acquired by Red Wheel/Weiser in 2012.

Career Press

Career Press was founded in 1985 by Ron Fry and is focused on business books. Red Wheel/Weiser acquired Career Press in 2017.

New Page Books

New Page Books was founded in 1999 as the general nonfiction imprint of Career Press.

Phanes Press

Phanes Press was an independent book publisher until acquired by Red Wheel Weiser Conari in 2004. Phanes Press was founded by David Fideler in 1985 and published books concerning "the spiritual, philosophical and cultural traditions of the Western world," and topics ranging from "

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, from

Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: , Romanization of Ancient Greek, romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: Help:IPA/Greek, �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced ...

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

" to the traditions of the

Pythagoreans Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek co ...

. The company's publications were distributed by Words Distributing Company, which had 23 publisher clients in 2000. The company had published 52 titles by 2004, a so-called "micro publisher", when it was purchased by Red Wheel/Weiser. Reprints of Phanes titles were slated to appear under the Weiser Books imprint after the acquisition. Among Phanes best selling titles were ''The Pythagorean Sourcebook'' and ''Awakening Osiris.'' Other titles published by Phanes included: * ''Blackfoot Physics'' by F. David Peat * ''The Manual of Harmonics'' by

Nicomachus of Gerasa Nicomachus of Gerasa (; ) was an Ancient Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from Gerasa, in the Roman province of Syria (now Jerash, Jordan). Like many Pythagoreans, Nicomachus wrote about the mystical properties of numbers, best known for his ...

* ''The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance'' by Joscelyn Godwin * ''The Voice of the Earth'' by Theodore Roszak

Location

The company has been previously located in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and in York Beach, Maine for most of its history. In 2006, the editorial department moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and the sales and marketing department moved to

Newburyport, Massachusetts Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes p ...

Famous authors

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 or 8 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted philoso ...

* Eliphas Levi * S.L. MacGregor Mathers *

Arthur Edward Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly Mysticism, mystic who wrote extensively on occult and Western esotericism, esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite Tarot (also called th ...

Notes

References

*''2007 Writer's Market'', Robert Lee Brewer & Joanna Masterson. (2006) *''Jeff Herman's Guide To Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents 2007'', Jeff Herman. (2006)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Red Wheel Weiser Conari New Age literature Modern pagan media Book publishing companies based in Massachusetts Publishing companies established in 1956 Companies based in Newburyport, Massachusetts American companies established in 1956