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Consumers | Mental Health and Medical Professionals | Resellers | Media |Foreign Rights | Rights and Permissions | Academic Textbook Adoptions | Prospective Authors | The Life of a New Harbinger Book | Self-Help Books | General Psychology | About this Web Site and FAQ A. How and where can I buy New Harbinger books? II. Questions from Mental Health and Medical Professionals A. How can I buy books from New Harbinger for resale?
V. Questions About Foreign Rights VI. Questions About Use Rights and Permissions VII. Questions About Academic Textbook Adoptions VIII. Questions from Prospective Authors IX. Questions about New Harbinger History
X. The Life of a New Harbinger Book
XIII. Questions About this Web Site and FAQ
______________________________________
--- Detailed responses --- Questions from Consumers How and where can I buy New Harbinger books? You can buy books directly from New Harbinger. We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, personal checks, and money orders (drawn in US funds only) for purchases. Please do not send cash. On the World Wide Web: The fastest, most convenient way to purchase New Harbinger books is on our Web site, www.newharbinger.com. Log in any time, day or night, to explore all of our titles and purchase them on-line. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express for purchases. Shipping charges will be added to your total, as will the appropriate sales tax for all orders shipped to a California addresses. By Phone: Our customer service representatives can take your orders by phone at (800) 748-6273 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. Our offices are closed on all federal holidays, Christmas Eve, and the day before Thanksgiving. We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. By Fax: You can fax us your order at any time to (800) 652-1613 or mail your order to: New Harbinger Publications When faxing or mailing your order, please include your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Tell us the title and, if possible, the last four digits of the book’s ISBN number (we call this the “item code” in our catalog), and the number of each book you’d like to purchase. Please add shipping charges according to the following table: UPS (no PO Boxes) in the
Continental US UPS (no PO Boxes) in Alaska,
Hawaii, and Puerto Rico California Residents: please add your local sales tax rate to your order total (before shipping charges). In Person: If you’re in the Oakland area, feel free to stop by our Shattuck Avenue offices. We keep a small inventory of books on hand, though, so please call us first at (800) 748-6273 to make sure the title you want is on hand. While you can pay for purchases you make in person with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, a personal check, or a money order, we will also accept cash for purchases you make in person. We will add California sales tax to your purchase. Where else can I buy New Harbinger books? New Harbinger books are available at national chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble, Borders, Book-A-Million, and Waldenbooks. Many independent bookstores also carry New Harbinger titles. If you’re shopping on the World Wide Web, look for New Harbinger books at book-selling site like Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com. Borders.com, and BAMM.com. How long will it take for my books to arrive? If you order books directly from New Harbinger, please allow two to three weeks for delivery. If you need your books right away, please place your order by phone at (800) 748-6273 (see above for business hours) and ask your customer service representative for second-day or overnight shipping. Additional shipping charges will apply. If you order our books from another company, you must contact them for shipping information. To track an order you’ve placed directly with New Harbinger, please call (800) 748-6273 (see above for business hours). A customer service representative will help you locate your shipment. Why haven’t my books arrived yet? If you’ve waited two to three weeks and your books still haven’t arrived, call us at (800) 748-6273. While we work very hard to make sure that your order arrives as quickly as possible, the rare occasional problem in shipping can occur. When we discover a problem, we will do everything we can to set things straight and get your books to you as soon as possible. What if I decide a book I’ve bought isn’t right for me? New Harbinger proudly guarantees every book purchased from us at the cover price for as long as you own your copy. If, at any time, you decide the book is not right for you, return it to us for a full credit or refund. Call (800) 748-6273 for details. A New Harbinger book really changed my life, so I want to thank the author. How can I get in touch with a New Harbinger author? If you want to get in touch with a New Harbinger author, please write to him or her in care of the New Harbinger Editorial offices: New Harbinger Publications We will forward your letter to the author. Our authors are very busy professionals, however, so we regret that we cannot guarantee their responses to your queries. Where can I buy New Harbinger books in English-speaking countries other than the United States? New Harbinger works with independent distributors in English-speaking countries other than the US who are responsible for selling our books into their markets. If you are a consumer looking for a Harbinger book, we suggest the following Web sites: The United Kingdom: www.amazon.uk Canada: www.amazon.ca Austrailia: www.bookworm.com.au New Zealand: South Africa: www.exclusivebooks.com Are New Harbinger books available in languages other than English? New Harbinger books have been translated into many foreign languages including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Hebrew, Polish, and Russian, but New Harbinger does not print or sell these books ourselves. Instead, we license the contents of certain books to foreign publishers who translate, produce, and sell our titles to their own markets. If you are interested in a New Harbinger book in a language other than English, we recommend you search for the book by title on a major Web site servicing the speech community of the language you’re looking for. Amazon, for example, has sites dedicated to Japan, Austria, Germany, and France as well as a listing of Spanish-language books. In addition, please see foreign editions on our website. Questions from Mental Health and Medical Professionals Does New Harbinger exhibit at professional conferences? New Harbinger keeps a full schedule of professional psychology and book industry conference appearances. In most years, we will have booths at:
Our acquiring editors also attend a number of other psychological conferences. If you are interested in finding out New Harbinger’s current conference attendance schedule, please call our offices at (510) 652-0215. How can I buy books from New Harbinger for resale? Since August of 2003, New Harbinger has represented ourselves directly to resellers in the book trade and in other market areas. If you are a bookseller or other reseller looking to purchase New Harbinger books, please call (800) 748-6273 and ask to be transferred to a New Harbinger salesperson. He or she will happily assist you to establish a New Harbinger account, apply for credit terms, and place your first order. Can I buy New Harbinger books from book wholesalers? Yes. New Harbinger books are available from national wholesalers like Ingram Book Company, Baker & Taylor, Bookazine, Koen Book Distributors, New Leaf Distributing Company, American Wholesale Book Company, and many others. What is New Harbinger’s return policy? Your New Harbinger sales representative will provide you with a detailed explanation of our return policy. Please call (800) 748-6273 and ask to be transferred to a salesperson if you have any questions. Where should I send books I want to return? If your terms of sale allow returns and your return conforms to our return policy, you must send book returns to: Publishers Storage and Shipping Corporation Attn: New Harbinger Publications, Inc. We regret that any books you return to our business and editorial offices in Oakland, CA, will be forwarded to our Michigan distribution center at your expense. Questions from the Media I’d like to interview a New Harbinger author? Who should I get in touch with? If you represent a media program or publication and want to interview a New Harbinger author, please send e-mail to New Harbinger’s Publicity Manager, Earlita Chenault, at earlita@newharbinger.com. Who should I talk to about getting New Harbinger to advertise in my magazine? Please direct advertising queries to our advertising manager, Gretchen Gold, at gretchen@newharbinger.com. Questions About Foreign Rights Can I license a New Harbinger book for translation and foreign distribution? New Harbinger regularly licenses our titles for translation and foreign distribution. Although we have established relationships with a number of foreign publishers, we welcome all inquiries about foreign rights. Please direct your inquiries to our Foreign Rights Manager, Dorothy Smyk, at dorothy@newharbinger.com. Questions About Use Rights and Permissions How do I get permission to use an excerpt from a New Harbinger book? New Harbinger books may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any medium without our expressed written permission. If you would like to use excerpts of a New Harbinger book, please e-mail your request to Dorothy Smyk, at dorothy@newharbinger.com., or fax your written request to Dorothy’s attention at (510) 652-5472. In your request, please be sure to include the following information: The book’s title, author(s), and ISBN The exact page numbers of the excerpt you’d like to use A clear, detailed description of your intended use, such as: For reprint in another book (include publisher name, title of the book in which the excerpt will appear, print run, and the language rights you are requesting) For use on a Web site (include URL for the site and whether visitors will be charged to view the excerpted material) For use in a magazine (include the circulation and publication date) For photocopies (describe the recipients: therapy groups, educational purposes, clinics, prisons, and so forth; let us know how many copies you plan to make) A description of the territory over which your use will be distributed (world, English-speaking world, USA, region, state, city, group, and so forth) After we receive your request, our permissions manger will contact you with more information. Questions About Academic Textbook Adoptions How do I examine and adopt a New Harbinger book for my class? New Harbinger books are straightforward guides to a number of subjects in undergraduate and graduate curricula. If you are a teacher or professor interested in examining a New Harbinger book for adoptions, you have several choices: You may simply purchase the book directly from New Harbinger and review the book at your leisure. Remember that all New Harbinger books are guaranteed unconditionally for as long as you own your copy. If you decide the book isn’t right for you class, simply return the book to us at any time for a full credit or refund. Otherwise, you may submit a request to us on institutional letterhead, asking for examination copies of the books you are interested in. We will send you the books to examine for sixty days. At the end of that time, we will send you an invoice for the cover price of the books you requested, including shipping charges and applicable tax. When you receive that invoice, you may: 1.) return the books to us for credit against the invoice; 2.) pay the invoice and keep the books for your personal use; or 3.) provide us with a copy of your bookstore’s purchase order for books you wish to adopt. You may keep the examination copy of any book you adopt for class use with our compliments. Questions from Prospective Authors I’ve got a great book idea. How you I submit a proposal or manuscript? New Harbinger accepts unsolicited manuscripts and book proposal submissions from qualified authors. If you’d care to make a submission, please mail a hard copy of your manuscript or proposal to: Book Proposals Or e-mail proposals to proposals@newharbinger.com. While we work hard to review every submission we receive, we cannot guarantee a response to every book proposal. Unsolicited materials you mail to New Harbinger will only be returned to you if you request us to do so in writing and provide us with a self-address, postage-paid envelope sufficient for the task. Questions about New Harbinger History How long has New Harbinger been publishing books? New Harbinger has been publishing the finest self-help books in the trade since 1973. We are very proud to have served our readers for more than thirty years. New Harbinger was started by Dr. Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning with a box of letterhead and a few very good ideas. You might recognize their names; together and separately, Matt and Pat have written and contributed to many of New Harbinger’s best books. Matt McKay is still the publisher and general manager at New Harbinger. He is actively involved in the daily operation of the company. Pat Fanning is retired from the publishing business. He still writes self-help books and is a very successful painter, living and showing his work in Northern California. What kinds of books does New Harbinger publish? New Harbinger publishes books on mental health, medical, relationship, and personal growth topics. Our goal is to bring our readers practical, straightforward, and easy-to-use books grounded in scientifically sound, clinically proven theory. Experienced professionals write all of our books, leading individuals in their fields with years of experience. We are committed to providing you, our reader, with real tools for real change in your life. Every book we sell comes with our promise that it can, in meaningful ways, significantly improve your life. New Harbinger, incidentally, pioneered a particular form of book that has become a standard in psychology self-help: the self-help workbook. These larger format books contain all the information you need to start on a path to positive change, but they also contain exercises, assessments, and evaluations you can do right in the book. After you learn a skill, you get to practice it right away and then, just as quickly, examine how it worked for you. We think this is the best and fastest way to learn techniques you can use to change your life for the better. Where is New Harbinger located? The New Harbinger editorial and business offices are located in Oakland, California. Then why do my books always come from Michigan? For about twenty years, New Harbinger existed primarily as an editorial and business office. We sold books directly to consumers but worked with a distributor called Publishers Group West, who represented our books to the book trade. In August of 2003, New Harbinger expanded to include an in-house sales department and began selling our books directly to resellers. Of course, this change involved major logistical changes for us. To better supply our consumer and resale customers, we contracted our order fulfillment and warehouse management to Publisher’s Shipping and Storage Company of Ypsilanti, MI. Every book that New Harbinger ships leaves from this warehouse, and all books returned to New Harbinger must be sent there as well. What does New Harbinger plan for the future? New Harbinger plans to keep publishing the best mental health, medical, relationship, and personal growth books in the industry for many years to come. In addition, we also plan to explore new publishing avenues. Look for exciting new additions to the New Harbinger list in the coming years. The Life of a New Harbinger Book How do you decide which books to publish? New Harbinger has a staff of acquiring editors who seek out and develop ideas for books they believe readers can use. How long does it take to develop a New Harbinger book? From the idea stage to the distribution of printed books for sale, a New Harbinger book takes, on average, two years to develop. Why do you put certain books out of print? Information changes. Even our best books need periodic revision to account for developments in research, changes in thinking, and so forth. By industry standards, New Harbinger books tend to stay in print a very long time. But all good things must come to an end—or, at least to a new edition. When we need to reprint a book, we ask ourselves some hard questions about it. Has demand for this book increased or decreased over time? Has any of its content been affected by advances in research or clinical practice? Sometimes the answers to these questions lead us to retire a book from print. If you’re looking for a New Harbinger title that has gone out of print, we recommend you search for it by title at your local public or academic library or on one of the many Web sites that search for used books like www.alibris.com and www.half.com. Who decides which books go out of print? The decision to put a book out of print is long and complicated because we try very hard to make sure that every book gets as much circulation as possible. Final out-of-print decisions are made by collaborative agreement between several New Harbinger departments. Self-Help Books The easy answer is that a self-help book is one that offers you some kind of strategy or technique you can use, on your own, to better yourself. Most of us associate self-help books with psychology and psychotherapy, but there are also many examples of self-help books about health and law topics. Self-help books take the vast and complicated subject of you, the reader, as their topic. This is how they can be distinguished from how-to books and instruction manuals that might teach you how to do a more limited task like changing your oil or milking a cow. In 1859, Samuel Smiles published the first self-help book we know of. He was a doctor and political reformer from Scotland who is associated with a movement called Chartism that sought to liberalize the British Parliament. The book was titled, surprisingly enough, Self-Help, and it advocated self-improvement, industrious living, and frugality. Interestingly, the book is the provenance of the often-cited line, “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” Since that time, there have been a number of famous (and some might say, infamous) books thought of as examples of the self-help genre: Eric Bernes’s Games People Play, Thomas Harris’s I’m OK—You’re OK, Stephen Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. The big difference between New Harbinger self-help books and workbooks and many “famous” self-help titles is that our books focus on teaching you how to cope with specific problems you’re dealing with in your real life. Our books don’t claim to hold the secret to the meaning of life, nor do they try to oversimplify the complex workings of your mind to a few catch phrases and platitudes. Our books might inspire you, but they are not “inspirational books” meant to enchant you with an author’s vision for a perfect world. Instead, every book New Harbinger publishes is grounded in real science and real clinical practice. Each one addresses a specific and limited problem you’d like to address or goal you’d like to achieve with practical, concrete techniques. No baloney—just real tools for real change. Do New Harbinger self-help books really work? Absolutely—if you use them correctly. Because New Harbinger books teach you skills that have been proven effective in research and clinical trials, you will be able to change your life for the better if you read carefully and practice the skills you learn diligently. But, alas, change is a lot of work. No one would or should argue that making changes in your life with the techniques of cognitive-behavioral therapy or the several other approaches taught in New Harbinger books is easy, effortless, or instant. It isn’t. Real change takes time, diligence, and patience. If you are motivated to change, though, our books will give you a great change to succeed. We know you can do it—and we’ll be with you every step of the way. What should I look for when choosing a self-help book? When you decide to shop for a self-help book, keep a few things in mind. Readability: Do you understand what the book is saying? Is it written to you in straight-forward, simple language? Do you feel, even at first glance, like you will be able to learn and practice the skills the book has to teach you? Credibility: What are the author’s credentials? Does he or she have clinical or research experience? Does the book contain printed references to studies and findings that support its conclusions? Accountability: Does the book offer you a means to evaluate how its skills are working for you? Does it contain a clear explanation of what to look for as you progress? Does the book explain how to maintain the progress you’ve worked so hard for? If you need more help, does the book offer you suggestions on how to connect with professionals and other sources of support? What is psychotherapy? Psychotherapy is the treatment of mental or emotional disorders and related problems using psychological means. Sometimes, these conditions are also treated medically (with drugs or physical therapies) or surgically (by physically altering the brain or nerve system.) Psychotherapy, though, uses only techniques that work on the mind as a means of relieving disordered symptoms. Are there different kinds of psychotherapy? Most certainly. There are a great many approaches to psychotherapy, and more are being developed even as you read this. Most New Harbinger books, though, draw on a group of techniques associated with a tradition called cognitive-behavioral therapy. What is cognitive-behavioral therapy? Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the name for a group of related techniques that treat mental disorders by combining the techniques of behavior and cognitive therapy. Behavior therapy works from the assumption that most mental disorders can be interpreted as patterns of behavior that cause you problems. The core techniques of behavior therapy condition you to avoid negative actions and teach you to engage in positive ones, reducing over time the frequency and severity of whatever symptoms you are experiencing. Cognitive therapy, on the other hand, sets out to modify your beliefs, expectations, and thinking style, assuming that psychological problems often occur because of distorted perceptions of reality and erroneous thinking. You might have heard that cognitive therapies work to silence a phenomenon called negative self-talk: a critical, ruminating voice that runs in your head, reinforcing untrue beliefs like “I am worthless” and “I am unlovable.” Both therapies are characterized by an active approach to mental wellness that focuses on actions in the present rather than dwelling at length on influences from the past. Some ideas in both of these therapies can be traced to Roman thinkers like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, yet most agree that the first approach to CBT as a complete psychotherapy was rational emotive therapy, a method originated by psychologist Albert Ellis in the mid-1950s. In the 1960s, a psychiatrist named Aaron Beck developed a system he called cognitive therapy, which proved to be a very effective treatment for depression. At about the same time, psychiatrist Maxie C. Maultsby was working on what he called rational behavior therapy. A student of Ellis’, Maultsby was a great proponent of the role the client played in the therapeutic process, advocating a range of self-counseling skills and the assignment of therapeutic homework to support a client’s sessions with a therapist. Very many of New Harbinger’s books use some form of cognitive and behavior therapy to approach their subjects. All of our books embrace, at least in spirit, the results-oriented style of cognitive-behavioral therapy. What is acceptance and commitment therapy? Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT, pronounced as a word instead of separate letters) is a relatively new model of psychotherapy that is changing forever the way we think about the goals of clinical psychology and the very idea of mental health. Applied to a range of common behavioral, emotional, and even medical problems-from smoking cessation to depression and anxiety to managing the effects of type 2 diabetes-ACT is emerging as a powerful new tool we can use to change our lives for the better. Unlike other models of psychotherapy, ACT doesn’t focus on the control or elimination of unwanted thoughts and impulses. Instead it trains us to observe our thoughts, achieving distance from them without feeling a need for action or judgment. ACT techniques help us accept and even embrace uncomfortable experiences-and this is a critical skill for the second phase of the ACT process, in which we learn to identify our values. As simple as this might sound, it actually is a very challenging process to really examine and clarify the values that matter to us the most. Once we do, though, we can commit to acting in ways that further those values. Remember the part about accepting painful experience? This is where is becomes so important: Many times in our life, acting according to our values will certainly result in painful experience, either doing unpleasant things we’d rather not or refraining from doing thing we enjoy but which do us no good in the end. If we value good health, for example, we may choose to exercise every day. Enduring the discomfort of getting up an hour earlier to go to the gym is a pain. But your body won’t exercise itself, and without regular exercise, you won’t be in the best health you can be. If you’ve trained yourself to accept these experiences rather than avoiding them-staying in bed for that extra hour, perhaps-you’ll have more success at living a rich and fulfilling life. What is dialectical behavior therapy? In 1991, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was introduced to the psychological community in a series of outcome studies by psychologist and researcher Marsha M. Linehan. Originally designed to treat borderline personality disorder, DBT proved to be highly effective as a treatment for this otherwise recalcitrant condition. As it was originally conceived, DBT treatment was a two-step process: Clients met individually with a therapist each week, during which time they examined recent problem events in their lives in some detail. In a separate and longer weekly group session, clients learned how to be more effective in interpersonal relationships; how to tolerate and accept situations in their lives more easily; how to regulate their emotions; and how to use mindfulness-based skills to accomplish any of the preceding tasks. Several New Harbinger books have extended the application of DBT to self-help literature. Depressed and Anxious by Thomas Marra adapts DBT techniques for use on depression and anxiety when they are experienced at the same time. Scott Spradlin explains how the DBT skill set can help you cope with unruly emotions in Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life, and, with coauthor Amy Tibbets, helps individuals with borderline personality disorder uses the principles to cope with their conditions in the The Borderline Personality Workbook. To whom can I send questions and comments about this Web site? Please e-mail your questions or comments to webmaster Gretchen Gold at gretchen@newharbinger.com. Questions About this FAQ To whom can I send questions and comments about this FAQ? We’d appreciate anything you have to say about this ever-expanding FAQ. Please e-mail your questions or comments to Troy DuFrene at troy@newharbinger.com. Where did all this information come from? Lots of places. Of course, all of the information about New Harbinger in particular comes either from one department or the other here in the office or from the recollections of folks who’ve been around since the beginning
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