Hay House is a publisher founded in 1984 by author Louise Hay, who is known for her books on

New Thought The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a new religious movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy ...

. ''The New York Times'' dubbed Hay "The Queen of the New Age," noting that she became "one of the bestselling authors in history." Hay House describes itself as a " mind–body–spirit and transformational enterprise". Their target audience is readers interested in

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 ...

personal growth Personal development or self-improvement consists of activities that develops a person's capabilities and potential, enhance quality of life, and facilitate the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development may take place over the c ...

, and

alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...

. Hay House was acquired by Penguin Random House in 2023.

History

Hay House was founded in 1984 and incorporated in 1987, to market Louise Hay's self-help books, including, ''Heal Your Body'' and '' You Can Heal Your Life''. Soon after, Hay House began publishing for other authors who fall into the category of mind–body–spirit such as Wayne Dyer,

Suze Orman Susan Lynn "Suze" Orman ( ; born June 5, 1951) is an American financial advisor, author, and podcast host. In 1987, she founded the Suze Orman Financial Group. Her work as a financial advisor gained notability with ''The Suze Orman Show'', which ...

Deepak Chopra Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...

Marianne Williamson Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, speaker, and political activist. She began her professional career as a spiritual leader of the Church of Today, a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan. Williamson has written s ...

, Esther Hicks, Iyanla Vanzant, Kris Carr, Colette Baron-Reid, Jim Kwik, Brendon Burchard, Gabrielle Bernstein, and Elizabeth Hamilton Guarino. Reid Tracy joined Hay House as an accountant in 1988. He went on to take over as the CEO in 1990 at the age of 25. It is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, with auxiliary offices in New York City, London, Sydney,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, and Mumbai. According to ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', the publisher sold more than 6 million books and other products in 2007, bringing in US$100 million in revenues. As of 2018, Hay House reports that they publish books by more than 130 authors and sell their products and services in over 35 countries and that they employ over 100 full-time staff members. In 2018, Hay House created a dedicated business imprint, Hay House Business. In 2023, Hay House was acquired by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. In his statement on the news of the acquisition, Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said, "As we deepen our relationship with Hay House, we're thrilled to support the company's growth and explore the areas of opportunity in their publishing services. Hay House is one of the most recognized health, wellness, and self-help brands in the world, and we look forward to working with Reid and his team on expanding upon their innovative and diverse product offerings."

Mission and practice

Hay House publishes authors who write on such topics as psychic reading, energy healing,

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

tarot cards Tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a set of playing cards used in tarot games and in fortune-telling or divination. From at least the mid-15th century, the tarot was used to play trick-taking car ...

numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...

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 ...

, and holistic health. Hay House hosts group events where fans can pay for admission to seminars by the authors who can then make presentations. They also publish CDs, DVDs, calendars and card decks. The publisher also offers a radio station, Hay House Radio, which provides live radio shows by Hay House authors. They also have spin off websites such as Hay House Online Learning, a place to take online classes by their authors, and ''Heal Your Life'', an online self-help and personal growth program. These services are available as applications for phones and tablets. They also have a division called Balboa Press, a self publishing company, which was created in partnership with

Author Solutions Author Solutions, LLC is the parent company of a number of vanity presses, including AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford Publishing, Xlibris, Palibrio, and Booktango. The company is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, and has been owned by Naj ...

in 2010. Hay House promotes the idea that "traditional Western learning, as codified by universities that bestow fancy degrees, is woefully incomplete, sometimes harmful, and must be supplemented by other ways of knowing". Hay House founder, Louise Hay, explains that Hay House does not actually endorse everything their authors write. They also do turn away some authors and work hard to stay on trend with the latest fashions in self-help. In a 2008 article, Oppenheimer quoted CEO Reid Tracy as saying: "As of right now we've sold over 40 million products in the U.S., and we think a lot of those people have been helped." Hay House does not test the claims made by their authors. The authors gain merit with the publisher based on the testimonials they receive as opposed to the credibility or accuracy of their claims.

Notable authors

* Wayne W. Dyer, author *

John Edward John Edward McGee Jr. (born October 19, 1969) is an American television personality, writer and self-proclaimed psychic medium. After writing his first book on the subject in 1998, Edward became a well-known (and controversial) figure in the ...

, psychic medium *'' Kyle Gray'', bestselling author * Gay Hendricks, psychologist *

, financial advisor *

Tavis Smiley Tavis Smiley (; born September 13, 1964) is an American talk show host and author. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in Bunker Hill, Indiana. After attending Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, he worked durin ...

, talk show host *

Montel Williams Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host and actor. He is known for hosting the daytime tabloid talk show '' The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 1991 to 2008. He currently hosts ''T ...

, television personality

References

{{Authority control New Thought literature Publishing companies established in 1984 Book publishing companies based in California Companies based in Carlsbad, California 1984 establishments in California