Founded in 1975 by Ehud C. Sperling, Inner Traditions has always focused on publishing work related to spirituality, the occult, as well as Eastern religion, philosophy, and practices. In 2000 they acquired Bear & Company, which focused more on Native American culture, alternative Christianity, New Age, and healing arts. You can learn more about the founding and growth of Inner Traditions here. They are currently distributed by Simon & Schuster.
The books they publish cover a wide range, from Self-Help to Conspiracies. You can get a good feel for the range by going to their catalog, which organizes their books by subject. They also publish card decks and are open to submissions of those as well.
They accept submissions by mail or email. If it is sent by post, please include a self-addressed and stamped envelope with sufficient postage. They do not send out rejections, and instead ask that you assume rejection if you haven’t heard from them in six weeks.
When you submit a proposal they ask for a query letter, a table of contents, an introduction, and sample chapters. They go into details about these components in their submission guidelines.
Their submission guidelines are very helpful, and I encourage you to also scroll down to the very bottom of that page where they break down the current imprints.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2024 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
