Research Matters Podcast

Today’s interview is with Dr. Matthew McKay. Dr. McKay is a co-founder of New Harbinger publications and a professor at The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. For those who don’t know, New Harbinger is one of the largest publishers of mental health related books. Through New Harbinger, he pioneered the very idea of client workbooks and has written many himself. In addition to being an active researcher, the main thing I wanted to interview Matt about was how he has been able to write more than 30 professional and self help books, which have sold more than 3 million copies. My goal in this interview was to learn how he can write so many books and also to get an insider’s view on how to get a book published in the mental health space. Dr. McKay began his career publishing a range of books (e.g. business manuals, children’s books) for a small publishing company he created with a friend. He accidentally  stumbled into the world of self-help books when helping his then-girlfriend turn her pamphlet on stress