Profile Books

Profile Books
Founded1996; 28 years ago (1996)
FounderAndrew Franklin
Country of originUK
Headquarters locationLondon
DistributionThe Book Service (UK)
Consortium Book Sales & Distribution (US)
Publication typesBooks
Fiction genresNonfiction, fiction
ImprintsSerpent's Tail, The Clerkenwell Press, Tindal Street Press
Official websiteprofilebooks.com

Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science.

Profile Books is distributed in the UK by Random House and sold by Faber & Faber, and is part of the Independent Alliance.[1]

History

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In 2002 the company acquired the HarperCollins UK business list. The list now includes works by Robert Greene, Ryan Holiday, and Shoshana Zuboff.

In 2003 the company published Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss which was the bestselling non-fiction title for 30 weeks and the Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2004, at which the company also won the Small Publisher of the Year award.

In January 2007 Profile Books acquired Serpent's Tail, bringing together two small publishers in London. In 2008 Profile set up an ethical imprint GreenProfile under the direction of Mark Ellingham, the founder of Rough Guides.

In 2012, Profile launched a new list with Wellcome Collection, designed to showcase writing about medicine, the body, and the human condition. Authors on the list include Val McDermid, Atul Gawande and Gavin Francis.

In October 2012 Profile acquired Birmingham-based independent Tindal Street Press.[2][3][4]

Since 2014 Profile has published a boutique list of Tuskar Rock, editorially selected by Colm Tóibín and Peter Straus, which includes works by László Krasznahorkai and Chris Kraus (American writer).

In 2017 the first books were published in the new Pursuit Books imprint, a list showcasing writing on cycling.

Notable publications

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Authors include Anjana Ahuja, Alan Bennett, Susan Hill, Ian Stewart (mathematician), Jonathan Dimbleby, Sandi Toksvig, Simon Garfield, Robert Greene, Richard Mabey, Simon Jenkins, Margaret MacMillan, David Harvey, Federico Varese and Francesca Simon.

The company publishes all of The Economist books[citation needed].

Robert Greene

Timothy Brook

Richard Wrangham

Simon Garfield

Susan Hill

Tracy Kidder

Jay Bahadur

Patricia and Robert Malcolmson, Nella Last

James A Robinson, Daron Acemoğlu

Alan Bennett

  • The Lady in the Van (1999)
  • Four Stories (2006)
  • The Uncommon Reader (2007)
  • A Life Like Other People's (2009)
  • Smut (2011)
  • Keeping On Keeping On 2017

Simon Jenkins

  • A Short History of England (2011)
  • England's 100 Best Views (2013)

Jonathan Dimbleby

  • Destiny in the Desert (2012)

David Harvey

  • The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism (2011)
  • Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (2014)

James Ward

Atul Gawande

  • Being Mortal

Shaun Bythell (of Wigtown bookshop)

  • The Diary of a Bookseller

Eugenia Cheng

  • How to Bake Pi
  • Beyond Infinity

Prizes

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Profile Books has won the "Independent Publisher of the Year" awards three times. In 2017 The Essex Serpent (published in the Serpent's Tail imprint) was named the Fiction Book of the Year, the Book of the Year, and won Publicity Campaign of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.

References

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  1. ^ "Independent Alliance". The Bookseller. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. ^ "Profile Books takes over Tindal Street Press publishing", Profile Books blog, 29 October 2012.
  3. ^ Charlotte Williams, "Tindal Street bought by Profile", The Bookseller, 29 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Birmingham book publisher Tindal Street Press sold to London rival", Birmingham Mail, 2 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Anquetil, Alone at the Sports Book Awards 2018". Anquetil, Alone. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Being Mortal longlisted for Baillie Gifford Prize". Being Mortal. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Frugal Innovation won the CMI Management Book of the Year Award". Frugal Innovation. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Just My Type at the British Book Design and Production Awards". Just My Type. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
  9. ^ Urwin, Reviews by Rosamund. "Moneyland Sunday Times Business Book of the Year". Moneyland. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Nella Last in the 1950s shortlisted for Portico Prize 2012". Nella Last in the 1950s. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015.
  11. ^ "The Small Hand at the British Book Design and Production Awards". The Small Hand. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
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