Serpent's Tail for Profile

The independent publishing scene in the UK continues to effervesce: the largely non-fiction Profile (of Eats, Shoots and Leaves fame) has bought out the largely fiction Serpent's Tail.

Just to give some idea of scale in independent publishing: Serpent's Tail turns over 2 million pounds (about A$4.8m) and has been profitable for the last five years, has been going twenty and and has five staff. The five staff is lean for that turnover. (We have a full-time staff equivalent of roughly six and a half.) Serpent's Tail kicked started its profitable years with Catherine Millet's "The Sexual Life of Catherine M."

From their website: Serpent’s Tail’s logo is an ouroboros and represents the two fundamental attributes of time – imminent annihilation and rising hope, which follow each other over and over again in an infinite cycle: time represented as a serpent swallowing its tail. (Which comes across to be my Australian sensibility as a bit much.)

Footnote: Faber's Alliance of independent publisher is interesting to watch.