Flame Tree Publishing is an independent publisher of books, calendars and other stationery items, based in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

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with an editorial office in New York. It focuses on art, music, lifestyle and fiction categories. Flame Tree creates content in the form of paper printed encyclopedias, guides and practical books and publishes them in different book, gift, stationery and digital markets worldwide. It has a number of license arrangements with museums, galleries and other licensors, including

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, V&A and The Royal Academy of Arts. The publisher started releasing

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

s and launched a new fantasy, crime and science fiction classics imprint called Flame Tree 451. In 2015 Flame Tree launched a range of deluxe Gothic Fantasy titles combining new stories from open submissions and curated classic writing. In 2018 a new trade imprint fiction imprint called Flame Tree Press began to publish new novels in the horror and suspense, sf and fantasy and crime and mystery genres.

Origins

Flame Tree was established in 1992 as The Flame Tree Publishing Company, a part-time illustrated art book and gift packaging operation by founder Nick Wells. In 1995 Wells left

HarperCollins Publishers HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is ...

to turn Flame Tree into a full-time business, operating from an office in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...

. The company name was changed to The Foundry Creative Media Company Ltd but Flame Tree Publishing was retained as the publishing imprint and brand. Managing Director Frances Bodiam joined in 1996. Wells and Bodiam continue to run the business. In 2012 The company name changed to Flame Tree Publishing Ltd and John Holloran and Ross Clayton of Marston Book Services Ltd invested to provide distribution and accounting services. In May 2023 Flame Tree left Marston to join Hachette UK Distribution.

Activity

In the first few years Flame Tree's main activity was to create a range of packaged books for a series of corporate publishers, including

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

(25 of the original colour reference Collins Gems and two illustrated encyclopedias),

Dorling Kindersley Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

(including 16 ''K.I.S.S. Guides'', such as ''Astrology'') and 24 of the then Letts Education's ''Success Guides'' to KS3, and GCSE During this period Flame Tree started to create and sell calendars and greeting cards to retail markets and has exhibited at the Spring Fair and Autumn International Gift Shows at the NEC since 1997. In 1998, Flame Tree moved into new premises on the borders of Hammersmith and Fulham, close to

The River Café (London) The River Café is a restaurant in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, specialising in Italian cuisine. It was owned and run by chefs Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray until Gray's death in 2010; sin ...

and, at that time, a few minutes walk from several other publishers,

Virgin Books Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing ...

and

Constable & Robinson Constable & Robinson Ltd. is an imprint of Little, Brown which publishes fiction and non-fiction books and ebooks. History Constable & Co. was founded in 1795 by Archibald Constable, and became the publisher of works by Sir Walter Scott. In ...

. Flame Tree started publishing into the UK and international markets, focusing on art, music, cookery and general reference. Among its first books were ''Guitar Facts, An Illustrated Guide'' () and ''Simple Cookery: Wok and Stir Fry'' () both of which demonstrate Flame Tree's method of creating practical content for everyday use. Step-by-step photos continue to be a feature of many of their publications. In 2015 Flame Tree moved to its current premises near the Kings Road in Fulham, by Putney Bridge tube station, coinciding with a greater concentration on art, music and fiction. Flame Tree exhibits at a number annual trade shows including the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and d ...

, The Spring Fair International Gift Show,

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

BookExpo America BookExpo America (commonly referred to within the book publishing industry as BEA) was an annual book trade fair in the United States. BEA was almost always held in a major city over four days in late May and/or early June. Nearly all significa ...

. and The Beijing International Bookfair. Flame Tree's brand ''The Art of Fine Gifts'' includes illustrated art books, art calendars and deluxe notebooks featuring licensed and created art by a wide range of modern artists and illustrators such as Josephine Wall, Kerim Beyit, Ann Stokes and Lesley Anne Ivory In 2019 Flame Tree and the Chinese media giant Phoenix Publishing and Media Group held a signing ceremony at the Beijing International Bookfair for a cooperation venture in the Chinese and English language markets.

Gothic, dark fantasy and science fiction

2015 saw the publication of the first titles in a range of short story collections which combined new writing from submission calls online, and classic writing. Examples include ''Chilling Ghosts Short Stories'', ''Time Travel Short Stories'' and ''Agents & Spies Short Stories''. FLAME TREE PRESS logo

In 2018 the company launched Flame Tree Press, a trade imprint for novels in genre fiction, mainly horror, sf, dark fantasy and crime. First writers included

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

winner John Everson, Jonathan Janz and Brian Trent, with new writers and novels in translation from China. Ramsey Campbell endorsed the launch of the new list which included the publication of his own ''Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach''. In 2020 Flame Tree announced a partnership with ''Compelling Science Fiction'' magazine, a US publisher of science fiction.

Trade bodies

Flame Tree is a member of the

Independent Publishers Guild The Independent Publishers Guild (IPG), founded in 1962, is an association set up to support the needs of independent firms in the publishing industry in the United Kingdom, with a current membership of more than 600 companies. The IPG is a not-fo ...

(IPG) and The Greeting Card Association (GCE).

References

{{Reflist

External links

flametreepublishing.com

flametreepress.com
British speculative fiction publishers Publishing companies established in 1992 Book publishing companies based in London Visual arts publishing companies Science fiction publishers Ebook suppliers