Karnac Books

What Karnac Books does

Karnac Books Ltd is a specialist English-language publisher operating in the psychoanalysis and psychotherapy domain, headquartered in Bicester, England with 14 employees. The company trades under two names — Phoenix Publishing House and Firing The Mind — and runs direct e-commerce via firingthemind.com. The current legal entity was formed by the 2023 merger of Phoenix Publishing House (founded by Kate Pearce and Fernando Marques after Taylor & Francis acquired the original Karnac in 2019) with the Karnac imprint, reuniting a publishing brand originally established in 1948.

The catalog comprises 221+ book titles and 171+ journal products, supported by a roster of 229+ author profiles. Distribution is split between direct online sales and three regional partners: Ingram Publisher Services UK (excluding North America and Australia), ISD (North America), and Peribo (Australia). Stripe handles payment processing on the direct channel.

Revenue is generated through three streams: one-time book sales at £12.59–£36.99 per title (with premium multi-volume sets priced up to £1,275), recurring journal subscriptions ranging from £25 to £200 annually, and ancillary rights/licensing. The customer base is primarily individual mental health professionals and academics, supplemented by libraries and institutions; no major enterprise customers are identified. Recent strategic activity has centered on the post-merger consolidation, distribution expansion, and a steady frontlist release cadence including the 10-volume Selected Papers of Salman Akhtar, 'Will the Future Like You?' (July 2025), and 'Dependency and Denial' (October 2025).

Name

Karnac Books

Legal name

Karnac Books Ltd

Website

https://firingthemind.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1948

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Karnac Books is a UK-based specialist publisher of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy titles. Operating from Bicester with 14 staff, it sells 221+ books and 171+ journals to individual mental health professionals, academics, and libraries via direct e-commerce and regional distributors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialist Mental Health Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Health, Wellness & Fitness Trade Publishing (MPAJAAAL)

Keywords

• Psychoanalytic publishing
• Mental health books
• Psychotherapy journals
• Specialist book publishing
• Academic mental health literature

Headquarters

HQ city

Bicester

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Book Sales: Sale of physical and digital books covering psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and mental health topics. Books are available in multiple formats including paperback, hardback, PDF, and print+digital bundles.
2. Journal Subscriptions and Sales: Sale of journals including subscriptions and individual issues/articles. Journals include Attachment, Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy, Journal of Modern Psychotherapy, Organisational and Social Dynamics, and Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China.
3. Rights and Permissions: Licensing of subsidiary rights including translation, audio, and film rights for published works.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Karnac Books publishes and sells specialist books and peer-reviewed journals covering psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, and mental health. The catalogue exceeds 220 book titles and multiple journal titles, sold in paperback, hardback, PDF, and print+digital bundle formats through its e-commerce site firingthemind.com and global trade distributors. The company also licenses subsidiary rights (translation, audio, film) for its published works.

Product overview

Karnac Books operates as a specialist independent mental health publisher and bookseller, offering a comprehensive portfolio of psychoanalytic and psychotherapy publications. The core offering consists of physical and digital books (over 220 titles) and peer-reviewed journals (including Attachment, Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, International Journal of Forensic Psychotherapy, Organisational and Social Dynamics, Journal of Modern Psychotherapy, and Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in China). The company also publishes specialized series (Tavistock Lives, Contemporary Bion, French Psychoanalysis, Freud Museum London, Karnac Introductions, Psychotherapy Matters, Political Mind) and manages the Harris Meltzer Trust collection. Products are sold through the firingthemind.com e-commerce platform with physical distribution via Ingram Publisher Services UK, ISD (North America), and Peribo (Australia).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Books (psychoanalysis and psychotherapy)

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Ingram Publisher Services UKcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary trade distributor for Karnac Books/Phoenix Publishing House products worldwide excluding North America and Australia. Located in Milton Keynes, UK, they handle order fulfillment and logistics for trade customers in this territory.
• ISD (Instructional Services Distribution)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary trade distributor for North American market. Handles order fulfillment and logistics for trade customers across the United States and Canada.
• Peribo | Distributors of Fine BookscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary trade distributor for Australian market. Handles order fulfillment and logistics for trade customers in Australia.
• Tavistock Institute of Medical PsychologyflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational sponsor of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis journal, published by Karnac Books. The Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology is a leading institution in couple and family psychotherapy, and this journal is a flagship publication promoting psychoanalytic perspectives on couple and family work.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment gateway provider handling credit/debit card transactions. Stripe processes all payment information securely, and Phoenix Publishing House does not collect or store payment data on their own systems.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Sage Publications: Sage publishes extensively in counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health through its counseling & psychotherapy imprint, with strong library and academic penetration. Its focus on practitioner-facing titles in mental health makes it a relevant broad incumbent competitor to Karnac for the same professional audience.
• Routledge (Taylor & Francis): Routledge is the academic book imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, the publisher that acquired the original Karnac imprint in 2019. It publishes extensively across psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, counseling, and mental health, making it the most direct large-scale incumbent competing for the same authors and institutional buyers as Karnac.
• Springer Nature (Psychology/mental health program): Springer Nature publishes extensively in psychology, psychiatry, and mental health through Palgrave and Springer imprints, including handbooks and scholarly monographs. As a large academic publisher with global reach and strong institutional relationships, it competes with Karnac for serious clinical and research titles in mental health.
• Wiley (Mental Health/Clinical Psychology program): Wiley publishes a significant portfolio in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and mental health, including reference works and professional titles, alongside its broader scientific output. It competes with Karnac for institutional library budgets and high-profile authors in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.

Direct peers

• Jason Aronson (Rowman & Littlefield): Jason Aronson was a long-standing independent publisher of psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic titles before being absorbed into Rowman & Littlefield. Its catalog historically overlaps directly with Karnac's Kleinian/Winnicottian/relational psychoanalysis focus, serving the same academic and clinical readership.
• Guilford Press: Guilford Press publishes professional and academic titles in psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis, including seminal clinical works. Its specialized catalog and institutional library focus make it one of the closest US-based comparables to Karnac in terms of subject matter and buyer.
• Jessica Kingsley Publishers: Jessica Kingsley Publishers (now an imprint of John Murray Press/Hachette) specializes in books on autism, social work, therapy, counselling, and mental health, including psychoanalytic-adjacent titles. Its specialist focus, trade distribution model, and professional readership closely parallel Karnac's publishing strategy and customer base.
• Aeon Books: Aeon Books is an independent publisher of psychology, philosophy, and holistic mental health titles founded and run by Oliver Rathbone, who was Karnac's Managing Director from 2000 to 2019. It directly competes for the same mental health author pool and overlap in subject matter with Karnac's catalog.
• American Psychological Association Books: APA Books publishes authoritative scholarly and professional titles in psychology and mental health, including reference works and clinical manuals. Its professional/clinical buyer base and emphasis on mental health publishing place it in close competition with Karnac for practitioners and academic libraries.
• International Universities Press: International Universities Press (IUP) is a long-standing specialist publisher of psychoanalytic literature, including classic translations of Freud, Klein, Bion, and other foundational figures. Its narrow focus on psychoanalytic books parallels Karnac's core subject matter and serves a highly overlapping professional readership.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks3 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/firingthemind

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Karnac Books