JOFFE BOOKS ACQUIRES THE BOOK FOLKS.

JOFFE CEMENTS ITS POSITION AS THE UK’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER

JASPER JOFFE, CEO of leading independent publisher Joffe Books, has acquired The Book Folks from previous owner Erik Empson for an undisclosed sum. This latest purchase cements Joffe’s position as the UK’s largest independent fiction publisher by title count. In 2023, Joffe bought Lume and Choc Lit, and now publishes across all genres from romance to thrillers, from history to horror to action adventure.

Founded in 2014, The Book Folks specialises in high-quality crime fiction.

All Book Folks members of staff will be retained. Joffe will be taking over the list of around 400 books and 40 authors, and with a laser-like focus on marketing and design, will be relaunching the books to a whole new gamut of readers, as well as continuing to publish existing authors under The Book Folks imprint.

JASPER JOFFE: “I couldn’t be more delighted to purchase The Book Folks, who focus on the crime genres that Joffe excels in. With this acquisition, Joffe Books continues its astonishing growth. And our aim will be to increase sales in the same way we’ve achieved with Lume Books and Choc Lit. The authors will benefit from the scale we offer and the superb attention to detail our editors and marketers bring to every single book. There is no backlist at Joffe, just great books people haven’t read yet.”

ERIK EMPSON: “Discovering great storytellers and making their books irresistible to the right readers is what good publishing is all about. I’m delighted to have found and helped shape such great talent, even if it kicks and screams some, and connected with a large literary audience who are eager for more. We’ve always put our authors first and I believe that this transition does just that.”

In 2019, Joffe Books acquired the Robert Hale backlist from The Crowood Press, reissuing and revitalizing the sales of authors including Roger Silverwood, Frances Lloyd, David Hodges and Bill Kitson. And in 2022, Joffe Books acquired Ostara Publishing, reissuing and rebranding such classic crime writers as D.M. Greenwood, V.C. Clinton-Baddeley, Frank McAuliffe and Ian Morson. These authors’ works now regularly feature in the Top 100 UK Kindle chart. In 2023 Joffe bought Lume and Choc Lit. The overall digital sales of many titles have increased tenfold since the acquisitions.

About Joffe Books

Founded in 2014, Joffe Books is proud of its history of innovative publishing. Thanks to the unflagging passion and dedication brought by everyone at Team Joffe, we have built a reputation for crafting great books for readers, long-term relationships with authors and agents, and fleet-footed marketing. We are now the largest independent publisher of e-Books in the UK. In 2022, Joffe sold over 3 million books across crime, mystery, thriller, romance and historical fiction (and another 6 million through Kindle Unlimited). Joffe was shortlisted for Independent Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2020 to 2024 and won Independent Trade Publisher of the Year at the IPG Awards in 2023. The Joffe Books Prize aims to increase the diversity of voices in crime writing and has become one of the UK’s most valuable literary prizes.

Big congratulations to Ellie Henderson for taking home 1st place for romance in the 2025 Feathered Quill Book Awards with her novel A Summer House on Arran!

Dive into this award-winning story here: https://geni.us/house-on-arran-fbt

Read more about the winners here: https://featheredquill.com/feathered-quill-book-awards-2025-winners/

Huge congratulations to Sarah Gate for winning 2nd place in the Romance category at the 2025 Feathered Quill Book Awards with her novel Before You Say Goodbye!

Don't miss this award-winning romance: https://geni.us/before-say-goodbye-fb

See the full list of winners: https://featheredquill.com/feathered-quill-book-awards-2025-winners/

No Exit by Taylor Adams made it on the New York Times list of 10 Winter Reads for Cold Night. At Joffe, we agree! Grab a blanket and a hot cocoa and curl up with this gripping thriller full of heart-stopping twists!

‘An absolute dream come true’: Rupa Mahadevan wins Britain’s biggest crime prize 2024

Joffe Books is delighted to announce the winner of the Joffe Books Prize 2024: Rupa Mahadevan, for her addictive and atmospheric psychological thriller, The Goddess of Death. She receives a two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books, a £1,000 cash prize and a £25,000 audiobook deal from Audible for the first book. This is Britain’s biggest crime prize.

The Joffe Books Prize for Crime Writers of Colour was established in 2021 to actively seek out writers from communities that are underrepresented in crime fiction and support them in building sustainable careers, while simultaneously discovering brilliant new talent to join our bestselling list.

This year, submissions included gritty police procedurals, classic cosy crime whodunnits and ambitious sci-fi thrillers.

The judges, including A.A. Chaudhuri, bestselling author of She’s Mine, literary agent Gyamfia Osei from Andrew Nurnberg Associates, Emma Grundy Haigh, former editorial director at Joffe Books and Jasmine Callaghan, commissioning editor, considered each manuscript in terms of both the strength of the writing and marketability. The judges unanimously awarded the Joffe Books Prize 2024 to Rupa Mahadevan.

From the judges: “This is a tense, fast-paced psychological thriller, with overlapping layers of intrigue and flawed narrators — all of whom have secrets. The eerie setting is fantastic and really adds to the undercurrent of unease and build-up of suspense. A truly gripping thriller with a fresh edge that sets it apart.”

Rupa Mahadevan grew up on the southern coast of India and has called Scotland home for over 15 years. She currently lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children. When she is not grappling with Excel in her day job, she loves to read and dream up stories of her own. Her passion for becoming a published author is one step closer thanks to Joffe's Books and their commitment to promoting underrepresented authors.

Rupa says: “Winning the Joffe Books Prize is an absolute dream come true. As a writer, especially a writer of colour, it’s so easy to let insecurities take over. This win has given the writer in me the biggest validation, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I’m deeply honoured and thrilled to be working with Joffe Books, whose dedication to promoting underrepresented voices has made this incredible milestone possible.”

Jasmine Callaghan says: “It has been such an honour to have had the opportunity to read the fantastic submissions from so many amazingly talented writers. From the get-go, Rupa’s gripping psychological thriller stood out for its strong hook, tension-filled narrative and unreliable, well-nuanced cast of characters, and the judges’ decision was unanimous. Congratulations, Rupa!”

The synopsis reads: “A reunion of friends during the Hindu Dolls festival on the stormy island of Oban, Scotland, takes a deadly turn when a stabbed doll is found under a goddess statue. Leela (An outsider who has recently married a member of the group) is sure it foretells death.”

Joffe Books is elated to say that Joy Ellis reached number one in the Amazon Best Seller Chart, The Bookstat E-Book Top 10, and the Publisher E-Book Top 10 with her new novel Echoes on the Fens

We are thrilled to announce the shortlist for the Joffe Books Prize for Crime Writers of Colour 2024!

 The fourth Joffe Books Prize received a flood of amazing entries, from edge-of-your-seat psychological thrillers to gritty police procedurals and classic cosy crime whodunnits.

Out of the longlist of eight, five really stood out to the judges, forming our official shortlist:

Emma Salisbury, One Good Reason

R. Jai Singh, The Vineyard

Ivy Ngeow, In Safe Hands

Rupa Mahadevan, The Goddess of Death

Shabnam Grewal, Who Killed Uncle Raj?

The winner will be announced by 30 November 2024, so watch this space!

We are absolutely over the moon- Joy Ellis has hit #1 on the Amazon Kindle Bestseller Chart! Huge thanks to our incredible readers for supporting Joy and following Detective Nikki Galena through 15 thrilling books! Here’s to many more mysteries to come! Congratulations Joy!

Get Echoes on the Fens here for just £2.99/$4.99!

Veronica Heley celebrates an astonishing 50 years of being published! On Wednesday evening, family, friends, editors and agents gathered at the Pitshanger Bookshop in Ealing to celebrate Veronica's extraordinary writing career.  Following publication of her first crime novel, SUE FOR MERCY in 1974 (available from Lume Books at £1.99), she has written more than eighty finely crafted mysteries (most of them featuring feisty female sleuths Ellie Quicke and Bea Abbot).  At the age of 91, Veronica is still going strong. Her most recent Abbot Agency mystery, FALSE WITNESS, was published in July.  At Joffe Books, we are delighted to be introducing her wonderfully twisty mysteries to a brand-new digital readership.  We published MURDER FOR NOTHING, her 18th Abbot Agency novel, yesterday.

We will really miss Jill! We’re very grateful for all she has contributed over the last nine years. She has been a vital part of the team, always with our authors’ best interests at the heart of everything. From keeping track of their sales rankings to her epic parties with handmade gifts, she has been a wonderful part of Team Joffe.

Jasper Joffe, CEO

We have had such great times at Jill’s amazing launch parties . . . From Guide Star to the present day, we’ve had so many laughs, and we were all certain that they were our lucky talisman for getting up those charts! Big thank-you, Jill, for all your incredible hard work with the blog tours and the parties, and for making such fantastic and creative competition prizes! We are going to miss you!

FYI, I have 86 handmade mini books (keyrings and fridge magnets).

Joy Ellis, author

Jill has done umpteen launch parties for me and other Joffe authors. Each one has been brilliant and lots of fun, with the games, prizes and banter. Whatever is planned for future launches, Jill is one hard act to follow.

On a more personal note, we became great friends. Jill, Joy and I regularly chat online, helping each other through life’s little trials and celebrating the good — something that won’t stop now that Jill has retired. She knows I love her, will miss her and that I wish her the very best for the future. Xx

Helen H. Durrant, author

Working with Joffe Books by Jill Burkinshaw

My relationship with Joffe Books began with me sending an email asking if they were looking for anyone to work remotely in any area. I had been reading, reviewing and blogging for some time. Books are my passion, and Joffe Books was and still is my favourite publisher. I was absolutely thrilled when I received a reply saying they were looking for someone to organise blog tours. I will always be so very grateful to Jasper and Rudi for taking a chance on me. It was a steep learning curve for me and I very nearly gave up at the first book. However, the support and encouragement I received from everyone at Joffe Books, including the authors, persuaded me to keep going. It soon came together, and we all worked together very well with one aim in mind: to do everything we could to get amazing books written and published to as many readers as possible. My contribution grew as I took on other tasks.

Joffe Books was relatively new at the time I joined them. It was a small but friendly and very supportive team, and we all became friends. As new authors joined, they were welcomed into the team and supported by us all. It was obvious at the start that Joffe Books was destined for great things and it has been an absolute pleasure to have been a part — albeit a very small one — of the phenomenal growth to become what it is today: an award-winning independent publisher. Awards that are very well deserved. 

I have loved every minute of my time working with Joffe Books and I am really sad to be leaving, but as old age creeps up so does the need to slow down. It isn’t really goodbye because I will still be reading, reviewing and blogging the brilliant books they publish. I seem to have come full circle back to where I started.

I would like to say a massive THANK-YOU to everyone at Joffe: Rudi and Jasper for having faith in me, the authors, many of whom are now lifelong friends, and the team in the office, which seems to grow by the day, but all are friendly and supportive. Nine years living and working my dream — it has been the very best time and I can’t thank you all enough.

Who am I?

My name is Siân Heap and I joined Joffe Books last month as Senior Commissioning Editor. I’m now on the hunt for the best authors in psychological fiction so we can team up and create some deeply disturbing magic together. I have a wealth of experience working with crime thriller authors, but now I’m looking to expand my horizons and find some exceptional psychological thriller authors. If you think you’re the next Freida McFadden, or that you have a psychological thriller to rival The Perfect Marriage, then I want to hear from you!

What am I looking for?

I’m looking for gripping commercial fiction that readers can’t put down — the kind of thriller that keeps you up at night turning the pages. The book that you have to tell all your friends to read when you’re done because you need to talk to someone about THAT ending.

My current focus is finding more brilliant authors writing domestic suspense. I’m particularly keen to see aspirational settings featuring outsiders looking in, family relationships that are full of dark secrets, and plots with more twists than a slinky. I want to see everyday settings turned upside down and situations that make a reader wonder what they would do in that position.

Most of all, I want to hear from authors with a fresh and distinctive voice who can craft compelling, twisty plots, and who readers will want to come back to again and again.

Who can submit?

Anyone! Authors who have previously published books with another publisher, self-published authors who are keen to elevate their career, or first-time authors looking for the best home for their new novel, all are welcome to submit manuscripts for consideration.

We accept submissions from authors across the world, but we only publish books in the English language.

How do I submit?

If you’re brimming with ideas and think you can write the next psychological thriller that people won’t be able to stop talking about, please email submissions@joffebooks.com with:

1. Your full-length book (minimum 60,000 word count) attached as a PDF or Word document (Word document preferred).

2. A three-paragraph synopsis in the body of the email, including what genre you see your book belonging in.

3. 100 words about yourself in the body of the email.

4. The following must be included in the subject line of the email: your name and book genre and the word submission. For example: John Smith psychological thriller submission. If these are not included, it won’t reach the right person.

5. Please let us know where you heard about Joffe Books.

Please note: we receive a huge number of submissions. We read every one and would love to be able to respond to each, but we simply don’t have the resources to do so. If you don’t hear from us within three months, please assume that your submission is unsuccessful. Do not be disheartened if you don’t hear from us. What is not right for us may be exactly what another publisher is seeking. We encourage you to look for other opportunities to publish elsewhere.

Joffe Books is very proud to publish two of the most-read authors of the last decade as Amazon Books celebrates ten years of Kindle Unlimited. Two of the most popular authors in the UK, crime writer Joy Ellis has had over 1.2 billion pages read of her books in that time and Faith Martin over 1 billion pages read.

Joy Ellis was out of print when Jasper succeeded in tracking her down in 2016 via a story in a local Lincolnshire newspaper and persuaded her to sign up with his eponymous publishing company.

Since then, she has sold more than 3 million books, and her Jackman & Evans series is currently in development for TV with Richard Armitage’s White Boar Films and Sprout Pictures. Richard Armitage says: “I believe Joy Ellis is the closest thing we have to a contemporary Agatha Christie.”

Faith Martin, having written for nearly 30 years, became an overnight success with Joffe Books in 2019. She has written more than 60 novels under many pseudonyms and in several genres, including cosy mysteries and romance, but she has at last reached well-deserved mass market success and bestseller status.

Jasper Joffe, CEO says: “I couldn’t be happier to see two of our wonderful writers reaching so many readers. We built Joffe Books with Joy and Faith: utter joy in publishing our authors’ books and total faith in their talent!”

Joy Ellis says: “Totally amazed at the news and a huge thank-you to my wonderful readers and my equally wonderful publisher for making it happen. Overwhelmed.”

Faith Martin says: “I’m totally stunned. This news came out of the blue and was certainly something I never expected. My first reaction is to say a massive thank-you to all my readers, since, without them, there wouldn’t have been this news at all.”

Kate Nash, Faith Martin’s literary agent says: “Faith Martin’s novels are incredibly popular among a wide readership and it’s a real testament to her talent to see her up there among the very most popular authors in the UK.”

“Amazon Books is celebrating ten years of Kindle Unlimited — a digital reading subscription service allowing customers to read as much as they want on any device with the Kindle app, choosing from millions of eBooks, thousands of audiobooks and hundreds of magazines.

“First introduced in 2014, Kindle Unlimited was designed to give customers the freedom to explore genres, discover authors, and dive into a world of audiobooks and magazine subscriptions. Since 2014, Kindle Unlimited members have read more than 3 billion books globally.” Amazon press release

The top five most read authors on Kindle Unlimited in the UK over the last ten years:

1) J.K. Rowling

2) LJ Ross

3) Joy Ellis (Joffe Books)

4) Faith Martin (Joffe Books)

5) Michael Anderle

We’re delighted to relaunch the gripping Monica Noble mystery series by multi-million-selling author Faith Martin!

In our tenth year of publishing — and five years since we released the first book in the Monica Noble series — we’re celebrating one of Britain’s best-loved mystery writers. Faith’s books have attracted millions of readers worldwide and continue to do so.

We are now publishing anniversary editions of this gripping murder mystery series, with beautiful new print and eBook covers by our lead designer Nick Castle. 

Find out more here!

We are utterly thrilled to announce Joffe Books’ second year of success at the annual Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Conference over the weekend.

A big congratulations to Claire McCauley for winning the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers with her gorgeous rom-com, The Wedding Hitch!

We are thrilled to announce that Joffe author Claire McCauley is a 2024 contender for the prestigious RNA Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers.

Claire’s nominated novel, The Wedding Hitch, was published in April and her upcoming novel, Once in a Lifetime, comes out later this month!

The winner will be announced at the RNA Gala on Saturday 10 August 2024.

Joffe Books is excited to announce that Biba Pearce has won the Best Crime Fiction Award at the 2024 National Indie Excellence Award for her novel The Marlow Murders!

We would also like to congratulate the following authors on being finalists:

• Hilary Green for Operation Fortitude (Historical Fiction Award Finalist)

• Victoria Dowd for Murder Most Cold (Mystery Award Finalist)

• C. J. Grayson for Taken While She Slept by CJ Grayson (Thriller Award Finalist)

• Helen H. Durrant for The Ravenswood Murders (Thriller Award Finalist)

• Lisa Hall for The Day She Disappeared (Thriller Award Finalist)

Watch publisher Jasper Joffe accept the prize for Best Publisher here!

A sincere thank you again to our wonderful readers and dedicated authors for your unwavering support.

Here is what the Judges had to say:

Founded in 2014 by Jasper Joffe. The publisher has a history of innovative publishing and is known for discovering new talent as well as bringing overlooked books back to life.

Each new title is edited with passion and each new cover is designed with a keen eye on how the book will reach its readers. Joffe Books have signed debut novelists and well-established authors. Their authors have become some of the most read in the UK, consistently topping the Amazon Kindle and Audible charts for weeks at a time with every new release.

We are thrilled to announce that Liz Fielding’s utterly gripping cozy murder mystery, Murder Among the Roses, is a finalist for the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Kiss of Death Award.

We’re looking for our next bestselling author — and it could be YOU!

At Joffe Books, we want to see many more diverse voices in commercial fiction! So, with a view to acquire from writers who identify as LGBTQIA+, we’re delighted to announce #JBPridePitch, the next instalment of the Joffe Books Twitter pitch party series, this Pride Month. It will take place on Thursday 13 June, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. GMT, and we are particularly interested in reading romance and fantasy.

While this pitch party is specifically to amplify queer voices this Pride Month, we are always looking to see more submissions from writers who identify as BAME, LGBTQ+, working class and/or have disabilities. So we’d love to hear from you in our open submissions all year round!

HOW IT WORKS

On Thursday 13 June, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. GMT, tweet us your pitch in 280 characters or less, using the #JBPridePitch hashtag. You can also indicate your novel’s genre by using the optional hashtags listed below.

If we ‘like’ your pitch, that means we want to see more and welcome you to send three chapters and a synopsis to office@joffebooks.com.

WHO CAN SUBMIT

This Pride Month, we want to invite writers who identify as LGBTQIA+, a community typically underrepresented in the publishing industry, to participate.

We would like to read pitches from any LGBTQIA+ writer working on a novel in one of our favourite genres of commercial fiction (see below), who has written at least three complete chapters and a full synopsis, ready to submit if we ask for it.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

The pitch tweet should be no more than 280 characters. If we ask to see more from you by ‘liking’ your tweet, please submit three chapters and a synopsis of the whole story, including spoilers (no more than one page).

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We want to see punchy pitches that immediately grab us with an addictive plot, a fresh voice and characters we want to root for.

We are looking for pitches in one of the following genres:

• Fantasy

• Historical romance

• Romance contemporary/romcom

• Women’s fiction

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

If we have ‘liked’ your pitch and received your chapters and synopsis, the acquisitions team will read them and be in touch with you by Friday 28 June to let you know if we’re interested in seeing more.

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FAQ

Do I have to have completed my full manuscript to enter?

No. All you need are three chapters and a one-page synopsis ready to share. But you should be able to show in your synopsis that you have a clear idea of how the action of the plot will develop until the end of the book.

Can I pitch multiple novels?

No. Only your strongest work, please.

Can I give multiple pitches for the same novel?

No. Please only tweet one pitch for your novel.

If I’ve already submitted my book to the Joffe open submissions, can I pitch it?

Absolutely!

If my book was previously self-published, can I pitch it?

Yes, go for it.

Can I participate even if I don’t live in the UK?

Yes, we are a global publisher with authors from all over the world. So long as the manuscript is written in English, we will happily consider your pitch.

Can I pitch outside the requested genres?

No. We are specifically looking for romance and fantasy, and we are not acquiring novellas or short story collections, YA or children’s, non-fiction, or anything paranormal. Please do not pitch any of these genres.

I can’t be on Twitter on that day, what do I do?

You can schedule your pitch tweet so you don’t miss out.

My pitch was ‘liked’! What’s the next step?

Please email your first three chapters and synopsis to office@joffebooks.com. We will write back to everyone who is asked to submit these by Friday 28 June to let you know if we’re interested in seeing more.

My pitch wasn’t ‘liked’. What should I do?

Don’t be defeated! There are still ways to get your book noticed. You can also submit via our open submissions. What we connect to during the pitch party depends on a host of factors. Some pitches are more in line with what the acquisitions team are looking for right at that moment. Some writers are more practiced at pitching than others. Some books are simply easier to pitch than others.

We actively encourage you to keep writing, keep honing your pitch and keep trying to get published.

OPTIONAL HASHTAGS TO DESCRIBE GENRE/THEME

Please find a list of hashtags below, to help identify your pitch’s genre at a glance.

 #FA = Fantasy

 #HR = Historical romance

 #RCR = Romance contemporary/romcom

 #WF = Women’s fiction

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Joffe Books celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary last week with a charming garden party attended by many friends and authors! The Joffe Team is very excited for what is to come in the next 10 years!