JOFFE BOOKS ACQUIRES LUME BOOKS AND BECOMES UK’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER

JASPER JOFFE, CEO of leading independent publisher Joffe Books, has acquired Lume Books from previous owner Matthew Lynn for an undisclosed sum. This second acquisition in a matter of weeks means Joffe becomes the UK’s largest independent fiction publisher by title count.

Founded in 2018, Lume Books boasts a wide-ranging and eclectic list featuring many award-winning authors of both fiction and non-fiction including A.J.P. Taylor, H.R.F. Keating, Keith Waterhouse and many more.

All Lume members of staff will be moving over to Joffe Books. Joffe will be taking over the Lume list of approx. 5,000 titles by 800 authors, and with a laser-like focus on marketing and design, will be relaunching the books to a whole new gamut of readers.

JASPER JOFFE: “I couldn’t be more delighted to take over the Lume mantle. Matthew Lynn is a true pioneer of digital publishing and has built one of the largest lists of digital books in the UK, with a focus on the genres that Joffe excels in. With this acquisition, Joffe Books becomes the largest independent publisher in the UK by title count. And our aim will be to increase sales in the same way we’ve achieved with Robert Hale. Lume authors will benefit from the scale we will 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.”

MATTHEW LYNN: “Jasper Joffe has proved himself the most ambitious and innovative publisher in the UK over the last decade. Joffe Books will be a fantastic home for Lume’s brilliant staff and authors. By putting the two businesses together, Joffe Books will not only create the largest independent publisher in the UK by title count, but a genuine challenger to break into the Big Five that dominate the industry. Joffe Books is a new force in British and world publishing, and I am immensely proud that Lume will be a part of that.” 

In 2019, Joffe Books acquired the Robert Hale backlist from 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. The overall digital sales of ex-Hale and Ostara titles have increased tenfold since the acquisitions. Joffe Books also took over Choc Lit, the award-winning romance publisher, last week.

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, 2021, 2022, 2023 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.