PRESS RELEASE: JOFFE BOOKS ACQUIRES OSTARA PUBLISHING

Jasper Joffe, CEO of leading independent publisher Joffe Books, has acquired Ostara Publishing from previous owner Andrew Cocks for an undisclosed sum. 

Joffe Books will be taking over the Ostara list of approximately 120 titles. They will publish new editions in late 2022 and 2023, with Joffe’s laser-like focus on marketing and design relaunching the books to a whole new gamut of readers.

Award-winning crime writer, former Ostara consultant editor and Shots columnist Mike Ripley has been approached to write new introductions to the Ostara Classics. 

Kate Lyall Grant, Joffe Books Publishing Director: “Ostara has a well-deserved reputation for the superlative quality of its crime list, and with Joffe Books’ commercial success and expertise in the digital market, we think this is the perfect fit to reach a widespread new readership for these fantastic books. We will be staying true to the spirit of Ostara, and keeping the Ostara name, branding the books as ‘Joffe Books presents Ostara Classics.”

Andrew Cocks: ‘Regrettably I am no longer in a position to publish new books and give my existing titles the attention they deserve in an fast-developing publishing environment. I am delighted to have found in Joffe Books a kindred spirit to take over the Ostara list of authors and truly believe that Joffe will give the Ostara authors the opportunity to reach new readers and prosper. It has been a privilege to have been involved with all these books and I could not have wished for a better home for them.’

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. These authors’ books now regularly feature in the Top 100 UK Kindle chart. The overall sales of ex-Hale titles have increased over tenfold since the acquisition.

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 in 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 2021, 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, and 2022. The Joffe Books Prize aims to increase the diversity of voices in crime writing. 

www.joffebooks.com

For more info contact Ostara@joffebooks.com

 

CrimeFest Day 1 Part 2

Well, the second panel that I attended yesterday was the heroes and antihero panel which featured Priscilla Masters, Rhys Bowen, Alan Carter, Rodney Bolt (Britta Bolt) and Antonia Hodgson as the participating moderator.

One of the initial questions that the panel discussed was where does the protagonist fit? Are they hero's or antihero's?  According to Priscilla Masters her character Joanna Piercy has flaws which are part of her personality.  Alan Carter explained that his main character is an interfering do-gooder who has currently been sent to the equivalent of "police Serbia" due to his behaviour, so he sees him as an anti-hero. Britta Bolt stated that character flaws are an obsession.

The panellists were also asked who their favourite heroes and anti-heroes were?  Alan Carter stated that his favourite anti-hero was Graham Hurley's Paul Winter.  Britta Bolt indicated that his were the original Sherlock Holmes and Watson.  Rhys Bowen said that she really did not like Jeff Lindsay's character Dexter. Priscilla Masters noted that another anti-hero was Jackson Brodie.  She felt that he came across as a twat. Alan Carter indicated that he felt that Jack Cafferty from the Rebus novels is an antihero.  One of the other questions that was discussed was the popularity of anti-heroes and why they had become so popular over the years.     Also whether or not a true anti-hero had to have that Ripley/ Dexter darkness to make them believeable?  Poirot was seen as hero but also someone who was not liked very much as he came across as someone who knew too much.  This changed slightly just before he died as he was seen as being slightly more vulnerable.

One thing that was agreed was the fact that the crime genre is good at doing the anti-villain.  A lot of crime novels are also about a victim who has been turned into anti-villain.  It was also agreed that anti-heroes are also fun to write but where would you draw the line? Also, are the best crime novels the ones where the antihero takes on aspects of the hero?

It was agreed that flawed heroes included Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor and Jack Carter the character created by Ted Lewis.

What else happened yesterday?  SJI Holliday nearly did not make it to her panel.  She had me in fits of laughter as she was explaining that her ticket was booked for Bristol Parkway instead of Bristol Temple Meads and that she missed her station on her way down to Bristol and thought that the next stop would be Bristol Temple Meads.  Alas not!  The next stop was Newport in Wales so she had to get off there and make her way back to Bristol.  Luckily she had factored in some extra time and managed to get to CrimeFest by the skin of her teeth.

Dinner last night was with the lovely David Headley (co-owner of Goldsboro Books) who is running the bookshop this year along with Daniel Gedon, Harry Illingworth, Sophie Portas, L C Tyler, John Curran and Kate Lyall Grant.  It was a wonderful dinner with much hilarity.

Today has however been tempered by hearing the news that B B King has died.  This is so sad  and not nice especially since we have just lost Ben E King!

As usual more to follow about Friday's panels in due course!