Endeavour Media rebrands as Lume Books

Digital indie Endeavour Media is rebranding as Lume Books as it undergoes a period of growth, including the launch of a new audio imprint of more than 50 titles.

Endeavour Media is the reincarnation of Endeavour Press, which went into liquidation in 2018 following a breakdown in the relationship between its two 2012 founders, Matthew Lynn and Richard Foreman. Lynn, an author and journalist, set up Endeavour Media in 2018, taking along some former staff and the majority of its authors. Three staff members broke away and formed a new digital-first outfit of their own, Sapere Books.

Lume Books' c.e.o. Rebecca Souster told The Bookseller that 2020 "felt like the right time create a new brand that reflects the warmth we feel as a team for both our work and our books, as well as the brightness we wish to bring to the publishing world". Stemming from the Latin word for light, "Lume" is symbolic of the powers of change and transformation and representative of creative freedom, the company said.

The list focuses on publishing crime, historical fiction and non-fiction, and among the values it extols are "commitment", to its authors, agents, and readers, "integrity" and "quality". "We wanted a name that reflects our strategy for the 2020s and beyond," Souster said. "We are going through a period of change, of growth, and of new opportunities, and the new name reflects all of those values."

Lume Books' annual turnover is now over £1m, up from £700,000 in its first year as Endeavour Media. It employs 10 members of staff, up from seven in 2018. The outfit is still based at London Bridge but is moving into a new office mid-March in The Metal Box Factory in the same area.

Looking ahead, it is continuing to target 20% growth year-on-year, which it exceeded in 2018/19. It is planning to double its frontlist in 2020, which will either be published in e-book and print, or e-book and audio, depending on the genre. And it is launching a new audio imprint which – experimented with in recent months, under the name Endeavour Waves with just five audiobooks – it is now establishing as a 50-title+ audio list in 2020. It will be headed by c.e.o. Souster and publishing director James Faktor.

Alongside the new name and logo, designed by Mark Ecob from Mecob Design Studio, Lume Books will launch a new website to contain its catalogue of 850 authors, including writers such as D E Stevenson, historian A J P Taylor and Pulitzer-prize winner William C Davis. Highlights for the new year include a biography of "media baron" Robert Maxwell; the official story of journalist Gareth Jones, recently adapted into the motion picture "Mr Jones"; as well as new writing from authors Annemarie Brear, David Black and Rob Parker.

The new brand name will be fully operational from 1st March 2020, after which all the company’s imprints will trade under the Lume Books brand. For its print editions, it has also just signed a new distribution deal with CBS, which will be operational from the same date.