Joffe Books acquires 350-strong Robert Hale crime and fiction list

Indie publisher Joffe Books has acquired the 350-strong Robert Hale crime and general fiction list from the Crowood Press.

Robert Hale Publishing’s list was built up over the course of 80 years and included titles from big names like Jean Plaidy, Harold Robbins and Nicholas Rhea. The indie publishing house also held UK print rights to Robert Bloch’s classic Psycho.

In 2015, the Crowood Press acquired Robert Hale’s publishing assets, including all active fiction titles and the crime list.

Now Joffe Books, a digital crime specialist, has bagged the list and plans to relaunch many of the titles over the next 12 to 18 months. The mainly digital publisher says most of the books will come with paperback editions.

Joffe Books founder Jasper Joffe said: “We think our marketing and big reader list can really get these titles back on the radar.”

Joffe said the move would help accelerate already impressive growth which has seen it double sales every year since it was founded in 2014.

In 2018, the publisher sold 2.5 million e-books and has established itself as a big crime fiction brand online, with bestselling authors such as Joy Ellis, Faith Martin and Helen H Durrant regularly racking up big sales on the Kindle charts.

Joffe said: “We’re very excited to have purchased this list of great books from brilliant authors. We look forward to relaunching many of these titles and allowing even more readers to discover some fantastic books. We’re very proud to be working with such an esteemed list.”

The list does not include the Black Horse Westerns imprint which will continue under Crowood’s management.