In addition to acquiring Boldwood’s catalogue, Boldwood will become a publishing division of RBmedia and will continue to operate as an independent business.

By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief

Leading audiobook publisher RBmedia has announced that it has acquired the award-winning U.K.-based independent fiction publisher Boldwood Books. In a release, RBmedia said the acquisition will enable RBmedia to “continue to expand its international and foreign language businesses.” In addition to acquiring Boldwood’s catalogue of 2,000 titles, Boldwood will become a publishing division of RBmedia and will continue to operate as an independent business. Financial terms of the acquisition, which closed on July 31, were not disclosed.

“Boldwood Books brings valuable expertise in multi-format publishing and additional depth in key genres like mystery, thriller, and romance,” said Michael Paull, CEO of RBmedia, in a statement. “This acquisition strengthens our international and foreign language publishing and ability to serve authors while delivering more high-quality titles to our retail and library platform partners and consumers worldwide.”

‘Complementary Digital-Focused Publishing Businesses’

Founded in 2019, Boldwood Books publishes more than 500 new titles annually in simultaneous ebook, audiobook, and print formats and has sold over 50 million books worldwide, across several bestselling fiction genres, including mystery, thriller, romance, women’s fiction, and historical fiction. In 2025, Boldwood Books took home Independent Publisher of the Year at the 2025 British Book Awards, and was named both Independent Publisher of the Year and Trade Publisher of the Year at the 2025 U.K. Independent Publishing Awards.

“RBmedia and Boldwood have complementary digital-focused publishing businesses,” said Amanda Ridout, CEO and Founder of Boldwood Books. “We are excited about the potential of bringing together RBmedia’s significant resources and audiobook expertise with Boldwood’s publishing capabilities across all formats.”

Ridout added that the deal would  help maximize Boldwood’s author exposure in the U.S., “given RBmedia’s position in the global market and vast distribution network,” while also remaining “a discrete and independent business.”

In a 2019 Publishing Perspectives feature, Ridout, a former exec at U.K. independent house Head of Zeus, spoke about starting the company.

“You can literally reach the world in all formats from a basement in Fulham, London SW6,” Ridout says. “You can buy world English language rights and actively market the ebook, the audiobook, and the print book, certainly through print-on-demand as a starting point, very effectively. It’s a reality,” she says, “as opposed to just demanding a land grab of rights and not being able to exploit them properly. There is a good opportunity to start a company that can do that well.”

Among the practices that set Boldwood apart was its pledge to authors to publish in all formats on the same day internationally. “That’s when you get the maximum impact. When you plan the marketing of a story and an author’s book, you want everything to correspond with the marketing campaign. Audio often has lagged behind and all of the excitement of the book is lost.”