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Judy Piatkus

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British publisher

Judy Piatkus is a British publisher, entrepreneur and author who founded Piatkus Books in 1979.

Career

Piatkus founded Piatkus Books from the bedroom of her home in Loughton, Essex, in 1979. The publishing house published authors Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel, and Virginia Andrews and grew to be a successful romance publisher in the UK, and a pioneer in publishing books on personal development and lifestyle.

Piatkus published a wide range of titles, from cookbooks by Mary Berry to fiction by Nora Roberts. Piatkus Books became known in the area of personal growth and lifestyle when it published mindfulness titles by Jon Kabat-Zinn, alongside business books such as David Allen's Getting Things Done. Piatkus explored a wide range of subjects such as feng shui, spirituality, alternative health, the mind-body connection, detoxing, and other topics that were relatively unknown in the UK at that time. Many leaders in their fields of expertise such as Seth Godin and Dr Irvin Yalom were on the Piatkus list. As a publisher, Judy Piatkus was regarded as a risk-taker within the publishing industry, being described as "never afraid to take a chance on an unknown whose work she believed in."

In 2007, Piatkus completed a successful exit sale to Little, Brown, who have continued to publish books under the Piatkus imprint.

In April 2021, Piatkus published her first book, Ahead of Her Time, a memoir and story of female entrepreneurship, values-led management, and the rise of personal development publishing.

Recognition

In December 2005, Piatkus was awarded the Women in Publishing Pandora Award. In February 2009, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Ahead of Her Time was the winner of a 2022 UK Business Book Award in the Business Journey category. It was also selected by Soul and Spirit Magazine as the Most Empowering Book of 2021.

Personal life

During her years as a publisher, Piatkus achieved a diploma in psychodynamic psychotherapy and counselling, and worked in the NHS in the evening after work. In 2016, she went to university for the first time as a mature student and was awarded an MA degree in Creative Leadership. In 2011, Piatkus founded the global non-profit organisation ConsciousCafe.

References

  1. ^ "LBBG Imprint – Piatkus Books". Hachette UK. Little, Brown. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  2. Flood, Alison (23 July 2007). "Little, Brown buys Piatkus | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Alternative thinkers". The Times. 6 September 2003.
  4. Kean, Danuta (14 April 2005). "Let's hear it for romance". The Guardian.
  5. Cadwalladr, Carole (20 November 2011). "Nora Roberts: The woman who rewrote the rules of romantic fiction". The Observer.
  6. ^ "Gregson wins romance book prize". BBC News. 10 February 2009.
  7. "Ahead of Her Time". Catalist.
  8. "Judy Piatkus". Graham Maw Christie Agency.
  9. "Leadership Stories: Judy Piatkus – a self-made entrepreneur and founder of Conscious Café". International Women's Forum. 16 November 2020.
  10. Bone, Alison (20 December 2005). "Judy Piatkus takes Pandora Award | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com.
  11. Corner, Speakers (3 February 2009). "Entrepreneur Judy Piatkus wins Lifetime Achievement Award | Speakers Corner". www.speakerscorner.co.uk.
  12. "Soul Awards 2021".
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