Piatkus is a British romance and self-help imprint, founded in 1979 and part of Little, Brown since 2007. For its many American authors, a Piatkus copy is the first UK edition, not the true first.
Piatkus is a British publisher founded in 1979 by Judy Piatkus, who started it from a bedroom at her home in Loughton, Essex; since 2007 it has been an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group.
Piatkus built a list of commercial fiction by Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel and Virginia Andrews alongside personal development and lifestyle books, including David Allen's Getting Things Done, Jon Kabat-Zinn's mindfulness titles and cookery by Mary Berry. In July 2007 Little, Brown bought the whole company, then turning over about £10 million a year; Piatkus kept its legal identity as an imprint, Judy Piatkus stayed as managing director until the end of 2007 before retiring, and the staff moved to Little, Brown's offices at 100 Victoria Embankment.
Piatkus now presents itself as the UK's pre-eminent romance imprint, with authors such as Rebecca Yarros, Ana Huang and Julia Quinn, and Nora Roberts in commercial women's fiction, alongside self-help and wellbeing titles by Cal Newport, David Allen and others. It won Imprint of the Year at the 2024 British Book Awards.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Piatkus's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Piatkus first editions
What to look for
Piatkus has always been a British house, and much of its fiction list is made up of American authors such as Nora Roberts. For those books a Piatkus copy is the first UK edition at best; the true first is the American edition.
1980s to 1990s
Piatkus published new novels as hardbacks in dust jackets in this period, and dealers offer these as first editions (for example a 1984 novel by Margaret Bacon and a 1995 crime novel by Bill Kirton, the latter issued with a "Piatkus Crime" series label).
We have not found two independent descriptions of Piatkus copyright-page wording or of any number line, so check the reverse of the title page for the date of first publication and any reprint notice.
2010s
Nora Roberts titles reached Piatkus in the same year as their American release. Savour the Moment came out from Piatkus in 2010; the American edition, Savor the Moment, was published by Berkley on 27 April 2010, so the Piatkus copy is the first UK edition only.
Piatkus has always been a British house, and much of its fiction list is made up of American authors such as Nora Roberts. For those books a Piatkus copy is the first UK edition at best; the true first is the American edition. 1980s to 1990s - Piatkus published new novels as hardbacks in dust jackets in this period, and dealers offer these as first editions (for example a 1984 novel by Margaret Ba
How many Piatkus books does MyVolumes track?
We track 150 editions published by Piatkus, 21 of them first editions, across 144 books.
