RBmedia Continues Expansion with Acquisition of Ukemi Audiobooks and Dharma Audiobooks

Specialist audiobooks, including classics and Buddhist recordings, to be added to RBmedia's global distribution network

LANDOVER, Md., Jan. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- RBmedia, the largest audiobook publisher in the world, today announced the acquisition of Ukemi Audiobooks and Dharma Audiobooks. Through this acquisition, the company will acquire both audiobook publishing businesses and their full catalog of titles. Ukemi Audiobooks will continue as an imprint under W. F. Howes, an RBmedia international publishing brand, and Dharma Audiobooks will be a sub-imprint under Ukemi Audiobooks.

Since its inception in 2015, Ukemi Audiobooks has produced previously unavailable fiction and nonfiction classics, ranging from ancient Greek, Roman, and Latin texts to principal works by philosophers Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and psychologists Freud and Jung, as well as 20th-century classics, including Thomas Mann's literary masterpieces and the early novels of Samuel Beckett.

Notable Ukemi Audiobooks titles include:

• Plato's "The Socratic Dialogues" complete, in dialogue format
• "Buddenbrooks" by Thomas Mann
• "The Good Soldier Švejk" by Jaroslav Hašek
• "History of the Russian Revolution" by Leon Trotsky
• "The World as Will and Idea, Volume 1-3" by Arthur Schopenhauer
• "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" by John Maynard Keynes
• "The Rig Veda" translated by Ralph T Griffith, revised for this recording
• Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas, complete in 5 volumes

Dharma Audiobooks specializes in Buddhist recordings of all kinds—biographies, histories, talks, suttas and sutras, commentaries, and classic literature. The recordings draw on all the main traditions—Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Western Buddhist—and feature some of the leading teachers and writers.

Notable Dharma Audiobooks titles include:

• The five Nikāyas of the "Sutta Piṭaka" (Dīgha Nikāya, Majjhima Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya, Aṅguttara Nikāya, and Khuddaka Nikāya)
• "The Lotus Sūtra" and "The Vimalakirti Sutra"
• Steve Hagen's "Buddhism Plain and Simple"
• "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Sri Rahula
• "Shōbōgenzō" by Eihei Dōgen

Nicolas Soames, founder and managing director of Ukemi Audiobooks and Dharma Audiobooks, said, "I started Ukemi Audiobooks and Dharma Audiobooks in 2015 to provide highly specialist titles, most of which were not otherwise available. Seven years later, it's clear that both labels would really benefit from the much larger international distribution and marketing that W. F. Howes and RBmedia can provide. I was encouraged and pleased to find that such a large organization was genuinely interested in these specialist corners of the audiobook community and know that these two labels are in capable hands."

Miles Stevens-Hoare, Managing Director for RBmedia International, said, "Ukemi Audiobooks and Dharma Audiobooks titles have generated worldwide interest since their inception in 2015. We look forward to significantly expanding distribution of the existing catalog through RBmedia's powerful global distribution network, while also publishing new audiobook titles under our W. F. Howes brand."

RBmedia is the largest audiobook publisher in the world. With more than 60,000 exclusive titles, our audiobooks continually dominate key literary awards and bestseller lists. The company's powerful digital retail and library distribution network reaches millions of listeners around the globe—at home, in the car, and everywhere their mobile devices go. Our titles are available on leading audio platforms, including Audible, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Audiobooks.com, OverDrive, Hoopla, and many more. RBmedia is owned by KKR, a leading global investment firm. Find out more at rbmediaglobal.com.

W. F. Howes Ltd is the UK's leading audiobook and large-print publisher, distributing its content through all leading consumer and library vendors. The company is known for publishing bestselling authors such as Danielle Steel, Val McDermid, Dan Jones, and V. E. Schwab. W. F. Howes is the UK subsidiary of RBmedia. For more information, visit www.wfhowes.co.uk or email info@wfhowes.co.uk.

Ukemi Audiobooks is a digital label for the spoken word founded by Nicolas Soames. It presents fiction and non-fiction titles which are either unavailable as downloads or which need fresh, clear, and authoritative recordings. They range from C. G. Jung's important autobiography "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" and Seneca's "The Moral Epistles," to Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks" and Samuel Beckett's "Murphy." For details of all releases, click on the CATALOGUE tab.

Dharma Audiobooks is an audiobook label with a clear brief: to present Buddhist recordings of all kinds—biographies, histories, talks, suttas and sutras from all traditions, commentaries, and classic literature by Western Buddhists—in informed and professional productions. The recordings draw on all the main traditions—Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese—as well as the rapidly increasing Western Buddhist tradition and feature some of the leading teachers and writers.

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