Twenty years ago, I started a book club with a simple idea: to curate and share exceptional fiction with people who love books as much as I do. It was also an opportunity to expand my reading habit. Rather than keep reading in my comfort zone, I wanted to explore other genres and books I might not have read otherwise. I wanted to create something special, not just a subscription service, but a collector's treasure trove. That idea became the Goldsboro Books Book of the Month Club, and today, it’s known as PREM1ER.
What began in 2005 with just 50 members has grown into a global community of 1,500 readers and collectors. And we’re keeping it at that. PREM1ER will remain capped to preserve the exclusivity, value, and personal nature of what we do. Every book is a signed and numbered first edition, meaning our members know exactly how limited and collectable their copy is.
Running PREM1ER for the last two decades has taught me so much about books and people. I have learned about the loyalty and passion of our readers, the importance of trusting instinct over trends, and the joy of discovering a novel before the world catches on. I select every book and take that responsibility incredibly seriously. I don’t just send out books; I send out future bestsellers and classics; at least, that is my hope.
And history backs that up.
Some of our earliest picks became international publishing phenomena, like Labyrinth by Kate Mosse and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Then came Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Before I Go to Sleep, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, and The Girl on the Train, all of which have been adapted for the screen. We’ve championed debuts like The Thirteenth Tale and The Book Thief, which are now firmly established in the literary canon. And Wool by Hugh Howey, another PREM1ER pick, became the inspiration for the hit Apple TV+ series Silo. These weren’t just good books; they were game changers.
More recently, we’ve introduced readers to Alice Winn's In Memoriam and Jennie Godfrey's The List of Suspicious Things, which have received major acclaim and bestseller status.
But PREM1ER isn’t only about the stories, it is also about the books themselves.
In recent years, we’ve raised the bar on the design and production of each edition. Many of our books now come with exclusive foiling, digitally sprayed edges (or spredges), alternate dust jackets, or gorgeous naked cloth binding. Each one is made to be treasured. They're not just first editions, they're works of art, built for the shelf and the senses.
PREM1ER is a multi-genre club. I don’t limit it to just one kind of story. I’ve featured literary fiction, crime, thrillers, historical epics, and speculative fiction; if it’s powerful, moving, and unforgettable, it’s a contender. Our members trust me to deliver something special every month, and I never take that trust lightly.
At its heart, PREM1ER is about connection, to authors, stories, and each other. Over the past 25 years, Goldsboro Books has celebrated 25 years in business this year and has built a community of readers who care deeply about storytelling, the physical book, and being part of something meaningful.
So, if you’re a reader who values beautiful books and original voices and is discovering the next great novel before everyone else talks about it, this club was made for you. And with just 1,500 places, being part of PREM1ER means holding something rare in your hands every month.
As a member, you also receive additional benefits, such as 15% off every other purchase from Goldsboro Books, exclusive access to special editions before they are available to others, and access to your PREMIER platform on Goldsboro Books, which provides exclusive content.
Here’s to the next 20 years filled with unforgettable stories, beautiful editions, and the joy of book collecting.
David H Headley
Notable PREM1ER Selections and Their Successes
Beyond the titles already mentioned (e.g. Labyrinth, The Girl on the Train, Wool, etc.), several other Goldsboro book club picks later became Sunday Times bestsellers or were adapted for film/TV. These examples underscore how PREM1ER has consistently championed books that go on to broader acclaim and become highly collectable first editions:
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Daisy Jones & The Six (Taylor Jenkins Reid). A March 2019 PREM1ER pick, this novel, told as an oral history of a 1970s rock band, gained huge popularity. It was eventually adapted into a high-profile Amazon Prime Video miniseries in 2023, which earned multiple Emmy Award nominations. Our vinyl record edition is highly sought after, commanding up to £1000.
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Half of a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie). Chosen for the club in 2006, Adichie’s novel won the 2007 Women’s Prize for Fiction (then the Orange Prize) and became a modern classic. It also received a film adaptation directed by Biyi Bandele in 2013, starring Thandiwe Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Goldsboro’s early support of this title, creating a beautiful slipcase edition, is a prime example of its curatorial excellence, identifying Half of a Yellow Sun as a standout debut and future bestseller well before it was a household name.
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Room (Emma Donoghue). This harrowing yet poignant novel was Goldsboro’s August 2010 selection, months before its shortlisting for the Man Booker Prize. Room became an international bestseller and was later adapted into an award-winning film (2015) for which Brie Larson won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
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The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Stuart Turton). Picked in 2018, Turton’s genre-bending murder mystery exemplifies Goldsboro’s foresight in spotting fresh talent. The novel earned critical acclaim, won the Costa First Novel Award, and climbed the bestseller ranks (reaching #5 on the Sunday Times list). Its complex, time-looping mystery was so compelling that Netflix acquired rights to develop a TV adaptation (announced in 2020), attesting to the story’s broad appeal (though that project was later shelved).
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The Widow (Fiona Barton). Goldsboro’s January 2016 PREM1ER choice, The Widow, is a twisty psychological thriller that debuted at #1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list. Barton’s novel is about a woman grappling with secrets after her husband is accused of a heinous crime, and it struck a chord with readers, becoming a runaway success. The producers of Wolf Hall soon optioned it for a television drama .
- The Chain (Adrian McKinty). This high-concept crime thriller was a mid-2019 PREM1ER selection that exploded into a global bestseller upon release. McKinty’s novel (which imagines an extortion scheme where victims must kidnap the next target to save their own loved ones) garnered rave endorsements and sold in 35 international territories even before publication. The Chain topped bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. Hollywood quickly took notice: film rights sold in a seven-figure deal to Paramount, and director Edgar Wright signed on to adapt it for Universal Pictures.
Each title above illustrates Goldsboro’s curatorial prowess in selecting books that achieve remarkable success beyond the collector community. By trusting instinct and quality over hype, the PREM1ER book club has built a legacy of launching debut and early-career authors who go on to top charts or grace the screen. This track record of Sunday Times bestsellers and high-profile adaptations speaks to the club’s outsized role in shaping bookish trends and highlights Goldsboro Books as a tastemaker for future classics.
If you are interested in becoming a member, please click here
