He founded Blake Publishing around 1990 with his brother, David Blake. After an acrimonious dissolution of the original partnership in March 2002, John Blake went solo and founded John Blake Publishing. Six months later, he was joined by journalist Rosie Ries (later Virgo), who became the company's managing director. In 1998, the company published autobiographies by bareknuckle fighters Lenny McLean and Roy "Pretty Boy" Shaw. In 2004, "Being Jordan" by Katie Price was published by Blake after larger firms had rejected the book. While the advance to Price was £10,000, the book, ghost written by Rebecca Farnworth, sold a million copies. "It's the kind of book bought by people who would find going into Hatchards or Waterstone's rather intimidating", Blake said in 2007.