Profile of Publisher Harlequin
Canadian Publishing Company Well Known for Romantic Novels
How a small Canadian publishing company became the number one provider of romance fiction in the world.
The company didn’t have the most promising beginning. According to a fundinguniverse.com company history, Harlequin Enterprises Limited began in 1949 as founder Richard Bonnycastle’s way to keep the presses working at Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Advocate Printers, a branch of the Toronto, Ontario company Bryant Press. They published mostly reprints, with rights acquired from other publishers, but also contracted some new titles, including mysteries and westerns. But according to ‘The Merchants of Venus: Inside Harlequin and the Empire of Romance’ by Paul Grescoe, by the early 1950’s, the company was in trouble.
From Makework to Masterstroke
But how did that failing makework project ultimately become a publishing empire? Their astounding success can be traced back to one woman’s preference in fiction and another woman’s instinct for business. Mary Bonnycastle, wife of Richard, who proofread the publishing company’s acquisitions at home as their first editor, enjoyed reading romantic novels. Ruth Palmour, secretary to Richard Bonnycastle, noted that novels with romantic sounding titles vastly outsold lurid murder mysteries and crime novels.
Between the two women, they convinced Bonnycastle that the company should purchase the North American rights to Mills & Boon books. Publishing the novels in paperback, an eager market of women in the booming economy of the 1950’s snapped them up.
By the 1960s, it became obvious that focusing solely on Harlequin’s romance fiction line was the wisest business move. Using unorthodox marketing moves, such as direct marketing and selling the books in grocery and drugstores, they established themselves as industry leaders to an under-served market - women readers in search of romantic fiction - and made history.
Decisions Along the Way
Every step of the way Harlequin has made wise choices: focusing on romance fiction, targeting their market’s shopping habits, branding their books with identifiable covers, and changing with the times. They are now the number one provider of romance fiction in the world.
They’ve responded to trends, too, targeting lines to NASCAR fans, readers looking for 'inspirational' romance titles and ‘chick lit’ readers. They’ve branched out into audio books, ebooks and podcasts. So-called ‘niche’ markets are served, with Harlequin’s commitment to publishing books in Spanish, their Kimani line focusing on African-American characters, and ‘Spice’ to appeal to the burgeoning market in erotic romance fiction. In a nod back to one of the mainstays of the original Mills & Boon books, which often featured ‘nurse and doctor’ romance, they now have a Harlequin Medical Romance line.
Moving with the Times
But even when they do step back, it is more a case of one step back, two forward. Mills & Boon was successful publishing ‘doctor and nurse’ romance novels; the romantic hero was almost inevitably the doctor, and the heroine was a nurse. But Harlequin’s newest ‘Medical Romances’ are very much books of today. As Harlequin notes in their writer guidelines for the Medical Romances line, “Heroes and heroines are equally matched and equally respected professionals.”
Fluid and Flexible
Harlequin has proved to be the very model of a successful new millennium business; the market is fluid and flexible, and so are they, moving relentlessly with the times from their introduction of online services in 1996, to the current ability for subscribers to download books directly to a mobile phone with ‘Harlequin On The Go’.
Find out more about Harlequin books, read short stories online, or find out how to write for Harlequin, by visiting Harlequin directly.
To read the full article on the history of Harlequin Publishing visit Funding Universe, (they are a service connecting investors with businesses looking for investment capital).
