This article's does not adequately key points of its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to of all important aspects of the article. Please discuss this issue on the article's. ( July 2015)Harlequin EnterprisesFounded1949; 70 years ago ( 1949)FounderJack Palmer and Doug WeldCountry of originHeadquarters location,Publication typesRomanceCarina, Harlequin Teen, HQN, Kimani, Hanover Square, Park Row, Graydon HouseRevenue$585 millionOfficial websiteHarlequin Enterprises Limited (known simply as Harlequin) is a -based company that publishes series. Harlequin was owned by the, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, from 1981 to 2014. It was then purchased by and is now a division of. Contents.Early years In May 1949, Harlequin was founded in, Canada as a paperback reprinting company.
The business was a partnership between Advocate Printers and of, plus, head of the Canadian distributor of the and the. Palmer oversaw marketing for the new company and took charge of the production.The company's first product was Nancy Bruff's novel The Manatee. For its first few years, the company published a wide range of books, all offered for sale for 25 cents. Among the novels they reprinted were works by,. Their biggest success was 's Beyond the Blue Mountain (1951).
Online shopping for Books from a great selection of Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, Romantic Suspense, Romantic Comedy, Fantasy & more at everyday low prices. Mills & Boon turns heat up Fifty Shades with erotica titles The publisher, better known for its romance stories, announces plans to emulate success of Fifty Shades of Grey with 12 digital-only.
Of the 30,000 copies sold, only 48 were returned. Although the new company had strong sales, profit margins were limited, and the operation struggled to stay solvent. Following the death of Jack Palmer in the mid-1950s, Richard Bonnycastle acquired his 25% interest in Harlequin. Still struggling to survive, soon Doug Weld departed and Richard Bonnycastle, now in full control, transferred Weld's shares to key staff member, Ruth Palmour. In 1953, Harlequin began to publish. When the company's chief editor died the following year, Bonnycastle's wife, Mary, took over his duties. Mary Bonnycastle enjoyed reading the romances of British publisher, and, at her urging, in 1957 Harlequin acquired the North American distribution rights to the category which had been published by Mills and Boon in the.
The first Mills and Boon novel to be reprinted by Harlequin was 's The Hospital in Buwambo (Mills and Boon No 407). Mills and Boon partnership The contract with Mills and Boon was based solely on a handshake, given each year when Bonnycastle visited London. He would lunch at the with Alan Boon, the son of a Mills and Boon founder, and the two would informally agree to extend their business agreement for an additional year.Mary Bonnycastle and her daughter Judy Burgess exercised editorial control over which Mills and Boon novels were reprinted by Harlequin. They had a 'decency code' and rejected more sexually explicit material that Mills and Boon submitted for reprinting. Upon realizing the genre was popular, Richard Bonnycastle finally decided to read a romance novel.
He chose one of the more explicit novels and enjoyed it. On his orders, the company conducted a market test with the novel he had read and discovered that it outsold a similar, tamer novel. Overall, intimacy in the novels never extended beyond a chaste kiss between the protagonists.The romances proved to be hugely popular, and by 1964 the company was exclusively publishing Mills and Boon novels. Although Harlequin had the rights to distribute the Mills and Boon books throughout North America, in 1967 over 78% of their sales took place in Canada, where the rate was approximately 85%. Richard Bonnycastle died in 1968 and his son, took over the company. He immediately organized the 1969 relocation of operations to, where he built the company into a major force in the publishing industry. In 1970, Bonnycastle, Jr.
Contracted with and to distribute the Mills and Boon novels in.On October 1, 1971, Harlequin purchased Mills and Boon. John Boon, another founder's son, remained with the company, overseeing British operations. North American booksellers were reluctant to stock, and Harlequin chose to sell their books 'where the women are', distributing them in supermarkets and other retail stores. The company focuses on selling the line of books, rather than individual titles. Rather than traditional advertising, the company focused on giveaways.
A sampling of books within a line would be given away, sometimes in conjunction with other products, in the hopes that readers would continue to buy books within that line. Harlequin then began a reader service, selling directly to readers who agreed to purchase a certain number of books each month.At the time that Harlequin purchased Mills and Boon, the company published only one line of category romances. Six novels were released each month in this line, known as Harlequin Romance. At John Boon's urging, in 1973 Harlequin introduced a second line, Harlequin Presents. Designed partially to highlight three popular and prolific authors, and, these novels were slightly more sensual than their Harlequin Romance counterparts. Although Mary Bonnycastle disapproved of the more sensual nature of these novels, they had sold well in, and the company chose to distribute them in North America as well.
Within two years the Harlequin Presents novels were outselling Harlequin Romance.In late 1975, acquired a 52.5% interest in Harlequin and in 1981 acquired the balance of the shares. Romance wars By 1975, 70% of Harlequin's sales came from the United States. Despite this fact, the company contracted with only British writers.
Harlequin contracted with its first American author in late 1975, when they purchased a novel. Dailey's novels provided the romance genre's 'first look at heroines, heroes and courtships that take place in America, with American sensibilities, assumptions, history, and most of all, settings.'
Harlequin was unsure how the market would react to this new type of romance, and was unwilling to fully embrace it. In the late 1970s, a Harlequin editor rejected a manuscript by, who has since become the top-selling romance author, because 'they already had their American writer.' . ^ Wyatt, Edward (August 17, 2004), The New York Times, from the original on 2014-05-03, retrieved 2007-08-27. Greenfield, Jeremy (2 May 2014).
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