Mills & Boon, the book publisher famed for its bodice-ripping romance novels, is to launch its own social networking website in the vein of Facebook.
by: Claudine Beaumont
The site will enable fans of the series to create their own blogs and personal pages, complete with a photo and information to connect with friends and fellow fans.
The Mills & Boon community site, accessed through the publisher's homepage, goes live on Monday afternoon, and will boast forums, blogs from popular authors, and the opportunity to rate and review books, as well as tips for budding storytellers on the art of romance writing.
"This community is a chance for us to give something back to our readers," said Tim Cooper, director of direct and digital marketing at Mills & Boon. "We have a fantastically loyal readership who are very passionate about our product. It's great to be able to give them a portal to each other, as well to as us."
Mills & Boon, which celebrated its centenary last year, sells more than 130 million books worldwide anually. Its romance novels, written by more than 1,000 authors, have been translated in to 26 languages, and a Mills & Boon novel is sold every three seconds in the UK.
The launch of a social networking site is part of a new marketing strategy by the publisher, which is seeking to modernise its image. It has already launched a range of racy, erotic and sexually-charged novels under the series banner 'Blaze', and in Japan, popular books are repackaged as 'manga'-style comics to appeal to young Japanese.
Despite its reputation for appealing to older women, Mills & Boon has been enjoying a higher profile among younger readers. Tom Tivnan, features editor of The Bookseller magazine, expects the social networking site to prove a hit with fans of the series.
"In recent years, the company hasn't been shy about trying out new and trendy things," he said. "They're confident in their brand and know what they are, so this social networking site will be great for them.
"Mills & Boon has a growing readership of 25- to 30-year-olds, and this whole exercise is probably aimed at capturing some more of that market."
Last month, the Mills & Boon website attracted more than 180,000 visitors, which Mr Cooper believes shows there is an appetite for a web-based community.
"Our website is already popular, and sales in our electonic book range are hugely exceeding expectations," he said. "This tells me that our readers are tech-savvy and keen to interact and engage in an online environment."
From: Telegraph.co.uk
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