Harlequin Rebranding

Harlequin, the keeper of the kingdom of contemporary romance, always has a finger on the pulse of the reading public which is a polite way of saying what all writers know: accounting determines what publishers do. It's been this way for about 20 years - ever since conglomerates started acquiring publishing houses.

No Surprise

In the case of Harlequin, Torstar is their parent company, and the only goal is to make money from publishing books. No surprise there. So Harlequin is in the process of rebranding the Silhouette and Steeple Hill lines.

Actually, for the last 10 years, Harlequin has been revamping their lines by combining some, making some European only, and deleting other lines completely.

Farewell Silhouette

This latest change means Silhouette Books and Steeple Hill books will now be Harlequin books. True, they always were, but the branding on the covers will now reflect that.

Of course, they stated in their press release that: "...the emotional, compelling, exciting stories offered in Desire, Special Edition and Romantic Suspense are not changing. Nor is there a change in the number of titles we are publishing in these lines."

They go on to say that the rebranding "will ensure that these series benefit from the promotional resources dedicated to the Harlequin brand and will strengthen the Harlequin consumer brand as the market leader in romance fiction.”

Takeaway Truth

Traditional paper publishing is in fight or flight mode.