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Mills & Boon launches Afterglow imprint building on younger TikTok fanbase
Mills & Boon will launch a new imprint, Afterglow Books, in January 2024 building on the popularity of the romance genre across TikTok with under 35s.
The publisher said it will offer “a trend-led, trope-filled list of books with diverse, authentic and relatable characters, a wide array of voices and representations, real world trials and tribulations, all the tropes you could possibly want”. These include "small-town settings, fake relationships, grumpy versus sunshine, enemies to lovers — and all with a generous dose of spice in every story”.
Targeting the under 35-year-old contemporary romance reader, Afterglow Books will publish two titles a month from January 2024.
The launch titles will be The (Fake) Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky, which Mills & Boon described as “delightful and steamy male-male romance that takes the trope of ‘faux dating’ to a whole new level”; The Bookbinders Guide to Love by Katherine Garbera, pitched as a “witchy, witty opposites attract novel”, and later in the spring, The Boyfriend Subscription by Steven Salvatore, presented as “the queer ’Pretty Woman’”. Harlequin will be publishing simultaneously in North America.
Mills & Boon said: “With an eyewatering 4.5 billion views of the hashtag #SpicyTok, there is a huge audience of voracious readers searching for their next romance read. To connect with them, HQ will be hosting a romance-themed BookTokker event early in the year, along with an extensive marketing and publicity campaign that will continue throughout 2024.”
Lisa Milton, HQ m.d. and publisher, said: “Everyone deserves a love story that’s true to who they are, and from showing up to glowing up, each book features characters who are on the path to leading their best lives and finding romance along the way.
"TikTok has encouraged a younger generation to read more diversely, and the community has built a new and exciting way to reach readers. Afterglow Books aims to reach these readers where they are and delivers all the tropes, characters and romance that they want.”
