Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Penguin launches digital romance imprint

Penguin Australia has launched a new digital-first imprint for Australian romance titles called Destiny Romance.

Penguin said the imprint, which has launched with four titles, will publish ‘romance ebooks of all kinds, from novellas to full-length stories’ and will focus on the romance genres of contemporary, historical, suspense, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and erotica. The publisher said the Destiny Romance imprint ‘will have a strong emphasis on discovering new Australian voices’ and will publish two new titles each month.

The imprint will be headed up by editor Carol George and commissioning editor Sarah Fairhall, who have worked for Penguin in various roles over the past few years. George and Fairhall said in a statement that they are proud to be publishing titles in a genre they love and ‘in a format that reflects changing tastes and times’. ‘The appetite for romance has never been stronger … and women have never been busier. In a whirlwind life juggling work and family demands, an entertaining, well-written romance available at the press of a button, is the perfect treat.’

George told Bookseller+Publisher that Destiny Romance ebooks are available from a range of retailers including Kobo, ReadCloud, Google, Amazon and Apple, and will soon be available for purchase from the Destiny Romance website. George said the titles will be ‘competitively’ priced to ensure the ebooks have ‘as broad appeal as possible’. The four launch titles—The Convenient Bride by Jennifer St George, Small Town Storm by Elise Ackers, Harbinger by Peta Crake, and Wish by Kelly Hunter—are priced between $3.99 and $5.99.

The Destiny Romance website is now live. Penguin said the site will ‘be dedicated to sales of existing romance titles, romance gossip, author chats, [and] writing tips’. George said that Destiny Romance is also currently accepting unsolicited manuscripts via the website. Submission guidelines are available here.

For more information about Destiny Romance, visit the website here.

 

Tags:

Category: Local news