YvonnePersonally, Mills & Boon, or any other similar books by other publishing houses, are not my kind of reading. That isn’t to say that I have never picked up a Mills & Boon and read it, because I have, but it would literally be a gap and time filler for me, between more heavyweight, serious reading.
However, to have an ‘Awards’ section, which covers the whole spectrum of fiction fairly, it would be impossible not to include some of Mills & Boon’s unarguably successful and award winning authors, many of whom started their careers and still write under the auspices of the ‘RNA‘ (Romantic Novelists Association).
I was aware that Mills & Boon have been around for many decades, but reading the company bio. was a revelation
The company was founded in 1908, by two male entrepreneurs and managed to remain independent until 1971, when it became a subsidiary of Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. Some time later, a controlling interest was acquired by a Canadian communications company. Harlequin Enterprises also includes other best selling companies including; Harlequin, Silhouette, Spice and MIRA Books, although many titles continue to be printed under more than a single label.
With twice monthly doorstep deliveries of their titles worldwide, Mills & Boon must be the ultimate mail order catalogue and some of the company statistics are staggering:
A Mills & Boon book is sold every 3 seconds, somewhere in the world.
Mills & Boon have a global author base of approx. 1300.
Mills & Boon have their own listing and definition in many updated and contemporary dictionaries.
There are about 70 new Mills & Boon titles published just in the UK, every month.
Jean MacLeod holds the record as Mills & Boon’s oldest working author. In 2009, when celebrating her 101st birthday, she was just beginning work on her 130th book.
In 2008, a lone male Mills & Boon author came to light. A former Liverpool college lecturer, Roger Sanderson, who writes hospital romances under the name of Gill Sanderson, which is, in fact, his wife’s name.
That’s unless, of course, anyone out there knows differently and there are more closet male Mills & Boon success stories.
So, it’s hats off to Mills & Boon. Love them or hate them, they are still here to tell the tale and are obviously still enjoyed by millions of people worldwide.
Oh! just one last thought, did you know that 22% of all the romantic fiction sold, is bought by men!
That’s really showing your feminine side guys!
