PN3448.L67 → Changes in Romance Land

Earlier today it was announced that Harlequin Enterprises - a Canadian based company owned by TorStar (the publishers of the Toronto Star) - has been sold for approximately $415 million to NewsCorp.

Just taking a peak around the blog here, it's easy to tell that I'm a little bit of a fan of the romance genre. The genre is a consistent presence on my recently read series of posts, and from time to time I'll write a review of an eagerly anticipated release. And maybe I once put together a whole annotated bibliography about awesome things to read if you want to learn more about the genre.

And yet I wasn't at all surprised to see the genre being written about as if it wasn't a major business deal. Take a look at the first link I posted up there to the Los Angeles Times, which makes mention of the term "bodice-ripper" and notes Rupert Murdoch's own troubling love life. That newspaper was certainly not alone. It's frustrating to say the least. It was sale estimated at half a billion dollars and yet people still envision the old historicals published in the 1970s.

There have been other bloggers and authors out there that have put things into words better than I ever could. I highly encourage you to check out:

LOST in Misogyny and Asshery at The Book Pushers; Torstar sells Harlequin to HarperCollins/NewsCorp at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books; and its follow-up post: Media Coverage of the Harlequin Acquisition at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

And some reactions to the acquisition from Twitter:






One thing is for sure, it's going to be very interesting to watch how Harlequin in incorporated into the fold at HarperCollins.
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