The story
Founded by Gerald Rusgrove Mills in 1908.1
Mills & Boon was founded by former employees of the Methuen publishing house, Gerald Rusgrove Mills (3 January 1877 – 23 September 1928) and Charles Boon (9 May 1877 – 2 December 1943) in 1908 as a general fiction publisher, although their first book was a romance. An early signing was the mystery and crime writer Victor Bridges. Mills & Boon also published—in 1911 and 1912—two early works by Hugh Walpole, including Mr Perrin and Mr Traill, which was later adapted into the film of the same name. Between 1912 and 1923, it published numerous adventure titles by Jack London. In its early years the company also published "educational textbooks, socialist tracts and Shakespeare" as well as "travel guides, children’s and craft books".
It was not until the 1930s that the company began to concentrate specifically on romances.
From the very beginning, Mills & Boon published in a form and at a price that was within the reach of a wide readership. In the 1930s the company noted the rapid rise of commercial circulating libraries and the growing appetite for escapism during the Depression years. Due to these types of libraries, Mills & Boon were able to produce over 160 titles every year during that decade. Historian Ross McKibbin has argued that 'it was the rapid growth of the ‘tuppenny libraries’ in the interwar years which transformed Mills and Boon into a firm which exclusively published romantic fiction.' The favourite genre was romance and the company decided to concentrate on hardback romances, a policy which became increasingly successful. These titles were initially sold through weekly, two-penny libraries. There, they became known as 'the brown books', because of their distinctive binding.
Mills & Boon's innovative marketing strategies also contributed to their novels' popularity. Since 1930, this was evident when the company sent a copy of a chapter of one of their books to whoever formally requested one. Furthermore, the company's innovative marketing extended to creating eye-catching covers, with attention-grabbing colours and "romantic images of couples or the beautiful heroine", to display in store windows.
During World War II, Mills & Boon created ads that notified the public that they could go to their bookseller and place a standing order on any of their books. This guaranteed that Mills & Boons would always keep their novels in stock in bookstores, despite the shortages and other challenges to businesses that resulted from the war. This marketing technique also created a sense of urgency, due to an implication that there was a limited supply for whoever didn't place a standing order. These ads significantly contributed to the company's expansion.
With the decline of commercial lending libraries in the late 1950s, the company's most profitable move was to realise that there would remain a strong market for romance novels, but that sales would depend on readers having easy access to reasonably priced books. As a result, Mills & Boon romance became widely available from newsagents across the country. Mills & Boon began to publish in paperback in the 1960s.
Beginning in 1958, they made an agreement with Harlequin in Canada to sell reprints of Mills & Boon titles, giving the firm access to the North American market and to make a major move into paperback publishing.
In 1971, the Boon family sold the company to Harlequin Enterprises of Canada. Harlequin, having made a great success out of selling licensed Mills & Boon titles in North America, wanted to secure the editorial source. John Boon, son of the co-founder, continued as head of the company while his brother, Alan, continued as head of editorial. Much of the company's success from the 1950s to the 1980s is credited to Alan Boon's editorial talent.
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A considerable portion of Mills & Boon sales were derived from export markets, particularly India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. In 1976, an Australian office was established in Sydney to handle sales in the Asia-Pacific region. The success of the Australian operation in the 1970s was such that it was able to begin printing its own editions.
In 1989, Mills & Boon product sampled over 700,000 of their novels to East German women following the Fall of the Berlin Wall. This giveaway led to the novels' popularity in eastern Germany. Within four months of that product sampling event, Mills & Boon's books were sold on newsstands throughout the region; in 2 years they "gained market share in Poland, sold six-and-a-half million romance novels in Hungary, and achieved $10 million in sales in the Czech Republic."
Their books are sold through a combination of subscription and retail sales. For example, in any given month they publish eight novels in their Modern line; six of those are available on the retail market, and all eight are available to buy directly from the company both on- and offline. Mills & Boon encourage readers to subscribe to their favorite lines, and those books will then be delivered to their home.
One distinctive feature of both Mills & Boon and Harlequin (in North America) is the length of time their books are available to buy. They publish a set number of books each month which are sent to subscribers and displayed on stands in book shops. At the end of the month, any unsold copies in the shops are withdrawn and pulped. Titles are available to buy direct from Mills & Boon for 3 months or until they are sold out, whichever is sooner. Fans looking for particular books after this time must find them second-hand.
Mills & Boon has over 3 million regular readers in the UK annually. Romantic fiction constitutes the largest section of the adult paperback fiction market and Harlequin Mills & Boon publishes series fiction, promotional titles, gift packs and single titles under different brands and imprints: Mills & Boon and Mira.
As of 2008, 200 million Mills & Boon novels were sold globally per annum and, in the United Kingdom, one paperback was sold on average every 6.6 seconds. Mills & Boon accounted for nearly three-quarters of the British romantic fiction market in that year.
Outside the UK, Mills & Boon novels were officially launched in India in 2008, although they were already popular in the country due to unofficial imports and purchases from abroad. Sales swiftly increased, doubling over the 2009–2010 period.
According to Mills & Boon, an author can receive royalties of between £2,000 to £30,000 per book.
Centenary year
2008 was Mills & Boon's centenary as a publisher. This was marked by a number of events and exhibitions. In November 2008, BBC Four celebrated the anniversary by broadcasting the 90-minute drama Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon, written by Emma Frost.
Electronic publishing
Electronic publishing has allowed Mills & Boon to double its output. As of 2012, it now releases over 100 e-books per month, more than in print, and sells more e-books than physical books. Parent company Torstar cited the strong growth of e-books in its 2010 report, with digital revenues up CAN$16.1 Million.
According to Tim Cooper, digital and marketing director for the publisher, "digital lends itself to the habitual nature of our content. Our readers finish reading one and they can download the next." Author Sharon Kendrick's opinion is similar: "[Mills & Boon] are an intense reading experience, and they can be read quickly. People read four to five in a few days so that's a lot of books to carry around."
Another factor in favour of electronic publishing is the lack of a visible cover. Cooper notes that "part of the appeal of digital reading is that nobody necessarily knows what you're reading." Kendrick supports this view as well, saying, "one of the things about reading romance is that slightly furtive thing, the 'oh God, I can't be seen on the train reading a romance'. If you've got a Kindle then no one knows what you're reading. It's not about embarrassment, really—it's more that you don't want to be judged, and we are often judged by what we read."
The more sexually explicit Spice imprint sells particularly well in electronic format, compared to the Modern imprint which is the most successful in print.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mills & Boon, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4