Mills & Boon target Gen Z readers with a ‘diverse’ line of books – including a ‘queer’ version of Pretty Woman
They’re famous for their risque page-turners featuring Greek tycoons, billionaire CEOs and repressed aristocrats.
But Mills & Boon is hoping to target Generation Z with a new ‘diverse’ line of books – featuring ‘more relatable’ characters.
In January, a ‘queer’ version of hit movie Pretty Woman, as well as a ‘steamy male-male romance’ will be released as part of a new imprint, which hopes to take advantage of a TikTok craze for romantic literature.
The publisher says 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’.
Mills & Boon say that these will include ‘small-town settings, fake relationships, grumpy versus sunshine, enemies to lovers – and all with a generous dose of spice in every story.’
They’re famous for their risque page-turners featuring Greek tycoons, billionaire CEOs and repressed aristocrats. But Mills & Boon is hoping to target Generation Z with a new ‘diverse’ line of books – featuring ‘more relatable’ characters (Stock Image)
The publisher says 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’ (Stock Image)
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’.
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Mills & Boon said of their new venture: ‘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, publisher of the business, 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.’
Mills & Boon was founded in 1908 and still publish 100 stories each month, and are famous for their sexual novels featuring couples in contemporary romantic relationships.
Their website boasts: ‘From dashing docs to billionaire tycoons, regency rakes and everything in between, we’ve got a romance for every reader.’
Once looked upon as the pantheon of trash, the publisher has seen a new wave of popularity thanks to TikTok’s ‘BookTok’ community, which has hugely revived the romance genre.
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