Harlequin

Toronto, ON - July 6, 2015 - Wattpad, the world's largest community of readers and writers, and Harlequin, one of the world's most recognizable names in romance, have teamed up for the 2015 So You Think You Can Write (SYTYCW) contest. For the first time ever, the annual romance writing competition has launched on Wattpad, with writers around the world able to submit their manuscript on Wattpad for a chance to win a two-book publishing deal with Harlequin.

Harlequin imprint MIRA Books has announced the launch of BookClubbish, a new site designed to share book and pop-culture related content with readers, booksellers, librarians, book bloggers and book clubs. Erika Imranyi, Executive Editor at MIRA Books said of the launch: "Everybody on the MIRA team loves books and chatting about their current reads. That passion spurred us to create a site that brings the same conversation to others who feel similarly. And it's why BookClubbish embraces books by other publishers, not just our own titles

More audiobook news this week -- Harlequin and HarperCollins announced yesterday the launch of a new imprint, Harlequin Audio. The imprint will release its first batch of audiobooks on June 30^th and is planning a list of 200 titles for the year, all of which are existing Harlequin titles.

Bookmate, the subscription based social e-reading service, has today announced an agreement with Bloomsbury, Faber Factory and Harlequin. This deal will add more than 15,000 new titles to the Bookmate library.

News Corp (NWSA.O), publisher of the Wall Street Journal, reported quarterly revenue and profit above estimates, helped by higher sales at its book publishing and online real estate businesses.

Shares of the company rose 4 percent in extended trading.

Along with from the Journal and the New York Post, News Corp's properties include the Australian newspaper, book publishers HarperCollins and Harlequin Enterprises, stakes in Australian pay-TV and digital real estate businesses, and education company Amplify.

The market for ebook services is starting to get more exciting as major book publishers start accepting the idea that consumers want a "Netflix for books" to satisfy their voracious reading habits.

The latest example comes from Scribd's premium unlimited ebook service, which today added over 15,000 book titles from major book publisher Harlequin. The publisher is well known for producing romance novels as well as a mix of other titles. Scribd's unlimited service features a library of 500,000 ebook titles from more than 900 publishers,

BISG announced the recipients of its 2014 Industry Awards today at its Annual Meeting of Members in New York City. Awards in four categories recognize the wide range of BISG and industry achievements that help smooth the processes that bring content to readers and help move a transforming industry forward.

Bill Kasdorf of  Apex Content Solutions has been awarded BISG's The Industry Champion Award.  Kasdorf was recognized for his work as Chair of the Content Structure Committee and his  broader efforts to improve standards throughout the industry.

Countless authors have taken advantage of a new and growing genre of literature aimed at primarily female readers between 18 and 25. Known as "new adult," the genre features mainly university or college-aged protagonists dealing with early twenties life, in particular romance and sexual relationships. The segment of the book-buying market is hard to quantify as the wider industry has been slow to embrace the genre and the bulk of sales are made online. But a recent report by author and publishing data website authorearnings.com found that self-published books make up

(Reuters) - News Corp (NWSA.O), publisher of the Wall Street Journal, reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue as growth in its book publishing business helped to make up for a decline in revenue in its bigger news and information division.

News Corp, whose shares were up marginally at $17.50 in after-market trading on Thursday, has been focusing more on book publishing as its newspaper business struggles with weak ad spending in an increasingly digital world.