Gillian Green

Extra caught up with Gillian Green, editorial director at Ebury, to ask about the finer points of launching Rouge Romance, Ebury's new, digital-first imprint, giving readers books "wherever they want, in whatever format they choose,"  and what makes a novel "sexier, longer and 100% more romantic."

According to Albert Greco of the Institute for Publishing Research (as reported by WSJ.com) sales of print titles will drop from $18 billion in 2008 to $13.9 billion in 2015, not including book clubs, book fairs and catalog mail orders. His projections show that e-book sales should increase to $3.6 billion by 2015 from $78 million in 2008.

"We know from research commissioned by Random House and by the industry at large that romance readers have been among the first to migrate to ebooks," says Ebury editorial director Gillian Green. "One in seven romance readers have already bought an e-book in the last year." The rising tide of e-reading devices has been a blessing to none more so than fans of romance. No longer are they forced to conceal the covers of their latest purchases (The Sultan's Choice, say, or The Temp and the Tycoon) from fellow commuters.