When Harlequin Enterprises acquired British publisher Mills & Boon in 1972, the merged firm became the world’s dominant publisher of popular romance novels. Little is known, however, about the role that innovative marketing strategies played in the growth of these two romance publishing companies, especially their use of product sampling, direct mail, product standardization, and what was known at Mills & Boon as the “personal touch.” Through research in the Mills & Boon company archive at the University of Reading, the Grescoe Archive at the University of Calgary, as well as an analysis of company histories, trade publications, interviews, and marketing techniques, this study reveals how Harlequin and Mills & Boon took a different approach to product promotion than traditional publishers. Their innovation was to incorporate consumer goods marketing strategies, familiar to other industries, that disrupted and redefined standard practices of book publishers.

1972年，丑角企业（Harlequin Enterprises）收购了英国出版商Mills＆Boon，合并后的公司成为全球流行浪漫小说的主要发行商。然而，人们对创新营销策略在这两家浪漫出版公司的成长中所起的作用知之甚少，尤其是它们对产品抽样，直邮，产品标准化的使用，以及在Mills＆Boon所称的“个人风格”。 。” 通过对雷丁大学Mills＆Boon公司档案馆，卡尔加里大学Grescoe档案馆的研究，以及对公司历史，贸易出版物，访谈和营销技术的分析，本研究揭示了Harlequin和Mills＆与传统发行商相比，Boon采取了不同的产品推广方式。