The (Fake) Dating Game hit the shelves on Jan 4 (Photo: Afterglow)
Authentic and relatable romance, with more than a dash of spice — that is the thrust of books Mills & Boon has lined up under new imprint Afterglow, targeted at readers under 35. The launch title from that series, The (Fake) Dating Game, hit the shelves on Jan 4.
Mills & Boon, a name synonymous with romantic fiction since its founding in 1908, has its eyes on TikTok users aged between 16 and 25, more than half of whom, research by the Publishers Association shows, credit BookTok for helping them discover a passion for reading.
“With an eye-watering 4.5 billion views of the hashtag #SpicyTok, there is a huge audience of voracious readers searching for their next romance read,” Mills & Boon marketing director Katie Barnes-Wallis says in media reports.
Trend-led Afterglow will bring out two titles every month, hooked to “all the tropes you could possibly want”, she adds. For a start, Timothy Janovsky’s rom-com on faux dating has game show antics, male-male relationships and a healthy dose of steam.
Afterglow is the brand’s sixth imprint after Desire, True Love, Heroes, Historical, Medical and Modern — which are packed with compelling plots, passion, drama, danger, heroes, glamour, exotic locales and, of course, true love.
Romance author Jenny Colgan notes that with “Mills & Boon a huge part of British cultural life, particularly for women, [it is in] the perfect position to cater for a more diverse audience”. And get a piece of the TikTok pie.
