Mills & Boon will launch a new list of titles on TikTok to attract younger romance fans and readers aged 35 and under. According to Mills & Boon’s website, the longstanding publisher of romantic fiction sells a book every 10 seconds in the UK.
Edel Flood, head of lifestyle and education at TikTok UK, said, “Romance is by far the biggest book genre.” Search #BookTok on TikTok, and you are likely to get recommendations of “spicy” (read: sexy) books by romance authors. This is what led the publisher to launch a “spicy” Afterglow series for TikTok book lovers. From 2024, Mills & Boon will release romance stories each month under Afterglow.
Katie Barnes-Wallis, marketing director at Mills & Boon, said, “Afterglow 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.”
Promise to Cover all Tropes
Barnes-Wallis and her colleagues are focusing on existing BookTok trends to fulfil their promise of including all the tropes in Afterglow. Tropes such as Enemies to Lovers, small-town settings, etc., are in trend, which is why younger romance fans choose books and on TikTok. Also, the new imprint’s launch titles will focus on LGBT+ representation, including The (Fake) Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky, The Boyfriend Subscription by Steven Salvatore, etc.
Abby Parker, known online as abbysbooks said, “People know what they want from their books, and if someone can promise that before they even open the pages, then it’s job done.” According to research done by the Publishers Association 59% of 16-25-year-olds say BookTok has helped them to discover a passion for reading. And Mills & Boon wanted to take advantage of this platform to sell their romantic stories to younger fans.
Mills & Boon said: “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.” The famous romance author Jenny Colgan says it makes sense for the nation’s best-known romance publisher to cater to all kinds of romance fans. He further said that “Mills & Boon are a huge part of British cultural life, particularly for women.”
So, be ready to explore the romantic titles under the Afterglow series by Mills & Boon from January 2024. There are buzzwords such as “spice” and “tropes” in the series, but the popularity of the BookTok platform can only be seen after the release of the books.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.
