Amazon launches romance publishing imprint

Romance is the hottest genre on the market, and Amazon wants in on the action

It has long been known that romance novels constitute one of the highest grossing genres in publishing, generating an estimated $1.36 billion in sales in 2010. In 2009, romance fiction accounted for the largest share of the consumer market, with 13.2%. Meanwhile weight loss and dating books are the best-selling topics in non-fiction…which seems to point to a pattern. Overweight consumers who can’t get dates are picking up romance books to fill the void…

And Amazon wants to snag those consumers. The e-retailer announced late Wednesday that it is launching a new publishing imprint exclusively for romance novels: Montlake Romance, which takes its name from the central Seattle neighborhood of Montlake. The publishing imprint is Amazon’s fourth, joining AmazonEncore for emerging authors, AmazonCrossing for translations of foreign-language books, and Powered by Amazon, which is currently featuring a series of short books by Seth Godin.

Best-selling romance author Connie Brockway will be the debut author of the imprint. Brockway, the author of 17 novels including “My Dearest Enemy” and “The Bridal Season,” is a two-time winner of the Romance Writers Association’s “RITA Award” for best historical romance. Brockway’s latest novel, “The Other Guy’s Bride,” will be published by Montlake this fall and will be available on Kindle, print, and audio formats on Amazon.com and from other national retailers.

“Romance is one of our biggest and fastest growing categories, particularly among Kindle customers, so we can’t wait to make ‘The Other Guy’s Bride’ and other compelling titles available to romance fans around the world,” said Jeff Belle, VP of Amazon Publishing, in a statement. “We also know our customers enjoy genre fiction of all kinds, so we are busy building publishing businesses that will focus on additional genres as well.”

Montlake Romance will publish a wide range of romance sub-genres, including romantic suspense, paranormal and fantasy, contemporary, and historic.

As much as I make fun of it, on the few occasions that I’ve cracked open a romance novel, I’ve been hooked. I love heaving bosoms and throbbing members.

“I am thrilled to be the launch author for Montlake Romance, bringing readers the freshest, most innovative and compelling love stories possible,” said Connie Brockway in a statement. “Montlake is giving me the opportunity to write romances that capture the imagination as well as the heart and I’m thrilled to invite readers to join me on this exhilarating journey.”

Image source: Amazon.com