Harlequin Enterprises ULC, often called Harlequin, is a company that publishes romance books, women's fiction, and other types of stories under different names. It was started in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1949. By the 1960s, it became the largest publisher of romance fiction worldwide.

In 1969, Harlequin moved its main office to Toronto. From 1981 to 2014, it was owned by Torstar Corporation, which was the largest newspaper publisher in Canada. In 2014, News Corp bought Harlequin, and it is now part of HarperCollins. In 1971, Harlequin purchased a publisher in London called Mills & Boon Limited. This led to a global expansion, with offices opened in Australia and major European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. In 2015, Harlequin started an audiobook program.

History

Harlequin was started in 1949 by Richard Bonnycastle in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He created the company while working at Winnipeg's Advocate Printers, which was part of Toronto's Bryant Press. The goal was to keep the printing machines busy.

The business was owned by Advocate Printers, Doug Weld of Bryant Press, and Jack Palmer, who managed the Canadian sales for the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal. Palmer handled marketing, and Bonnycastle managed production.

Harlequin published its first book, The Manatee by Nancy Bruff, in May 1949. At first, the company mostly printed books that other publishers had already released, but some original books were also published. They reprinted works by authors like James Hadley Chase, Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Somerset Maugham. Their most successful book was Beyond the Blue Mountain by Jean Plaidy (1951). Out of 30,000 copies sold, only 48 were returned.

Although Harlequin had strong sales early on, profits were low, and the company struggled financially. After Jack Palmer died in the mid-1950s, Bonnycastle bought Palmer’s 25% share. Soon after, Doug Weld left, and Bonnycastle gave his shares to Ruth Palmour, the company secretary.

In 1954, Harlequin’s chief editor died, and Bonnycastle’s wife, Mary, began proofreading books at home and took over his job. Mary liked reading romance novels from British publisher Mills & Boon, and in 1957, Harlequin bought the rights to publish these books in North America.

The first Mills & Boon novel Harlequin reprinted was The Hospital in Buwambo by Anne Vinton (Mills & Boon No. 407). The agreement with Mills & Boon was made through a handshake each year when Bonnycastle visited London. He would meet with Alan Boon, the editorial director, at the Ritz Hotel and agree to continue the partnership.

Mary Bonnycastle and her daughter, Judy Burgess, decided which Mills & Boon books Harlequin would reprint. They had rules to avoid more explicit content. When Richard Bonnycastle finally read a romance novel, he found it popular and ordered a market test. The more explicit novel sold better than a tamer one. However, intimacy in the books never went beyond a chaste kiss between characters.

Romance novels became very popular, and by 1964, Harlequin only published Mills & Boon books under its name. Although Harlequin had rights to sell these books in North America, most sales (over 78%) happened in Canada, where the sell-through rate was about 85%. Richard Bonnycastle died in 1968, and his son, Richard Bonnycastle Jr., took over. He moved the company to Toronto in 1969 and grew it into a major publisher. In 1970, he partnered with Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster to sell Harlequin romance novels in the United States.

On October 1, 1971, Harlequin bought Mills & Boon to keep Alan Boon and his team. John Boon, another co-founder’s son, stayed as Managing Director, overseeing British operations and exports to countries like Australia, India, and South Africa.

Because North American stores were hesitant to sell paperbacks, Harlequin sold books in places where women shopped, like supermarkets and drugstores. The company focused on selling books as a brand, not individual titles. Marketing techniques were modeled after Procter & Gamble, and a direct sales team inspired by Reader’s Digest gave away books to encourage purchases. Harlequin Reader Service sold books directly to readers who agreed to buy a set number each month.

In 1973, Harlequin introduced a second line of romance novels called Harlequin Presents, which were slightly more sensual than the original Harlequin Romance line. These books were popular in Britain and later sold well in North America, even though Mary Bonnycastle disapproved of their style.

In 1975, Toronto Star Ltd. bought 52.5% of Harlequin and later the rest. By 1975, 70% of Harlequin’s sales came from the United States, but the company still hired British writers. In late 1975, Harlequin published a novel by Janet Dailey, the first American author. Her books showed American settings and characters, but Harlequin was unsure how the market would react. A manuscript by Nora Roberts was rejected because Harlequin already had an American writer.

In 1976, Harlequin ended its contract with Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books. This left those companies with sales teams but no books to sell. In 1980, they started Silhouette Books to publish American romance novels. Silhouette encouraged writers to explore new ideas in the genre.

Harlequin later launched its own American-focused line, Harlequin Superromance, in 1980. These books were longer and featured American settings and characters.

Harlequin had not quickly adapted to readers’ growing interest in more explicit content. In 1980, other publishers like Dell launched Candlelight Ecstasy, the first line to allow non-virginal heroines. By 1983, Candlelight Ecstasy sold $30 million worth of books. Silhouette also started similar lines, Desire and Special Edition, which sold out each month. The rise of these new lines created high demand for writers who could produce the new style of romance novels.

International editions

Harlequin has offices in Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, Granges-Pacot, Hamburg, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, Paris, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, and Warsaw. The company also has licensing agreements in nine other countries.

Editors in Harlequin’s offices in different countries have a lot of control over which novels are published in their region. An editor usually chooses a book after reading it, receiving a positive review from someone else, or reading a list of suggestions about the novel. Editors accept a novel for one of these reasons:

• Expecting the book to sell well
• Believing the book has good quality
• The story’s setting or topic matches a monthly theme
• Receiving a direct request from Harlequin’s main office

Books published in other countries are not always the same as those sold in North America or Europe. International editors can choose from older books that Harlequin has published before. Some books sold in a particular country may have been published in North America six or seven years earlier. When books are translated into the local language, the names of the main characters may change, and the title might not be translated exactly. Also, each book is usually shortened by 10–15% compared to the original English version. This is often done by removing references to American pop culture, removing jokes that do not translate well, and making descriptions shorter.

Current

As of 2024, Harlequin had published more than 40,000 romance novels and sold over 131,000,000 copies. This number is about half of all romance books sold in North America. In 2024, Harlequin published books in 29 languages across 107 countries worldwide. Their sales of 131 million books in 2024 are similar to the number of books sold by the company in 2005.

Harlequin is known as one of the most profitable book publishers. In 2003, the company sold $585 million worth of books, earning $124 million in profit. This means the company kept 21% of the money earned from sales as profit. A large part of this profit is due to the amount of money given to authors upfront, called advances. These advances are often smaller than the average in the publishing industry and may total only a few thousand dollars for a series of romance books.

Despite being profitable, Harlequin’s royalty program for authors has caused controversy. In 2011, the president and CEO of Harlequin, Donna Hayes, received a 37.2% pay increase. At the same time, the Romance Writers Association warned its members to carefully review contracts with Harlequin because some members were concerned about changes to digital royalty rates and non-compete clauses. This was not the first time Harlequin faced criticism for how it treated authors. In 2009, the Mystery Writers Association, Romance Writers of America, and Science Fiction Writers Association accused Harlequin of forcing authors to pay for publishing.

In late 2025, the French division of Harper Collins announced it hired Fluent Planet to use artificial intelligence to translate romance novels into French. This was done to save costs and keep prices low. After translation, human editors would check for errors before the books were published. The Association of France’s Literary Translators (ATLF) and a group of translators called En Chair et en OS (In the Flesh) expressed concerns about the quality of the translations and how this might affect the income of their members.

In 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed against Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd. by authors who claimed the publisher had unfairly licensed e-book publishing rights at low rates to one of its subsidiaries. This allowed the publisher to pay royalties only on the licensing fees, not on the full sales of the books. Harlequin responded by stating that authors had been fairly compensated for their work.

The lawsuit also claims that Harlequin has not paid authors the e-book royalties they were owed under publishing agreements signed between 1990 and 2004.

Imprints

The Harlequin Treasury imprint released several book collections.

• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin American Romance 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Duets 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Historical 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Intrigue 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Love & Laughter 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Presents 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Romance 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Superromance 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Harlequin Temptation 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Love Inspired 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Silhouette Desire 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Silhouette Intimate Moments 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Silhouette Romance 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Silhouette Special Edition 90s
• Harlequin Treasury Silhouette Yours Truly 90s

Kimani Press, a brand that features stories with African-American main characters, was created by Harlequin in December 2005. Harlequin bought the Arabesque, Sepia, and New Spirit imprints from BET Books to form this brand.

Inspirational romance.

In the early 1990s, many Harlequin authors left the company to write romance novels that were not part of a series for other publishers. To keep its top writers, Harlequin started the MIRA Books imprint in October 1994 to publish these single-title romances. Early MIRA novels were written by famous Harlequin authors, such as Heather Graham Pozzessere, whose book Slow Burn (2001) helped launch the imprint. For the first few years, MIRA published four books each month. One was a new story, and the other three were older books rewritten by Harlequin authors.

Harlequin has grown its book selection. It offers romance novels through its Harlequin and Silhouette lines; thrillers and commercial fiction through MIRA; erotic stories through the Spice imprint; "chick lit" (light-hearted stories about women's lives) through Red Dress Ink; fantasy books through LUNA; inspirational stories through Steeple Hill and Steeple Hill Café; African-American romance through Kimani Press; male action-adventure books through Gold Eagle; and single-title romances through Canary Street.

In 2009, Harlequin Enterprises announced a new imprint called Harlequin Horizons, which was a self-publishing line. The Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and Science Fiction Writers of America criticized this move. They removed Harlequin's other imprints from their events and awards. After this backlash, the imprint was renamed DellArte Press.

Harlequin More Than Words

Harlequin Enterprises runs Harlequin More Than Words, a community program that honors women who do important work in their communities across North America. The company asks for suggestions of women who are making meaningful contributions. Each year, five women are chosen as Harlequin More Than Words award winners. A total of $50,000 is given to their charitable causes, with each woman receiving an equal share. Five of Harlequin's top authors then write short romance fiction stories inspired by the lives of these women. Authors who have contributed to the More Than Words collection include Diana Palmer, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs, and Linda Lael Miller. The first book was published in 2004, and a new book is released every year. Money earned from selling the books is used to support the Harlequin More Than Words program.