WFF: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your career in publishing and your 'extracurricular' reading tastes?

KS: I have always been a great reader. Early in my first 'career' in the newspaper business I learned that I was not a writer and moved to the editing side of the business. It gave me a great foundation in understanding story structure, not to mention the importance of compelling beginnings. I now have twenty-five years Harlequin experience in a variety of editorial positions. There is simply so much pleasure in discovering new people, places, experiences and insights through wonderful storytelling, not to mention discovering and getting to know new storytellers. I read widely across fiction and non-fiction genres. At the moment, I confess to having succumbed to the latest Grisham, The Broker.

WFF: Harlequin Enterprises is a truly global company. How many publishing companies along the lines of Cora in Germany and Harlequin Mondadori in Italy are there outside North America and are new ones being planned?

KS: Harlequin has 12 overseas operating companies and publishes in 25 languages through our operating companies and licensee arrangements. Our books are distributed in more than 100 international markets. A new publishing venture in Brazil is in development.

WFF: How large is Harlequin's European operation as compared to North America? Is it a larger market than the North American one in terms of sales?

KS: North America in the United States is the largest single market in which Harlequin books are published. In terms of the relative size, we sell about as many books overseas as we do in North America.

WFF: Can you tell us something about those lines which are discontinued in North America but still popular in Europe, such as the Temptations and the historicals?

KS: The latest news regarding historicals is that we will continue to distribute these into a number of top-performing North American retail outlets including Kmart and select Wal-Mart stores and book chains such as Waldens, Borders, B&N, Hastings and Books-a-Million. Historicals are continuing to experience growth in our overseas markets with medievals and Regencies being particularly popular. Readers also enjoy stories set in ancient times, Western frontiers and more recent periods up to and including the Second World War. Family sagas in any period are always popular with our readers. Both programmess are now acquired through our UK office. We are particularly keen to find new authors for Temptation. We are looking for stories that deliver a feel-good reading experience. These stories feature relationships that women between the ages of 18-35 aspire to - young characters in urban settings with international backgrounds that convey the buzz or cosmopolitan life where they meet, flirt, have great sex, fall in love and finally make the commitment to be together forever.
Revised guideliens are available.
For these and information on submission requirements and procedures, please see our websites at www.eHarlequin.com and www.millsandboon.co.uk

WFF: Are all of the new Harlequin imprints, such as Bombshell, Red Dress Ink, HQ N , etc., sold throughout Europe? Have all the countries introduced all of the new lines or are they being introduced selectively? Are they as successful in Europe as they are in North America?

KS: Almost all the titles we acquire for our publishing programs are available to our overseas operations. Each market makes their own selections and decisions about when and how to publish. There may be some exceptions with single title authors where world rights are not always available to us.

WFF: I imagine that it was Harlequin which introduced chicklit as a genre in some countries with the Red Dress Ink books. At least it was in Italy, where the Red Dress Inks remain the only recognizable chicklit books, sold as such. How have the RDIs been received? Are they regularly reviewed in the press? Is there some name recognition for the authors? What kind of promotion is being done?

KS: We launched Red Dress Ink to provide women with unique and irreverent stories that reflect the lifestyles of today's single women.
RDI authors keep their writing lively and lighthearted, and the editorial ranges from edgy to laugh-out-loud funny, and expresses ideas and witty observations from strong, independent voices. Red Dress Ink has been received very well.
In North America and Italy we led the way in offerring readers a destination brand for this type of reading experience.
Now, both markets have more competitors. In other markets, such as the UK, competition was already well established with several top-selling authors across a variety of imprints and publishers.
Titles are regularly reviewed in the press and magazines, in fact the books were being talked about in the press before the program officially launched. Author recognition develops over successive - and successful - titles.
Whether in series on single title programmes we look to develop a growth pattern for individual authors book over book.
A number of RDI authors, such as Sarah Mlynowski are globally recognized and Fashionistas by Lynn Messina is soon to be a major motion picture. A genre like this has allowed us to do some very innovative promotions and co promotions with other products such as Martini and Garnier in Italy, and a Times Square promotion in New York.
Promotional initiatives will vary from market to market and Dress Ink does have it's own website at www.reddressink.com which features media coverage and promotes the new releases in those markets where we have launched the imprint.
Some markets may choose to publish RDI titles within other established single title imprints.

WFF: Are some lines more popular in some countries than others? Do, say, historicals sell better in Germany than in France or are tastes fairly similar throughout the continent? By the same token, are some lines more popular in Europe than in North America?

KS: Particular sub-genres may be better established in some markets than others, for instance medical romances are popular in France, Regencies a traditional favorite in UK. Readers respond to characters, settings and situations they can identify with so will naturally respond more favorablyto certain themes. Then, too, tastes continually change. Book sales will reflect indigenous market and popular culture trends, so the popularity of themes and sub-genres may vary from year to year, market to market.

WFF: Are there themes and/or genres which sell better (or worse) in Europe than in North America? What can a Harlequin writer do to ensure that her novel be selected for translation and publication in Europe? What themes/issues/genres should she favor? What can Harlequin writers do to grow their European market?

KS: The main thing a writer can do to ensure her work is considered for publication (and translation) is to create engaging, empathetic characters who will open the door to an entertaining - and in romance novels - 'emotional journey' for the reader. There are small practical considerations that can make translation easier, such as avoiding too many idomatic expressions, slang or jargon, or relying on particular brands to define character. For instance, 'He drove a sleek sports car ' communicates just as much, if not more than 'he drove a Mercedes SL55AMG.' The translation of fiction is an interpretative process rather than a literal one, so universal themes and concepts are important considerations. I am sure our translators have lots of thoughts to share with us on this subject.

WFF: Do the European Harlequin companies publish 'local' authors as well as English-language authors?

KS: As a general rule we acquire in the English language. Last year we published local author Camilla Vittorini in our Italian RDI programme and we are open to exploring the potential of indigenous authors in other markets on a case by case basis. However we are not opening the doors to unsolicited submissions at this time.

WFF: The Women's Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy provides a forum for English-language authors to meet their European market and gain a better understanding of it. Do you find this idea useful?

KS: I thought the conference was an excellent opportunity for writers, editors and translators to come together and share views. It is through exchanges such as these that we, infact, discover far more commanalities than differences. Overall, I feel it particularly important to focus on the shared understandings, the longings, hopes, dreams, fears and fantasies of women rather than on specific cultural differences. As one might say in Matera, it really is piccolo mondo.

WFF: let's engage in a little speculation. Suppose it's the year 1985. A year of big hair and shoulder pads. Cowboys, secret babies and amnesia stories. Women aren't cops or PIs yet. The first Harlequin novel featuring African-Americans is published. Who would have thought back in 1985 that in 2005 Harlequin would be publishing Bombshells and Lunas, that vampires and werewolves would be big, that heroines would be Army captains, private investigators, FBI agents and cops or that chicklit - a genre where the happily ever after just might mean a good job, good friends and the right handbag - would be so popular? Now let's fast forward another twenty years. What do you think Harlequin will be publishing in 2025?

KS: Harlequin will be a leading global publisher of women's fiction, and in that context we will continue to publish a wide and ever evolving range of romance novels. Neither story telling nor romance are going to go out of fashion. Readers will continue to demand absorbing emotional reading experiences, exploring life's events, from first love, to surviving love lost. There will be an infinite permutations of a man and a women meet.... led then as now by the creativity of the author. We are constantly broadening the parameters of our publishing programmes, expanding into new genres and sub-genres and constantly searching for unique and innovative editorial voices. I would expect to see more types of women's fiction, including historical fiction, literary fiction and new niche programmes in our portfolio over the next 20 years. And our titles will be published in a variety of new imprints and formats. Our fundamental approach of creativity and passion for editorial excellence allows us to be able to satisfy a wide variety of reader tastes around the world. Relationships are at the heart of every good novel, and relationships are at the core of Harlequin.

WFF: Thank you very much for your time, we appreciate it.