Harlequin has added another imprint to its trade program. Graydon House Books, which will focus on commercial women's fiction, will start releasing its first titles in September 2017 and be overseen by Dianne Moggy, v-p, editorial, and Susan Swinwood, executive editor.
The imprint's titles will, Harlequin said, focus on titles that feature "a relationship element woven through.” Titles will be aimed at book club readers, and run the gamut from “lighthearted humor to emotional tearjerkers to edgier dramas.”
"We’re seeing a real shift towards bigger, more layered commercial fiction where the characters are dealing with a variety of relationships—with siblings, spouses, friends, lovers—and that’s where Graydon House’s focus will be,” said Swinwood.
Graydon House will launch with How to Be Happy by Eva Woods, which was acquired in a six-figure preempt. Harlequin described the novel as Me Before You meets Beaches. Other titles slated to appear under Graydon House include Before I Let You Go by Kelly Rimmer and Now that You Mention it by bestselling author Kristan Higgins.
The titles released by Graydon House will be published as a mix of hardcovers and trade paperbacks.
Loriana Sacilotto, executive v-p, global publishing and strategy at Harlequin, said the launch of Graydon House marks "the next phase of a plan to significantly expand our hardcover and trade paperback fiction publishing program." The company will do 12 to 14 titles annually under the new imprint.
