Harlequin Comics Go Mobile in China

Canadian romantic publisher Harlequin Enterprises have announced that digital comics based on their novels, already on sale in Japan, are now being made available for mobile distribution in China. They've also revealed sales figures that will make some recent mobile comic start ups jaws drop in the hope they can catch up...

A global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of books for women, Harlequin's new Harlequin Comics are digital adaptations based on the publisher's romance novels, already distributed in Japan jointly by Harlequin and SoftBank Creative Corp, one of Japan's leading digital content providers.

The company, whose Japanese subsidiary Harlequin K. K. also publishes Harlequin, a Japanese magazine of one-shot manga stories "in the style of overseas romance novels" launched earlier this year, says that a staggering one million Harlequin digital comic files have been downloaded there - making Harlequin digital comics among the most popular comic content downloaded by Japanese women. The titles are distributed widely via services such as Japan Yahoo! and Comic Japan.

Other Harlequin Comics are also available print editions in Japan and Dark Horse Comics re-publishes some of these in the US. The AnimeNews Network notes that Sony's online Connect store has been selling Harlequin manga in English for the proprietary Sony Portable Reader device since 2006.

The digital comic titles sold in Japan are now being translated into simplified Chinese characters and made available in Celsys's ComicSurfing format for mobile digital distribution by Wireless China mobile site, one of the largest mobile portal and E-channel providers in China. Launch titles include comics based on books by New York Times bestselling authors such as Debbie Macomber, Sharon Sala and Betty Neels.

Harlequin Comics are digitalized into a "frame-by-frame" format utilizing innovative new technology that allows the user to see each comic frame individually and then slide forward to the next frame. Each frame can be easily enlarged or shrunk via the touch screen.

"Reading novels and comics on mobile phones is a way of life [here]," said Belinda Hobbs, Vice President, Harlequin Asia. "As Harlequin celebrates 60 years of pure reading pleasure we are thrilled to be able to bring digital comics based on the original English novel to a new audience.

"This reflects both the world-wide appeal of our editorial and Harlequin's focus on providing entertaining reading to women via innovative new channels and formats."

With titles issued worldwide in 28 languages and sold in 114 international markets, Harlequin, a leading digital publisher and the first major house to make its entire frontlist available in eBook simultaneously with print, clearly knows its market and the success it has had with mobile comics is another indication of their potential

Harlequin titles are frequent residents on eBook bestseller lists and the company produces over 110 titles monthly by more than 1,100 authors from around the world.

• Harlequin web site: www.eHarlequin.com