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New look Roberts for Little, Brown

14.04.08 Anna Richardson

Little, Brown is relaunching Piatkus author and US bestseller Nora Roberts' standalone romance/suspense titles in the UK in response to extensive market research which found UK readers were put off by the covers.

The new look‚ unveiled at the London Book Fair today (14th April)‚ launches with High Noon, which is published on 5th June. Around another six titles will be reissued later this year, with the rest of Roberts' standalone titles (around 12 of the 60 plus titles published by Piatkus) to follow.

Qualitative market research conducted by Nidus Research via focus groups revealed that readers across all ages liked the romance and suspense elements of Roberts' novels, and particularly identified with the "strong female characters".

However, they found the existing covers "too old", and that they didn't reflect what readers most enjoyed about the books. Roberts has never entered the Top 50 in the UK despite having had more than 100 New York Times number one bestsellers and also topping the charts in Australia and South Africa. Roberts' previous standalone novel Angels Fall sold 486,658 in the US but 40,745 in the UK to date, according to Nielsen BookScan. In the US, Roberts has sold over 36m books and about 7.4m writing as J D Robb since 2004.

According to Roger Cazelet, Little, Brown group marketing director, the new UK cover style shows more of the story of the books, and emphasises their suspense elements. "You get the sense of dynamism, of the movement, of the tension of a gripping read," he explained. "You still have a sexy younger women, which implies romance, but it's a much more active, stronger look."

Little, Brown will segment the UK and export markets, using the new covers in the UK while continuing to use the old-style covers in the export market where they have had "huge success". Cazalet said the old cover style is "entirely successful and suitable for the Australian market and the South Africa market".

The titles will also move from A-format to B-format, which reflects the general move in the UK market, said Cazalet: "It does have connotations of being slightly more upmarket and more aspirational, but it's mainly part and parcel of the move in the market."

The UK relaunch will be accompanied by a six-figure advertising spend, which includes slots on prime-time TV, including Sky One, Living TV, Five US and Five Life, as well as a poster campaign in shopping centres across the UK.

It also coincides with the launch of the UK edition of Roberts' website and Nora News, the author's personal newsletter. Cazalet hopes the new look will result in "bigger potential for every one of those books" and will see sales of individual titles "triple or quadruple".

The new look has "gone down extremely well" with retailers, he added, "but it's not until June that we'll find out whether the consumer think that as well."

Anna Richardson Books Little Brown Home Nora Roberts Roger Cazalet

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