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The Italian division of HarperCollins, HarperCollins Italia, has acquired 20lines, an app for iPhone and Android that allows to people write, read and share short-format stories.
The publisher, which announced the news on its Italian website, said 20lines has more than 220,000 registered users, who create more then 15,000 new stories every month. The app is available in Italian, English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Russian and was recently recognised by Apple as being one of the “best social networking book apps”, said HarperCollins.
The acquisition will help strengthen HarperCollins Italia’s digital presence, as well as allow the publisher to “interact directly with writers and readers”, according to director Paola Ronchi.
The acquisition price was not disclosed.
HarperCollins Italia came into being in September last year, when HarperCollins bought out Monadori’s 50% share in Harlequin Mondadori, previously a joint venture between Harlequin Enterprises and Mondadori Libri. HarperCollins paid €6.7m for the buyout, according to the Italian press.