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Harlequin Mills & Boon imprint Mira is to launch a teen imprint in 2011—Mira Ink—in a bid to expand into new markets.
Mira Ink will launch in January with four new young adult series. Tim Cooper, digital and marketing director, said: “We are hugely excited about the launch of Mira Ink. We have an outstanding list from some talented authors that we think teens are going to love.”
He said the publisher had been looking at ways to expand and as the teen market is seeing growth it made sense from a business perspective to push into it. Earlier this year Mills & Boon launched the New Voices writing competition, with the winner to be published by the romance publisher.
Cooper said: “In our search for new talent and new voices we have found great talent in the teen arena.”
The launch title will be the first book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. The series is about high school banshees, and the first title, My Soul to Take, will be published as a £6.99 paperback on 1st January.
The second title to launch is The Iron King from a fairy fantasy series, The Iron Fey, by début author Julie Kagawa. The book will be published on 21st January, also as a £6.99 paperback.
Cooper said: “We have 13 [titles] fully scheduled in the calendar, but we have a number of others working through the editorial process at the moment so it depends on how it goes. We may add more to the schedule.”
Further planned titles include books by Maria V Snyder, author of the Poison Study books, and paranormal fiction author Gena Showalter.
Mira Ink will publish all books in its list simultaneously with the e-book versions, which form part of an online campaign to promote the list with a Mira Ink website, a Facebook fan page and YouTube channel. Cooper added that the launch will be supported by a full marketing and PR campaign “from social media through to specific online sites and trade activity”.