HarperCollins set for supermarket fiction launch

by Jennifer Whitehead, Marketing 11-Jul-07

HarperCollins is launching a range of books to be sold in supermarkets that is designed to appeal to female magazine readers.

The mass-market fiction list, called Avon, launches this month with a
crime thriller called Fallen Idols.

The titles are being promoted in a similar way to DVDs, with a series of
icons letting readers know at a glance the type of content featured in

the book, identifying levels of humour, sex, love, drama, thrills and

terror.

The Avon series, which will publish 36 titles a year, was devised after
HarperCollins research revealed that 60% of magazine buyers tend to shop
in supermarkets and that 29% of book buyers last bought a paperback
fiction book from a supermarket.

The book publisher has signed a deal with Emap's Closer to run a book
club, which will feature three Avon titles each month, with one being
reviewed by a reader panel.

Marketing agency WDMP has been retained to develop a campaign to promote
the Avon list.

Alongside the Closer deal, promotions will include newsstand incentives,
including free gifts and competitions. The first title will include a
half-price ticket offer for the play Woman in Black and the opportunity
for readers to win a weekend in London.