HarperCollins picks Stunning PR to promote erotica range

The agency has been given a 12-month retainer to look after the PR for about 60 titles to be published on its new Ebook imprint, named Mischief.

The move comes in the wake of the success of titles such as EL James’ Fifty Shades of Grey, which has quickly turned into a literary phenomenon.

The agency will be looking to promote the new range on a global basis through a mixture of surveys looking at sexual habits, as well as news stories on the lives of some of the authors.  

Suzanne Noble, director of Stunning PR, explained that she was approached for the brief having previously worked with Adam Nevill, editorial director at HarperCollins.

‘The fact that HarperCollins, a big publisher, is joining the fray with this range of erotic books is an indication of the popularity of the genre. Until now erotica has been dominated by small publishers and self-published authors.

With the launch of Mischief, we are looking to raise the quality of what's out there, not to mention the popularity of erotica in general,' she said.

Noble added that the campaign will be targeted mainly at women, ranging from twenty-somethings through to those in their seventies.

Among the titles set to be launched on Mishief are vampire erotica novel Red Grow the Roses by Janine Ashbless and A Study in Shame by Lucy Salisbury.

Mischief will launch with13 original e-books on 27 March, with plans to publish four every month.

Last month, it emerged that Universal Pictures and Focus Features had secured the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey, which also topped the New York Times bestseller list.

This article was first published on prweek.com