Anna Karenina, move over.
Harlequin romances are about to hit Moscow and St. Petersburg. Harlequin Enterprises, based in Toronto and the leading publisher of romance novels, will test the market by offering six novels, printed in Russian, in the April- June period.
”We want to move fairly cautiously,” says Brian Hickey, Harlequin president and chief executive officer. ”We don`t want to make any false steps here. After the initial three months, we will make a decision (on future books).”
If Harlequin`s previous Eastern European experience is any example, however, Russians soon will be lusting after the love-conquers-all sagas.
Harlequin ventured into Hungary in 1990 and sold 8.5 million books there in 1991; 10 million sales are projected for 1992. Last October, the novels appeared in Poland for the first time, with 5 million copies sold during the first four months. (In comparison, annual sales in Canada are about 7 million, while Americans gobble up 90 to 100 million copies a year.)
”It`s been about twice the level of our original projections,” Hickey says of the Hungary and Poland experience.
”Our books give folks the freedom to dream. Essentially, there are no books like these (in Eastern Europe) now. The guaranteed happy ending, the dream elements of romance, these are new concepts to these cultures.”
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The books sell for $1.50 in Poland and Hungary, compared to $3 in the United States. The cost in Russia has yet to be determined. Harlequin is publishing the books in conjunction with Raduga, a Russian publisher.
The titles are chosen from those that have been published in North America.