Christian Retailing

Harlequin ends Heartsong Presents fiction line Print Email
Written by Christine D. Johnson   
Wednesday, 03 December 2014 05:09 PM America/New_York

Change comes after HarperCollins acquires the romance publisher

Harlequin-LettersFromTheEnemyHarlequin announced the ending of the Heartsong Presents line it acquired in January 2012 from Barbour Publishing. Harlequin Enterprises changed hands in 2014 with HarperCollins completing purchase of the company in August.

Steve Laube, literary agent and owner of The Steve Laube Agency, said that Heartsong Presents, which was founded by Barbour in 1993, has been “primarily a ‘direct-to-consumer’ book club which published romance titles with a specifically Christian message.”

Laube said that Heartsong will continue publishing the books already slated for release through June 2015, and that Kathy Davis, editor of the line, will be leaving the company at the end of January.

Laube pointed out that many best-selling Christian novelists either got their start at Heartsong or published with them on a regular basis. Some of those authors are Tracie Peterson, Wanda E. Brunstetter and Colleen Coble. —Johnson