Simon & Schuster launches online women’s fiction community

15 February 2013 Books+Publishing

Simon & Schuster Australia has launched a new online community for readers of commercial women’s fiction, called The Sweet Escape.

The website, which officially launched on 14 February to coincide with Valentine’s Day, features information about international and Australian S&S books, as well as lifestyle, beauty and travel guides with contributions from S&S authors. Visitors to the site will be able to access sample chapters of featured books, as well as enter various competitions.

The Sweet Escape is managed by S&S marketing and publicity manager Carol Warwick and marketing and publicity coordinator Jennifer Bird. Warwick told Books+Publishing that the S&S marketing team has been working on The Sweet Escape for the past few months, and that there are plans to add extra features to the site, including links to direct readers to purchase the featured titles from online booksellers such as Bookworld. The publisher will also be promoting the site through social media and online advertising.

‘We wanted to create a place where readers can find out about the kind of books that we publish a lot of,’ said Warwick of the decision to create a dedicated site for commercial women’s fiction. ‘It is also a dedicated place for fans to go to connect with authors.’

Warwick said that S&S had also noticed that the traditional public relations avenues for promoting commercial women’s fiction were declining or becoming more competitive. At the same time, however, Warwick said that the publisher found that readers of this genre are increasingly looking for online communities to join. Warwick said that S&S has also recently had success with a similar Facebook community for young-adult readers called Read Me, Love Me, Share Me, which was established around 18 months ago.

For more information about The Sweet Escape, visit the website here.

Category: Local news