The Knight Agency's blog reports, "Harlequin Enterprises Limited today announced the purchase of the assets of BET BOOKS, the publishing arm of Black Entertainment Television.... This is a key acquisition for Harlequin, and represents a strengthening of the Company’s strategic position as one of the world’s leading publishers of women’s fiction. The addition of BET Books, a leading publisher of African American women’s fiction and the imprints Arabesque, Sepia and New Spirit, to the Harlequin portfolio will enhance the position of Harlequin within a strong growth segment in the US book market."
Huh. I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm sure it's a good thing for Harlequin, but when publishers merge and buy out other publishers, some authors almost always get cut in the shakeup (listen carefully and you'll hear the Voice of Experience:-). Here's hopin' no authors lose out because of this.
BTW, Kensington Publishing Corp. was the printer and (I believe) distributor of BET books. I would think this event cost them quite a bit of money.
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