Avon Books - A Brief History

Avon Publications was founded in 1941 by the American News Company as a paperback publisher. It started with a focus on comic books, but it quickly changed to include a variety of genres, including romance.

Avon is now owned by HarperCollins which also owns Harlequin. Their Diamond Anniversary celebration is underway.

Avon Publications

Avon Books was a major rival to the more literary Pocket Book Company in the early days of the paperback publishing industry. Avon published romances, westerns and mysteries with vibrant covers. Their books were more affordable than Pocket books, and were aimed at housewives who could read between cooking and cleaning.

In addition to standard-sized paperbacks, Avon also published digest-format papers (the size of modern short story magazines) in series such as Murder Mystery Monthly and Avon Fantasy Reader. These editions contain many authors who are sought-after by collectors. They include A. Merritt and James M. Cain as well as H. P. Lovecraft.

In the mid-1950s Avon was selling over 20 million books each year. Their 25-cent "G" series contained the popular genres of westerns, whodunits, and the boy-meets-girl stories that were so prevalent in the era of the boy-meets-girl stories. Avon also had 35 cents "T" series that included the standbys of science fiction, mystery and the like.

In its early years, the company's focus on attracting readers led it to publish fiction with a supernatural theme, avon book March ghost stories and sexually suggestive love stories. These were quite different from the more literary Pocket competition. In 1959, Avon became part of the Hearst Corporation. The focus changed to more mainstream literature.

Today, Avon is the world's largest women-centric beauty and fiction company with representatives on five continents and in over 100 countries. They are a leading publisher of Sunday Times and Kindle bestsellers with a focus on thrillers, crime, suspense, feel-good general fiction and saga. The company is proud of its female-focused roots and has paved the way for female entrepreneurs around the world. It is a pioneer in sales, marketing, and innovation.

Avon Impulse

The company was founded in 1941. Avon began as a paperback book and comic book publisher. Later, they became a specialist in romance novels. The company was founded by Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams. Meyers employed sisters and brothers to work for the company. He was looking to create an alternative to Pocket Books. They created this by printing low-cost paperbacks that had huge appeal and avon Book march dazzling cover designs.

In the 1970s, Avon was at its highest as a romance publisher. The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss, a sexy novel that stayed for 33 weeks at the top of the New York Times bestsellers list and was published. They also published the sexy novels of Rosemary Rogers, including Sweet Savage Love and Wicked Loving Lies. These were the first time that a single book made the top spot in the charts for this genre.

Hearst Corporation purchased the company in 1959. Hearst placed a greater emphasis on its romance offerings, causing it to grow into one of the largest publishers of this genre. The company continued to publish inexpensive paperbacks with popular themes like westerns and whodunits. However, the focus on romance helped increase their profit.

Avon still publishes romance novels today. The company recently started an imprint on digital media called Avon Impulse, which publishes ebooks and paperbacks. The imprint is open to submissions from amateur writers who aren't represented by an agent. Authors are able to explore their limits without worrying about the reaction of the publishing industry.

Avon Impulse offers 25 percent of royalties for the first 10,000 downloads and then 50 percent on all copies sold there after that. The publisher edits the book and creates a sexy front cover. The book is available in ePub and Kindle formats, as well.

Avon Women's Fiction

Avon Books was founded in 1941 as an imprint of American News Company. It quickly expanded its catalog including paperback books and graphic novels. The first books of Avon resembled to Pocket Books and were quickly being sued by the rival. Avon differentiated themselves from the beginning with a focus on appeal for the general public and appealing cover designs.

Katina Manko's Ding Dong! Avon Calling isn't what you might think. It examines how cosmetic advertisements enslaved women however, it also focuses on the ways in which Avon sales representatives attempted to transcend the traditional gender roles of women in the 19th and early 20th century America. The author treats Avon agents with respect, but without feeling of pity. She doesn't think of them as corporate spies, even though they were mostly suburban white women in the middle class.

As the executive editor of Avon Impulse, Lucia Macro is always looking for novel, innovative work in the romance genre which releases two brand new digital originals every week. She explains her experience in the publishing industry, the thought process behind the imprint, and the changes that she has observed in the romance genre and publishing in general. She is particularly interested in erotic fiction with a hefty and enlightening content, as opposed to a straightforward and explicit one. The UCLA Library Special Collections holds the Avon Books Collection, a bibliographic archive of all works published by the Avon Book division of the Hearst Corporation from 1960 onward. It is arranged by alpha-numeric series designations, but it also contains a variety of Avon books that were acquired from different sources prior to 1960, including some that date back to the 1930s.

Avon Thrillers & Suspense

Avon Books is a publisher of commercial fiction that includes suspense, thrillers, and feel-good stories. They also publish romances, sagas and general fiction. They are home to bestselling authors like C.L Taylor, Katerina Diamond and Phillipa Ashley, as well as an ever-growing list of emerging authors.

Avon was created by the American News Corporation in 1941 to compete with Pocket Books. Brothers and sisters Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams created the company with a primary focus on reprints of paperbacks. Meyers wanted to differentiate Avon from its rivals by focusing on popular appeal and not on more elitist notions of literary excellence. Avon books initially cost 25 cents to $50, and had an alpha-numeric price coding. Avon launched the 35-cent series "T" in 1953. It featured a wide range of Westerns and Whodunits. The Flame and the Flower released in 1972 by Kathleen Woodiwiss, launched the modern romance subgenre. This was the first paperback romance published in original format. It sold more than two million copies.

Avon continued its dominance in the romance market throughout the 1970s. The decade saw the rise of the bodice ripper, and the cover art became more stunning. At the time, Avon published a stable of writers dubbed Love's Leading Ladies. They included Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Johanna Lindsey and Laurie McBain.

Avon and Harper Collins merged in 1999. Avon's non-romance hardcover and paperback lines were moved to Morrow, the sister imprint of the company. This resulted in Avon publishing romance novels. Avon Books was eventually renamed and is now a major part of HarperCollins. The catalog is now more than just classic romances, but also women's literature and sagas.

Avon Paranormal

current avon book, Ohio has many bizarre and unique stories. Avon Book March is a fantastic place to get a good ghost story or a good scare. From haunted hotels and restaurants to rumored Bigfoot sightings, there's always something going on in Eagle County. But, you'll also find plenty of activities that are more commonplace than supernatural.

The Avon theater is haunted by a ghost of Gust Constan. He was a patron and businessman of the theater, who died in the 1920s. It is believed that he haunted the theater and its grounds even today.

According to legend, Constan was wealthy and had a stake in Avon. He would buy tickets for his friends and family to go to the latest movies. He also loved going to concerts and fashion shows at the theater.

Avon was established in 1941 by American News Corporation to compete with Pocket Books, was known for publishing "popular" pulp fiction, which was more popular than its literary counterparts. In its early years, Avon published ghost stories romantic love novels, sexually-suggestive love stories and fantasy novels that were far removed in audience appeal from the more traditional offerings of the larger Pocket Books.

Presently, Avon does not accept proactive manuscript submissions. However, authors are urged to stay alert and watch for any future submission requests. In the meantime, take a look at these seven common manuscript submission mistakes to avoid.