According to Romance Writers of America, over 7000 romance books were released in 2008 in the US, generating approximately US$1.37 billion in sales.  With romance fiction taking the largest share of the consumer market (13.5% in 2008), what you may not know is that less than a dozen major conglomerates own the majority of the publishing companies bringing romance to the masses. What follows is a brief history of the major players in the US, UK and Australia and their many imprints/subsidiaries.

By far the largest romance publisher in the world, Torstar release over 1000 books into the romance-buying market in any given year. Their business is primarily newspaper and book publishing: they wholly own the subsidiary company Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. Canadian publishing executive Richard Bonnycastle founded Harlequin in 1949 and in 1957 began buying rights from Mills & Boon, a British publisher of romance fiction since 1909. Mary Bonnycastle, wife of the founder, noticed the enormous popularity of "these nice little books with happy endings," and suggested the company concentrate on them. By 1964 Harlequin was publishing romance fiction exclusively. Their imprints are Silhouette (offices based in New York and include the Desire, Special Edition and Romantic Suspense lines), Mills & Boon (based in London and include the Presents, Romance, Historical and Medical lines, Harlequin (Toronto-based and includes the Blaze, SuperRomance, Intrigue and American lines).  They also publish single title, mainstream and chick lit under MIRA, Luna (fantasy), Steeple Hill (faith) and Steeple Hill Cafe (faith chick lit),  Spice (erotic romance),  Sepia, Kimani and World Wide Mystery.

With its origins in the construction business during the Industrial revolution, The Pearson Group was lead by Weetman Pearson (later known as Lord Cowdray) and became one of the world's largest building contractors of that time. Today they are an international media company with businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing. Penguin Putnam is the US affiliate of the internationally renowned Penguin Group, the second largest English-language trade book publisher in the world. Their romance imprints include Penguin, Putnam, Jove, Signet, Signet Regency, Onyx, Dutton, Berkley, Berkley Sensation, NAL, NAL and Berkley JAM (young adult) and Topaz.  They also publish under Prime Crime, Viking, Roc (fantasy), Puffin (childrens) and Dorling Kindersley  (information and reference books).

In 1835 the printer Carl Bertelsmann founded C Bertelsmann Verlag with its own book printing plant in Gütersloh, Germany. In 1979 they bought the Arista record label, and in 1980 what was then the largest paperback publisher in the world, Bantam Books in New York. Acquisition of RCA Records and Doubleday Publishing followed in 1986. They then consolidated the US publishers into Bantam Doubleday Dell and the record companies into BMG. Now, as one of Germany's oldest and largest companies, Bertelsmann is also the largest book publisher in the world. As well as Random House and Random House Transworld in Australia, their romance imprints are Ballantine, Delacorte, Ivy, Arrow, Bantam and Dell.  They also produce Golden Books (Childrens), XYZ (Young Adult), Doubleday, Knopf, Fawcett, Waterbrook and Vintage.

Hotzbrinck is a large German-based company created in 1971. Their origins lie in the Stuttgarter Hausbucherei, a library founded by law graduate Georg von Holtzbrinck in 1948. They own Pan Macmillan, one of the largest general book publishers in the UK and includes the imprints of Macmillan, Pan, Picador (which also publish womens fiction and romance), Boxtree, Channel 4 Books, Sidgwick & Jackson, Macmillan Children's Books, Young Picador and Campbell Books. On the US side, St Martins Press is the major imprint for many romance and women's fiction authors.  Other imprints include Minotaur, Picador USA, Let's Go (travel guides), Encarta, Palgrave Macmillan (reference), Stonewall Inn (gay & lesbian), and the Tom Doherty LLC Group, consisting of Orb (fantasy and paranormal) and Tor/Forge (which publishes fantasy, paranormal and futuristic romance).

Viacom

Viacom is a global media company with positions in broadcast and cable television, radio, outdoor advertising and online. Viacom's well-known brands include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Paramount Pictures, Showtime and Blockbuster. Simon and Schuster is their publishing arm and was founded in 1924 by Richard L Simon and M Lincoln Schuster. Their initial project was a crossword puzzle book, the first ever produced. S&S imprints which publish romance and women's fiction are Atria (hardback), Pocket Books, Pocket Star and Juno Books.  Other imprints are Scribner, Sonnet, Touchstone, MTV Books, Wall Street Journal Books and Star Trek.

News Corp owns various entertainment and media companies world-wide-TV, entertainment, newspapers and publishing (among them Foxtel, Channel V, Twentieth Century Fox, New York Post, News Limited, Harper Collins and the LA Dodgers). An amalgamation in 1989 of Harper and Row (USA), William Collins (UK) and Angus & Robertson Publishers (Australia) lead to the company which is now known as HarperCollins Australia - and also act as distributors to UK publishers Pavilion Books, Paper Tiger and Collins & Brown. News Corp's publishing groups include HarperCollins UK. HarperCollins USA, HarperCollins Canada and HarperCollins Australia, Zondervan, Avon Books, Avon Mystery, William Morrow (hardcover releases) and their fantasy imprint, Eos.

According to their website Kensington is "the last remaining independent US publisher of hardcover, trade and mass market paperback books." Kensington now accounts for about 7% of all mass market paperback sales in the US. 2002 marked their 28th year in business. Their romance imprints include Kensington, Pinnacle, Zebra, Zebra Regency, Bouquet (contemporary), Encanto (Hispanic), Ballad (historical) and Brava (erotica).  Aphrodisia is their erotica imprint, and they also publish Citadel (non-fiction) and Twin Streams (personal development and inner health).

Dorchester Publishing has been involved in the publishing of mass market books since 1971, making it the oldest independent mass market publisher in America. Their romance imprints are Leisure and Love Spell (romantic futuristic, fantasy, time travel and paranormal, created in 1994), Making It (chick lit) and a trade paperback fantasy line called Vortex.  They also publish horror and westerns.

This French company owns the Hodder Headline group and includes imprints Headline, Hodder & Stoughton UK  Hodder Childrens and Hodder & Stoughton Educational (which is one of the top three secondary school and college publishers in the UK and includes the Teach Yourself range). In the US, they own Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books), which includes imprints Forever (romance)  5 Spot (contemporary trade paperbacks) Poppy (YA), FaithWords (inspirational) and Orbit (fantasy/paranormal).  Hachette Livre Australia is the Australian distributor for Piatkus.

Australian publishers Allen & Unwin began in Australia in 1976 as part of the UK-based parent company of the same name. In 1990 the company became fully independent, owning the Allen & Unwin imprint throughout the world. An independent publisher for ten years, A&U publish around 250 titles, ranging from fiction (including romance and women's fiction) and general non-fiction, academic and childrens. A&U are the Australian distributors for the Orion Publishing Group and the Australian and New Zealand distributors for Granta, Icon Books, Nicholas Brealey, Open University Press, A&C Black, Bloomsbury, ABC Books and Audio and BBC Audio, and Profile Books. They are represented throughout the world by companies such as Orion UK (Adult Trade) and Independent Publisher's Group US (Trade).