Though it is often said that money cannot buy love, Harlequin Enterprises seems to have proved that love can make a publisher quite a lot of money. Founded in 1949 as a small publisher of out-of-print novels, Harlequin began to focus on romance novels in the early 1970s. Since then, the publisher has grown to be the leader in a multimillion-dollar romance novel industry. In 1999, the Canadian company published 160 million books in 24 languages, sold them in 100 countries, and earned almost $90 million in profits. Although some people laugh at the flowery writing in Harlequin romances and make fun of the dramatically passionate pictures on their covers, millions of readers eagerly scan the supermarket display stands for the latest romance adventure to whisk them away from the stress and boredom of everyday life.

Harlequin Enterprises gained its huge share of romance novel sales by a clever sales strategy. Realizing...