Why publisher Mills & Boon is romancing the mobile app

Romantic fiction publisher Mills & Boon has caused a stir in the publishing industry by creating its own app for reading ebooks.

The ebook market is currently dominated by digital superstores run by the likes of Amazon, Kobo and Apple. They take a percentage of the profits each time a book is downloaded.

Mills & Boon has created its own app reader to streamline the process from publisher to reader. It is hoping that a rise in the number of people reading ebooks on smartphones and tablets - as opposed to dedicated e-readers like Kindle - will make their gamble pay off.

But will they be successful, and will other publishers follow suit?

Dougal Shaw reports.