By Liam O'Donnell
It’s no secret that graphic
novels have enjoyed a surge in popularity recently. With some of the
biggest names in book publishing getting into the graphica game, it’s
clear the appeal of this format is more than just a one-season trend.
This year, Scholastic launched
their “Graphix” line of graphic novels for young readers, starting with
Jeff Smith’s hit comic Bone, repackaged into a nine issue graphic
novel series. More titles are set for the coming months, including
Queen Bee by Chynna Clugston aimed at the growing market of girl
graphic novel readers. For adults, Penguin Canada will add to their new
graphic novel list with Dragonslippers: This Is What an Abusive
Relationship Looks Like by Rosalind Penfold. Of course there a host
of great new titles from traditional graphic novel publishers like Drawn
& Quarterly, Fantagraphics and others, but it’s the arrival of
Scholastic and Penguin to this format that will get many booksellers
talking about adding graphic novels to their store.
At this year’s Book Expo Canada,
booksellers got a chance to do just that when they sat down with
industry experts in the conference session, “How to Best Market Your
Graphic Novels and Work with Your Distributor.” From the number people
in attendance, it seems more booksellers are seeing the power of panels
and the benefits of selling graphic novels.
Fuelling the Graphica Growth
For many booksellers at the
session the first question that needed to be answered was: what is
fuelling the growth of this format? The answer to the sudden popularity
of graphic novels with mainstream readers seems to be combination of a
generation raised on the visuals of television and a delivery method
that is centuries old.
“It’s a hybrid media adapted to
the demands of today’s media consumer,” says Cameron Drew, Business to
Business Account Manager at the Canadian Manda Group. Drew works with
companies like Diamond Comic Distributors to help raise their profile
and speed up their delivery process to stores. He credits the rising
popularity of graphic novels with the way they blend our visually
oriented culture with a very portable and effective media format: the
book. “The medium is extremely accessible without being overly
simplistic. They’re also exactly the right size—not too long and not too
short—the perfect amount of information as entertainment.”
Although the world of graphic
novels is new to many booksellers, there is a whole history of great
titles to keep new fans happy and distributors ready to deliver these
titles to stores. This, says Kuo-Yu Liang, vice president, sales and
marketing at Diamond Comic Distributors, is the final element needed to
keep the popularity of graphic novels growing. “Great source materials
plus ready consumers plus a distribution network already in place equals
a booming new market.”
And while some say it’s too
early to call graphic novels a booming market, early reports from
booksellers who have tested the waters are positive.
“Our graphic novels are
performing well. Each month, sales are up from the previous year,” says
David Bird, bookseller for Munro Books in Victoria BC and the man in
charge of buying the store’s graphic novels. Bird started the graphic
novel section just over two years ago and has watched it grow steadily
ever since.
For the full story, check out the July/August 2005 issue of Canadianbookseller.
For more information, please contact: esinkins@cbabook.org
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