FOREWORD THIS WEEK 04.23.08

1. GRAPHIC NOVELS FROM INDEPENDENTS LEAD THE GENRE

FTW speaks to representatives from indie presses to find the reasons.

2. FAST FOREWORD

News, awards and announcements from our wire.

3. FOREWORD FOOTNOTES

Titles of note from our review stacks.

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1. GRAPHIC NOVELS FROM INDEPENDENTS LEAD THE GENRE

They’ve been published since the 1970s, but graphic novels have finally come into their own. Libraries and bookstores have special shelving sections, trade magazines publish lists of graphic novel bestsellers, and national awards are devoted solely to this generation-crossing genre. Milton Griepp, CEO of ICv2 announced last week at the ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference that sales of graphic novels increased 12% between 2006 and 2007.

Eric Reynolds, publicist and editor for Fantagraphics Books, believes much of this increased popularity has to do with changes in the book industry itself. Until recently, literary-minded graphic novel publishers didn’t have proper book trade distribution, he told FTW. “Graphic novels were really only sold in specialty comic stores that cater to traditional comic genres like superheroes. This was not the best venue to sell literary graphic novels.”

Internet sales have also helped, Reynolds said. Graphic novels were once available in stores only in urban areas--and college towns in particular. The Internet has made books like Castle Waiting and Shortcomings (978-1-897299-16-6) available to readers in small towns and rural areas as well.

Reynolds also believes that adult graphic novels are becoming more popular because of kids and teens who have grown up reading Japanese manga.

“There is a generation of manga readers growing up to read other things, like Maus and Persepolis,” he said. Reynolds also believes there is “more good work” being produced.

Predictably, one of the leading publishers of graphic novels is DC Comics, the decades-old comics publisher of Batman and Superman. Large trade book publishers have also established graphic novel imprints, but most of the biggest names in graphic novels are independent presses.

NBM is known as the first graphic novel publisher. The company was established by Terry Nantier in 1976. It has published books by Luis Royo and industry great Will Eisner. Currently, its most popular series include Rick Geary’s Treasury of Victorian Murder and Treasury of XXth Century Murder, and the Dungeon series which pokes fun at horror and heroic fantasy.

“We also do some politically active graphic novels--’comics journalism’--with Ted Rall (Silk Road to Ruin [978-1-56163-454-5] and To Afghanistan & Back [978-1-56163-359-3]) and David Axe (War Fix [978-1-56163-463-7]),” Nantier said.

Tokyopop, Drawn & Quarterly, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, and VIZ Media have also become leaders in the industry, with their titles topping lists of bestsellers and favorites. These publishers, devoted exclusively to publishing comics and literary graphic novels continue to publish some of the most popular graphic titles in the country. Viz Media’s Naruto series had five titles on this month’s Comics and Graphic Novels Bestseller List published in the American Bookseller Association’s Bookselling This Week.

Fantagraphics publishes classic comic strips as well as contemporary graphic novels. Ghost World (978-1-56097-427-7) is its best selling title ever. The Complete Peanuts series, published last year, is also very popular.

Jessica Campbell from Drawn & Quarterly says that company’s most popular titles include Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine, as well as books from newer cartoonists like Kevin Huizenga (Curses [978-1-894937-86-3]), Anders Nilsen (Dogs and Water [978-1-897299-08-1]) and Gabrielle Bell (Lucky [978-1-897299-01-2]).

Reynolds speculates that indies’ success in the genre is due to passion. Many graphic novel imprints started by the conglomerate publishers were created as an effort to cash in, he says. Reynolds and Nantier seem to agree that much of the success of graphic novels lies with their editor.

“It takes a special set of skills to edit good comics, it is not the same as editing books,” Nantier told FTW. “Assigning a book editor who happens to like some comics does not a comics editor make... That expertise lies with indies mostly.”

“A graphic novel line is only as good as the editor behind it,” Reynolds said.

Drawn & Quarterly’s Jessica Campbell, however, believes the success is due to the quality of the comics artists who have good relationships with their small publishers.

“Our authors, and many of authors working with other independent comic book publishers like Fantagraphics or Top Shelf, have developed relationships with their publishers,” she said. “Many of these authors have been publishing with independent publishers since before mainstream publishers were working with graphic novels.”

Independent book publishers like Soft Skull, New Press, and Thomas Nelson, have also begun publishing graphic novels.

Anne Sullivan, publicity director for the New Press told FTW her company is “deeply interested in developing a line of graphic nonfiction titles.” Last fall, the New Press published A Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman (978-1-59558-064-1) by Sharon Rudahl. Currently it is working on a graphic adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working by Harvey Pekar.

“We have ideas for graphic nonfiction projects in history, politics, environmentalism and many other fields,” she said. “In general we plan on doing a lot of work in this area, especially once we get a sense of how our existing titles perform, and we intend to go well beyond biography, into other realms.”

As films like Sin City and 300 draw new readers to graphic novels, teens and adults will continue to discover graphic novels. Other publishers will also turn to these “other realms,” but indies have established themselves firmly in this genre.

by Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor

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ATTENTION PUBLISHERS: FREE BEA LISTING ForeWord This Week is featuring a list of BEA show specials from small presses in a forthcoming edition (Author signings, Guest appearances, giveaways etc). To be included in this FREE listing please REGISTER ONLINE by May 14th for publication in our BEA planning issue, scheduled for May 21.

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2. FAST FOREWORD

Finalists Announced for SIBA Book Award

The Southern Independent Booksellers Association has announced the finalists for its annual book award. Booksellers across the south nominated their favorite hand-sell books of the year. “These are the Southern books they have most enjoyed selling to customers; the ones that they couldn’t stop talking about; the ones most often pushed into a customer’s hands with the words ‘You have got to read this!’”

The SIBA Book Award was created to recognize great books of southern origin, as determined by people whose business it is to know great books. The complete list of finalists, which includes several independently published books, is available on the SIBA Web site.

Unique to Go Worldwide and Live-Action

Unique, a graphic novel published by Platinum Studios has been acquired by the Random House imprint, Villard. Villard will publish a series of graphic novels based on the story of Jon Geoffries, a character who has strange visions of Earth’s twin, a parallel world in another dimension.

Platinum Studios is currently partnered with Walt Disney Pictures to develop Unique into a full-length feature film. The graphic novel, created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, scripted by Dean Motter, and illustrated by Dennis Calero, is a finalist in ForeWord’s 2007 Book of the Year Awards.

Thomas Nelson Cancels BEA and ICRS Plans

In an email stating that the Christian publisher was “changing its trade show strategy,” Thomas Nelson announced it would not be exhibiting at BookExpo America or the International Christian Retail Show in 2008.

“We have been discussing this move for some time,” president and CEO Michael S. Hyatt said in the statement. “But the current economic downturn is forcing us to re-evaluate the expenditure of every marketing dollar. We are committed to doing our best to support our products and distributors with marketing expenditures that result in greater sales. And we have determined that, for Thomas Nelson, these trade shows provide very little return on a very significant investment.”

Earlier this month, Thomas Nelson hosted an “Open House” event for its top 100 Christian retail accounts.

“Having inaugurated our own event, it’s time for us to leave the past behind and step into the future,” Hyatt said.

The Tennessean reports that Thomas Nelson has laid off about sixty people—or ten percent of its workforce. It plans to reduce the number of titles it publishes by half.

“We don’t need more books, we need better books,” Hyatt announced at the open house. “We’re going to spend even more time to make sure that the products are right before they go out.”

Other Press Moves Distribution

On May 1, Other Press will move its worldwide trade distribution from W.W. Norton to Random House. Random House will also distribute Other Press professional titles everywhere except in the European Union.

Norton will accept Other House returns purchased from Norton through October 31.

What Would Harry Potter Do?

The trial between RDR Books and JK Rowling is underway in New York City. The Michigan-based publisher is being sued by Rowling and Warner Brothers over the publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon by Steve Vander Ark. On the witness stand Rowling told the court, “This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work.”

Anthony Falzone, head of the Stanford University Law School Fair Use Project, who is representing RDR Books, said that “transformation is at the core of fair use,” and that the book is a legitimate effort “to organize and discuss the complicated and very elaborate world of Harry Potter.”

From staff reports. Share your news and information with Whitney Hallberg, Managing Editor.

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ATTENTION PUBLISHERS:
PROMOTE YOUR BEA GALLEYS

If you plan to have advance reading copies to give away at BEA, ForeWord can help you promote them! ForeWord is working with the organizers at BEA to showcase independent presses and their forthcoming works of fiction, poetry and nonfiction through a galleys2grab program for visiting booksellers, librarians and agents. In order to participate, please REGISTER ONLINE by April 30th. There is no charge for this service. We will create a downloadable PDF file of the list and your booth location, plus provide takeaway paper copies at the show from The Independent Press Lounge, booth number 5641.

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3. FOREWORD FOOTNOTES