Diamond, Hachette Launch New Comics Units
This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on November 9, 2006 Sign up now!
by Calvin Reid, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 11/9/2006
 Kurt Hassler |
Last month Hachette hired Rich Johnson as a consultant. Now Hassler, one of the most influential comics retailers in the U.S., and Johnson have been named copublishing directors of Yen Press. While Yen Press will focus on licensed manga—Hassler's specialty—it will also publish a wide variety of comics works. Borders says it has not made a decision about who will replace Hassler as the graphic novels buyer.
David Young, CEO of the Hachette Book Group USA, said the Yen Press list will be very broad and include everything from original manga, original American comics and graphic novels to Web comics, licensed adaptations and children's works. He also made it clear that Hachette is done pondering the potential of comics in the book market, emphasizing, "The graphic novel business is one of the fastest-growing fields in publishing. We are thrilled to have two of the most respected names in the graphic novel business."
Diamond wasn't able to bask in the media limelight very long before the Hachette announcement. But clearly the launch of Diamond Kids Group—and the hiring of Janna Morishima to run it—is equally significant. Kuo-Yu Liang says comics and conventional kids' books are "the next platform for major growth" at Diamond Book Distributors, which is the book trade division of Diamond Comics Distributors.Morishima will be based in New York and begin work in December. Liang says Morishima will be working to help publishers enter the comics market and help conventional publishers to work in the comics format. In an interview with PW Comics Week, she explains that her primary focus will be "helping publishers address the comics and graphic novel market." She wants to expand initiatives like KidsLoveComics.com, a group of cartoonists that promotes comics for kids, and cited the need for better cover design and more series publishing.
Morishima says her initial plans include "reaching out to retailers about increasing shelving, and more table and point-of-purchase displays for graphic novels." She also plans to reach out to educators and librarians. "Librarians have been great, but teachers need to understand that comics have literary value," she says, and has plans to make presentations to organizations like the International Reading Association.
Both Diamond's and Hachette's new comics unit represent an embarrassment of riches in a category that essentially didn't exist in the book trade five years ago. And while comics professionals should be ecstatic about the continued maturation of the category in bookstores, the explosive growth in the number of titles aimed at the nascent graphic novel market means new and significant challenges for publishers and retailers. Can publishers find consumers ready to buy all these books?
Says one publisher on the new Hachette imprint. "It's an incredibly competitive market right now, with a serious glut of comics product, especially manga, on the way. Welcome to my world."
