Publisher’s Weekly has the scoop: Graphic novels still sell!
In an interview with PWCW, Kuo-yu Liang, [Diamond Book Distribution]‘s v-p of sales and marketing, said DBD reported net revenues of $36.5 million on gross revenues of $46.3 million for the year ending December 2006, a 40% increase in net revenue over the previous year. Liang also said overall returns for its graphic novel business were down to 20% from 28% in 2005. Liang is bullish on the market and expects continued growth in 2007.
“The graphic novel business is good,” said Liang, “and the growth is not dependent on any one publisher or any one book.” Liang said that DBD’s growth didn’t follow the general 80-20 rule—80% of a business’s revenues generated from 20% of its products. “The growth has been spread over a number of genres,” he said. “It’s superhero comics, it’s the Halo Graphic Novel, it’s Top Shelf’s Lost Girls. Of course, manga is still big, and Bone is doing very well.”
