Book distributor focusing on graphic novels, direct market

Per Publisher's Weekly, Bookazine, a Bayonne, N.J., book wholesaler, is focusing more on graphic novels:

The company has hired a comics and pop culture specialist and launched Popazine, a new campaign to market graphic novels and a wide range of pop-culture titles to general trade bookstores and to target the comics shop market—a new business sector for the general books wholesaler.

The distributor is also looking to sell books to the comics direct market:

At the same time, Davis says, Bookazine is beginning to do more business with the direct market—comic shops—a retail channel that can be foreign territory to a general book wholesaler. "We're looking to educate comics shop retailers about the book world. Sometimes comics shops don't think of other options, and we want to keep them informed about book industry comics they may not have heard about." Davis says he has worked with such retailers as Manhattan's Midtown Comics, Chicago Comics and others.