New York Times posts another story on manga hotness

The New York Times posted another mainstream news story today on one of the only rapidly growing areas for many mainstream book publishers -- graphic novels and manga. The story focuses on how Perseus Books, a medium-sized publisher, beat out many of the big boys for the rights to distribute Tokyopop's books:

For the big publishing companies that provide distribution services — companies like Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, the Time Warner Book Group and Holtzbrinck — Tokyopop was not just another potential customer, however. Graphic novels generally, and manga specifically, are among the few rapidly growing areas of the publishing business, so securing the right to distribute Tokyopop's books was a hotly contested prize.

The prize went to none of those giants, however, but rather to the Perseus Books Group, a medium-size publisher whose imprints include Basic Books, PublicAffairs and Da Capo Press. That is notable because Perseus entered the distribution field just last year through the purchase of one of the largest independents, Client Distribution Services.

David Steinberger, the chief executive of Perseus, called distribution "a big battleground" in the industry. "Publishers are fighting over distribution clients the way they used to fight over authors," he said.

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Interestingly enough, a quick search on the Perseus Books site for graphic novels only brings up one book, the non-manga Office Superman: "the ultimate guide to becoming an invaluable asset at work, this clever and thoroughly enjoyable business book offers 21 powerful career strategies for getting ahead and staying ahead--presented through the lens of the Superman mythology."