Exploding Demand for Yaoi Genre Within Overall Manga Boom
Reported by Craig Johnson 06-16-2005
New York, NY (June 6, 2005) America s first name in Yaoi graphic novels, Be Beautiful, is proud to announce that it has contracted with CDS for distribution of its books throughout the U.S. and Canada, effective immediately. Yaoi (pronounced "Ya-oh-ee") refers to illustrated romantic literature written by women for women, featuring impossibly beautiful men, and is a wildly popular and growing genre within the overall manga industry.
Because Be Beautiful publishes Japan's best-selling authors in the history of the genre, such as Ms. Kazuma Kodaka (Kizuna - Bonds of Love), Ms. You Asagiri (Golden Cain), Ms. Naduki Koujima (Selfish Love), and Ms. Amano Yamane (Finder Series), the Be Beautiful imprint is widely recognized as the most successful all-yaoi graphic novel label in North America today. The Kizuna - Bonds of Love series is the all-time best-selling yaoi manga in the history of Japan, for example. An instore appearance by Ms. Kodaka in Manhattan last month, following the American premiere of the Kizuna feature film, swamped Rockefeller Center, attracting many fans from Asia and Europe who flew in specifically to meet their favorite yaoi author.
"We are happily surprised at how popular the Yaoi genre is becoming in America," said Masumi Homma O'Donnell, Publisher of Be Beautiful. "We are pleased to ally ourselves with our friends at CDS, who fully understand the appeal of yaoi graphic novels and the growing audience for these works, and will help us bring this exciting genre to all bookstores of North America."
Gilbert Perlman, President and CEO of CDS, noted that "As the largest independent book distributor in North America, CDS has long worked with clients in new and growing areas of publishing. We look for what is new and exciting, and yaoi certainly fits that description. Our new alliance with Be Beautiful provides CDS with the best selling yaoi imprint in the manga industry, and allows us to bring more great literature to the North American reading audience."
About Be Beautiful:
Be Beautiful is America's leader in the publication of Yaoi manga graphic novels, aimed at college age and older female readers. Yaoi manga are illustrated romantic graphic novels, featuring stories about love and relationships between impossibly beautiful men, written by female artists for female readers. Be Beautiful graphic novels are distributed exclusively by Central Park Media, one of America's oldest publishers of Japanese anime
and manga.
About CDS:
CDS, now the distribution division of Perseus Books Group, has grown to become the largest provider of outsourced distribution services in the book trade. Based in New York City, with distribution centers in Jackson, Tennessee, CDS provides warehousing, fulfillment and complete distribution services to sixty U.S., U.K. and overseas publishers.
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