National Book Network does not want too many clients. "We're trying to grow without adding lots of publishers," said president Jed Lyons. This season, NBN added sports publisher Diamond Communications; New York architecture publisher Edizioni Press; art book and literature publisher Hard Press Editions of West Stockbridge, Mass.; new Japanese publisher ICG-Muse; Longstreet Press of Atlanta; and the U.K.'s Watkins Publishing, which is being revived by Michael Mann, formerly with Element Books.
On the other hand, Biblio Distribution, NBN's eight-month-old venture to distribute small presses, relies on continually adding new clients. "Biblio Distribution is growing very quickly," Lyons said. "The reason is that small presses are really stuck. They're not large enough to get the attention of the national accounts. When you don't have a sales rep, you have too few books in the stores."
Lyons, who estimates that there are 12,000 small presses in the U.S., has signed on 160 to date, including Maas Presentations. "We had a surprise bestseller [last fall] with James Maas's Remmy and the Brain Train: Traveling Through the Land of Good Sleep," said Lyons. "Had he been distributing it out of a garage, it wouldn't have happened."
Because most small presses don't work by publishing seasons, Biblio signs on new clients each month and presents their books to trade buyers monthly. Although Biblio has a separate sales force, including two full-time employees who call on Ingram and 35 commission reps, it offers its clients the same daily reports as NBN. "What is noteworthy about Biblio," said Lyons, "is that it's the first time a large, financially sound distributor has gotten involved in independent distribution."
So far new client Cyberosia Publishing in Somerville, Mass., which publishes six horror, SF and/or literary graphic novels a year, has been pleased. "We released our first book in July last year. Since we do mostly graphic novels, we decided to get our legs with comics distributors first," said publisher Scott O. Brown, who signed with Biblio in January. "The reason we chose Biblio is because it gives us a bigger presence. Ingram has certain sales-level requirements that we can't meet." For Brown, the test will come this May when his biggest book to date is published—PopImage, Volume One: The Time of Change, a collection of articles from the comics journalism Web site, with an introduction by Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
