Graphic novels have been stuck outside the mainstream Canadian book trade for years, often dismissed as gussied-up comic books with literary pretensions. But the form’s quest for acceptance is taking significant steps forward – thanks in large part to Chester Brown’s Louis Riel.

“That was the big breakout,” says Sandy Deasey, marketing manager at Raincoast Books, which distributes two of the best-known graphic novel publishers, Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly and Seattle’s Fantagraphics Books. Deasey says that Raincoast sales representatives had been pushing graphic novels for two or three years, but general trade stores were mostly reluctant, saying their customers would think they were comic books meant for children. “But when Louis Riel came out, it was just so Canadian, and they heard the buzz, so everyone gave it a shot,” says Deasey. Raincoast offered a special 45% discount on five-copy orders, and eventually the book made Inside Report’s bestseller list. Peggy Burns, D&Q’s director of marketing and publicity, says Louis Riel sold out of its 6,000-copy initial print run within two months and is now into a 5,000-copy second printing.

The success of Brown’s book has encouraged more booksellers to take graphic novels seriously, and has helped boost media interest in the form. And if other book trade sectors – like the large publishing houses – are still slow to embrace the format, they’re at least becoming more aware of its potential.

For booksellers, advice from Drawn & Quarterly on how to display the titles effectively and target customers has helped tremendously. The house has what it calls a “manifesto” on how to market graphic novels in bookstores, created from advice from independent booksellers on what worked for them. Foremost among that advice is to create a standalone section for graphic novels instead of shelving them with comics or kids’ books or even with fiction. D&Q also suggests having information available for librarians – who have proven to be big boosters of the format, seeing it as a way to get teenagers interested in reading – about which titles are appropriate for which age groups.

Generally, Deasey says, graphic novels sell well in urban markets in stores that serve a university crowd that is more open to experimental formats. “It’s not good for stores that have an older, more affluent clientele,” she says. “They’re not going to pick up a graphic novel and say, ‘This is great for my grandson,’ because they don’t understand what they are.”

D&Q’s Burns agrees. She says she’s focused on sending authors, such as Brown, on cross-country tours to literary festivals and bookstores to get sellers and their customers interested in the genre. “You need the breakout hit like Louis Riel to get into the smaller stores in smaller cities that don’t have the budget to just open a graphic novel section,” says Burns. “It’s a hard pitch to a store that does well already.” She says going back to those stores this year with new titles has gone over better than expected, with many buying multiple copies. And Canadian media outlets are also becoming more receptive. “Having a book about a Canadian folk hero is a way to get good press, and it worked,” Burns says. “Now, I’m going back to all the press who wrote about Louis Riel and asking them to write about Seth’s Clyde Fans and Bannock, Beans and Black Tea, and so far it’s been wonderful.”

Laurie Greenwood, owner of Greenwood’s Volume II in Edmonton, describes herself as a good example of a traditional bookseller becoming a convert to the genre. “They’re really gaining ground,” she says. “I think the biggest problem with them is a complete misunderstanding. People look at them as comic books. But they are not comic books, they are literary.” In the past year, Greenwood has created a small section for graphic novels in a high-traffic spot beside her shelf of staff picks. The section features between 30 and 35 titles, and Greenwood says they sell well even though her clientele is mostly older and professional. Dan Evans, of The Bookshelf, in Guelph, Ontario, has noticed a similar trend since creating a graphic novel section this past Christmas. The store stocks a range of titles, from manga to superhero comics to more literary graphic novels. “It’s doing really well, we have trouble keeping stuff on the shelf,” says Evans.

Where graphic novels may still have trouble making inroads is in the agenting and publishing sectors. “This isn’t an area we’re expanding into,” says Amy Tompkins of Westwood Creative Artists. “You need to be a fan of the genre to sell it, I think.” Jane Warren of Anne McDermid & Associates says her agency would consider representing a graphic novelist under certain circumstances. “I think it’s definitely something we’d want to take on, it’s just a matter of doing research and finding out who’s publishing that sort of stuff.”

Warren says McDermid would probably take a graphic novel to a small specialty publisher instead of one of the major houses. “I don’t think you could approach a standard publisher with a graphic novel and expect them to know what to do with it,” she says.

But editors at the largest trade houses are expressing cautious interest, even if none have signed any graphic titles. “I think it’s a really exciting form, but my sense is there’s still in mainstream publishing a kind of uncertainty about how to proceed,” says Barbara Berson, an editor at Penguin Canada. “I’ve seen the graphic novel section in Indigo and on the one hand I say, yay, there’s a graphic novel section, but when I look at what’s actually there, it’s all anime for kids. It’s not really hitting the mainstream imagination yet.”

Diane Martin, associate publisher of Knopf Canada, says she’s looked at a graphic novel in the past but hasn’t yet made any acquisitions. “There was one we had thought about. The illustrations were really great and the story was good, but the writing wasn’t there, so we had encouraged the writer to work on that, and it may be that we’ll get it again some point to look at,” she says. “But for us, the writing is still so important, even in an illustrated novel.”