While many New York trade book publishers have launched in-house graphic novel publishing units, few, if any, can boast the kind of growth seen at Del Rey Manga over the past three years.

Del Rey launched its manga line in 2004 with four series licensed through an agreement between Random House and Japanese publisher Kodansha. In its first year, the line sold more than one million copies combined of all four series. Three years later, Del Rey plans to publish about 150 licensed manga titles spread over 40 different series, all secured through the Kodansha agreement. Last month the house announced plans to release its first original manga, Make 5 Wishes (created by writer Joshua Dysart and artist Camilla d'Errico), produced in collaboration with singer Avril Lavigne to coincide with the release of her new album in April.

Del Rey also turned to Terry Brooks, one of its bestselling fantasy authors, and plans a graphic novel set in the fantasy universe of Brooks's Shannara novels. And Del Rey is also betting that Elk's Run, an acclaimed nonmanga comics thriller, originally self-published as a serial, can find a trade book audience.

"We were criticized for starting so slowly," said Del Rey manga director Dallas Middaugh, "but it's worked well for us. We launched with books by [bestselling Japanese manga collective] CLAMP, so people took us seriously." Del Rey Manga is part of Ballantine Books, under the Random House Publishing Group. Middaugh and Del Rey editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell both report to v-p and deputy publisher Scott Shannon.

In 2006 the line added personnel as well as titles. Originally an independent contractor, Middaugh moved to New York to run the line full-time. Ali Kokmen is now manga marketing manager and Mutsumi Miyazaki, director of licensing and acquisitions, joined Del Rey in the summer and is based in California.

Manga is booming in bookstores, but Del Rey Manga has benefited greatly from the Kodansha agreement, which gives it access to the most popular works in Japan. And many of Del Rey's series, like Basilisk and Genshiken, are also the basis for anime—Japanese cartoon series based on the manga, also released in the U.S. and also driving book sales.

Currently, Middaugh said, shojo (girls') and shonen (boys') manga popular in Japan sell well in the U.S. Unconventional manga can be trickier to sell here.

Because of the Internet, American manga fans demand what's currently popular in Japan and the time between Japanese publication and U.S. licensing is shrinking. Middaugh said the house pays attention to fans, but works closely with Kodansha on titles to consider. He credits Miyazaki, who speaks Japanese and spends time in Japan, for the string of hits. "She's passionate about manga and knows what will sell or not sell," he said.

Kokmen said sales through the comics shops market, a channel that can be difficult for traditional book publishers to learn, are growing. "[Comics distributor] Diamond is one of our largest special markets accounts, and comics shops are starting to use book suppliers like Baker & Taylor." Ballantine is also using its mail-order book clubs to promote manga, and is doing a test mailing for the Tsubasa series.

Manga can have explicit content, but censorship has not been an issue. "We let the buyers know what's in the books, so there are no surprises," said Shannon. This year, the house added a limited number of "mature" manga titles, shrinkwrapped in a larger trim size to alert retailers, consumers and parents.

Del Rey is experimenting with nonmanga comics and doing more original comics publishing, like The Reformed, an original manga by comics how-to guru Chris Hart coming in spring 2008. Look for Del Rey's first reference work, The Complete Guide to Manga by Jason Thompson, in July.

The manga market continues to grow, but Del Rey acknowledges that it's crowded. "Four years ago, any series would be picked up," Middaugh said. "Booksellers trust us—we haven't had any big stinkers—but there's no guarantee they'll take every title," he added. "Manga in Japan is like TV in the U.S. It's everything. That's why we have to experiment."