Starting on August 1, all ibooks titles, including graphic novels and Milk & Cookies Press titles will be distributed to bookstores in the U.S. via Publishers Group West.  Direct market retailers will still be able to order the ibooks titles from Diamond, FM International and other distributors specializing in the comic shop market.  Simon & Schuster will continue to ship all ibooks backlist titles until July 31, 2005.

In England, Diamond UK will be the exclusive distributor of ibooks graphic novels, but all other ibooks releases will be distributed by PGW's UK subsidiary, Hi Marketing.

In moving to PGW ibooks joins a number of cutting edge publishers including Atlantic Monthly Press, McSweeney's, and Dark Horse Press (not to be confused with Dark Horse Comics).  Ibooks has a number of interesting offerings, which PGW will distribute in the fall including The Swords of Rome, a sumptuously illustrated graphic novel by Philipe Delaby that does for the Roman Empire what the Sopranos did for the Jersey mob, and Tribeca Sunset, a compelling first-person account of an ?migr?'s relocation to New York in the days following 9/11.