NEW YORK, NY (November 14, 2005)  Central Park Media (CPM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ali T. Kokmen as Director of Book Sales.  Mr. Kokmen was formerly the Sales & Marketing Manager for HarperCollins' Collins Design imprint.  Prior to that, he served as Marketing Manager for Watson-Guptill Publications.

In his new capacity at CPM, Mr. Kokmen will be responsible for the North American sales of 40 to 60 new Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles a year as well as a backlist of more than 200 books.  "Graphic novels in general and manga in particular are the fastest-growing and most exciting segment of the publishing industry," he noted,  "so I'm especially delighted at the challenge and opportunity of this new position.  Our immediate task will be to investigate all options for effective distribution of our books, in the book trade channel and others, and I look forward to building a system that will serve not only the company's current needs but also its future growth."

Central Park Media's Managing Director John O'Donnell said "Central Park Media is one of the oldest manga publishers in America, with more than ten years of experience and expertise.  We are committed to bringing the best of Japanese and Korean graphic novels to North America, across all major genres.  Having Ali join us to supervise our book trade sales is a part of that commitment."

About Central Park Media
Central Park Media is a 15-year-old Manhattan-based independent video and book publisher focused on Japanese and Korean animation and graphic novels.  Central Park Media has been a leading supplier of anime in the United States since 1990, and a major publisher of manga since 1994.  The company currently manufactures and distributes animated video programming under several label names, including U.S. Manga Corps, Be Beautiful, Software Sculptors and Central Park Media, as well as live-action Asian feature films under its Asia Pulp Cinema label. 

With exclusive rights to hundreds of graphic novels, the company has become a leading North American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa.  Among CPM's fan-favorite graphic novel titles are Lee Hyun Se's Nambul (the best-selling manhwa in Korean publishing history), and Kia Asamiya's Dark Angel.  Under its Be Beautiful imprint, the company also publishes popular yaoi manga such as the best-selling Kizuna: Bonds of Love (the best-selling yaoi title in Japanese publishing history).  Visit www.centralparkmedia.com, www.cpmpress.com and www.bebeautifulmanga.com for more information.