Forum - View topicManga Answerman - How often do English publishers sell at a loss?
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VerQuality
 Posts: 138 |
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I remember years ago trying to track down the last few volumes of Excel Saga I needed to finish my set. I think those were actually my first purchase on Amazon, and they were definitely going for above-MSRP. Viz is alright though, I'm still amazed they keep cranking out Hayate the Combat Butler, even though I imagine most of its fanbase has died off by now. Dark Horse, on the other hand, is a truly baffling company. They're publishing Mob Psycho 100, one of the big hits of the current season, and they released... volume 1 way back in October, and volume 2 will be out early March, as the series is getting ready to wrap up. The manga is done in Japan, so it's not a matter of being worried about catching up to the Japanese releases. They're just slow-rolling a major series at the pinnacle of its hype. It's deeply frustrating, and honestly very confusing. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2108 |
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Couldn't say for sure, but I believe this may just be down to economics. Dark Horse is not just manga, but also western graphic novels and art books. They put out a lot of stuff. Of course printing stuff takes money, and I don't know Dark horses' finances, but I imagine that certain stuff is given priority and other things are more spaced out. So basically to make an analogy with video game development, a developer puts a lot of money into making a game. Then the game goes on sale. Then they wait for sales of the title to come in. And this revenue is then used to fund the next title. So I suppose book sales also likewise wait for revenue to come in before printing the next batch. And are therefore more conservative on expenses. Which is smart, but also naturally some stuff will be put on the back burner.
I believe it was here on ANN in one of the threads awhile back that someone from Vertical said that they (Vertical) were happy with sales, but the Japanese licensor was not. And this was some of the background to what led to them publishing the first 4 books, but then for some odd reason skipping several books ahead with the 'New World' release, which apparently was a bid to try and increase sales or something... It made no sense to me, though probably they thought the shift of the story to focus on wines form America might be more interesting to the North American market... beats me... --- As for the ebooks thing. I wouldn't by e-books. I think that model works better more as a subscription thing, like Netflix, or what Crunchyroll already does where you can read new chapters as they release. I feel the crowdfunding thing would be a good way for publishers to meet fan demand. Just like look at the minimum print run and the expenses necessary to meet it with stretch goals. So maybe the initial backers may need to pay on average more than what a printed book costs. So for a particular book, the starting price could be $20 for normally $10 books, and you get the book guaranteed for say (making up numbers) 10,000 copy print run. So you'd need 10,000 people paying $20 minimum to print and ship the product. They could make higher tiers for people who want to pay more to guarantee it gets printed with some additional rewards. (signed copies) (illustration from artist) etc. But stretch goals could be that if more people are interested the print run could go up, and the price could come down. So if more people enter the picture, say 20,000, then the incentive is that the price of the crowd fund could come down for everyone to $15 from $20, or down to $10 even if they meet the requirements. And this incentivizes more people to get on board to get more printed and get costs down. Any additional copies printed over and above the number of funders, the publisher can happily sell. In some ideal science fiction universe, all book stores would just have print-on demand services where they save on paper and only print what a customer directly pays for on order, and initial licensing fees are given to the creators upfront, with recurring residuals for every print sold after that. But well, we're not there yet, and by then people will probably be pushing more e-books on our holographic devices... But I believe there will always be physical books. There's just something to the physical feel and aesthetic of paper that can't be reproduced. |
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Buster Blader 126
 Posts: 1207 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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Drops of God I miss dearly. Others have mostly pointed out the correct circumstances behind it.
I think New World was mandated by the creator, but my memories are foggy now. God bless your soul and hard work for putting out what little we received overall, Ed.
It being a Shogakugan title saved it.
SIGH, this was the heart breaking Viz cancellation for me. I'd gladly pay $20 for singles or $30 each for two omnibus volumes if it meant they could finish it. Did the Singaporean release go to 17? Because there are five volumes left in Viz's release.
Interesting. That would explain Bastard!! for sure. Kurohime switched platforms in Japan, which complicated things. I suspect it would have required another rights negotiation that Viz deemed not worth pursuing. Interestingly enough, Shogakugan titles were spared from cancellation, but had a slowed down release schedule. The remaining titles that were affected are Kaze Hikaru and Hayate the Combat Butler, and I recall Excel Saga being the same. As for Zatch Bell!, that reason was well publicized. |
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jdnation
Posts: 2108 |
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D'oh I got my count wrong. I'd been collecting the SJ North American releases which ended at vol. 14. Looking at wiki now it lists 19 volumes. So you're right it's actually 5 more volumes... I couldn't remember. The series I believe did conclude in other countries, I believe Tokyopop had it completed in German a long time ago... For Aurora Publishing I'd been getting Walkin' Butterfly, which was only 4 volumes long and they only released 3. Still I'm hoping SJ could release 2 omnibuses of the remaining volumes. I believe there was some recent news of some additional story material for Strawberry 100% lately in Japan that maybe they could throw in. Funnily enough, the first time I read Strawberry 100%, it was entirely online from fan translations. I liked the story enough that I started buying the official releases. At least I know how it ends, but it sucks that I have an incomplete series on shelf. |
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#895248
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For older out of print titles, I wish publishers would sell them as print on demand with a fee. At least then, you won't have to search and encourage people selling it at unreasonable prices.
Also, Reborn and Gintama has to be continued on digital. Maybe another up and publisher can have a go at it? *wink wink J-Novel Club, especially Gintama as it would be perfect for them* |
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