Forum - View topicPR: U.S. Company to be First to Publish Original English Light Novels
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ragz
Posts: 56 |
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Just what we need! Mahouka in Texas!
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Awesome that the U.S. is finally going to have its first original light novel!
 Here's hoping that Vecto will have a good faring.
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Polycell
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What exactly is a light novel in English? Is it just going to be a book with an "animey" feel? Meanwhile Spice and Wolf wouldn't be the least bit out of place in the middle of the fantasy section but for some doodles.
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Fedora-san
 Posts: 464 |
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Yeah this seems even more forced than TokyoPop's attempt at an OEL imprint. At least with that you could try to argue 'Japanese paneling and art direction'. But what's the argument here? Japanese words and names? Having characters say "It can't be helped..", "Things are getting interesting..", and "Looks like I'll have to use.. 'that'" But with just words it seems like just a marketing gimmick to make it anime-related instead of just calling it a book |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Light novels always seemed to be for authors who couldn't draw, but it's probably more of a marketing gimmick than any kind of hard definition.
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lys
 Posts: 1017 Location: mitten-state |
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I just want to say that your sampling of phrases that appear in LNs and translations of Japanese media in general gave me a good laugh :) |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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Just great, more ruining of covers. I hope the trend does NOT take hold. |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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It would be interesting to see how light novels will do in the US. When Italian publishers tried the experiment in Italy let's say it didn't go down very well. We will see if the american public is more receptive to this kind of storytelling.
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Light novel = Short novel. |
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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Like Animorphs? The Hardy Boys? Nancy Drew? Thousands upon thousands of young adult novels, some of which have pictures? Why, you make it sound like this man is talking out of his ass! That would be like claiming his statement would be akin to insisting Wolfenstein and Doom weren't first-person shooters because they had not used the term!
Honestly, I think my initial impression was correct: these are just going to be short young adult novels that happen to be "animey" and too badly written to get through any sort of real publishing company. |
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Sneakybeagle
Posts: 17 |
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I happen to own a few translated light novels of series that i already watched and having been a huge novel reader before i got into anime and manga. Of course these will be local authors so interesting change of pace. Though id really love the see the bakemonogatari LNs get translated. Dont get discouraged by all the negative assumptions on LNs they are a great read esp if you already love the series
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I get the same impression, but it seems to me that the target audience is mostly fans of American comics and the animation and movies based on those comics. I do wish them well because I think that it is better to have a wider variety of books being published, but I am a bit pessimistic. Novellas, or novelettes, have been around forever. They would be cheaper to publish than a regular novel and could be sold at a more attractive price, so there must be some good reason why there have never been many of them published as stand-alone books. The novellas that I have read have almost always been published as part of a collection. I have been reading science fiction for several decades and the trend that I have noticed has always been towards longer novels. Most of the new books that I buy are two or three times as long as those that I first bought. So I have to wonder if there really is a market for shorter books. From what I have read I think that these will be just typical novellas, and "light novel" is just a marketing term. These should have the advantage of being much cheaper than Japanese light novels, so that should help them. But the content of the books will be what is most important, and that is still an unknown factor. |
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VicsLab
 Posts: 4 |
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Thank you for the well wishes. I'm working on getting contracts for other books, but Vecto: Vengeance may set the stage for how well original English-language light novels succeed in the U.S. - Vic |
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VicsLab
Posts: 4 |
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Thank you for the feedback! A light novel is a type of short book, which tends to be heavier on dialogue and action than North American novels. It doesn't need to have Japanese names and cultural references. Light novel translations are often botched, so you won't have that issue with OELs. We could have called this particular book a novella, but calling it a light novel was more specific to the style it was written in and the audience that would like it. The author of this particular book likes anime and comic book characters, so the mixture of the two is what you will expect to find (which is why the cover has comic book art style). If you want a sample, I'd be glad to give you one. |
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VicsLab
Posts: 4 |
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I'll take this into consideration. Our goal is to be transparent about what age is appropriate for our books and what objectionable content they contain. This prevents a sensitive reader from buying a book that has a sex scene they may not want to read (yes, there are teen books that have these, which have caused an uproar from parents). Although the rating is similar to the longstanding practice of movies and video games, we do not advocate for a universal rating system for books. |
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