Forum - View topic

PR: Square Enix Manga & Books Team Up With Penguin Random House on Comic Partner Initiative To E

They would have to draw in an almost completely different group of customers. That is there is not a lot of people who buy both American comics and manga. In shops where they get a lot of foot traffic, that is in the surviving malls or right outside a college campus it is worth trying to carry both. Keep in mind that they are in competition with the remaining bookstores for manga sales. If a local comic shop wants to add a new line of merchandise, something related to the comics they already sell is better.

Comparing sales of manga volumes to sales of American comics in trade paperback form is a bit comparing apples to oranges. The bulk of American comic sales is still in the form of monthly comic books. A lot of people do not see a need for the collected volumes since they already have the content in "floppy" format. Manga hasn't been offered in comic book format since the early 2000s. (the last to be offered in comic book format was Dark Horse's "Blade of the Immortal" in 2007)

Square Enix has been distributed by Penguin Random House for some time now (along with Seven Seas and Marvel) This is likely due to the death spiral of Diamond Comic Distributors.

“While we're seeing significant market growth for manga among western audiences, our retailers have expressed challenges with overwhelming options and knowledge gaps,” said Morgan Perry, Marketing Manager, Square Enix Manga & Books. “With the Comic Partner initiative, our aim is to make it easier for our comic shop partners to unlock the potential of manga sales by curating great content for them, providing marketing support and educating sales associates about this art form – after all, manga are comics.”