Finish what you started

[meimei]

Honestly, my personal opinion on this is that before you license another series, you finish the ones you already have rights to.

I've been horrified. I absolutely LOVE your publishing- it's such high-quality. Even so, I can't believe the fact that you've dropped so many series; it's ridiculous.

Boogiepop? Ballad of a Shinigami? Strawberry Panic? First Love Sisters? The Last Uniform? These are all some favorite series of mine- I understand that because you aren't getting too high of sales, it must be discouraging and not very practical.
Also, from what I understand, you're having rights problems with some series. I can't blame any of you for that, but I'd appreciate to continue to be posted.

However, how much respect do you think you have from some people, where you don't even finish some of the most popular of series?

I don't know what I'd do if you dropped Tetragrammaton Labyrinth. I can't wait for the end of the year so that I can see all of the releases have made it out safely. You have no idea how relieved I was when Kasimasi 5 came out.

So basically, no matter how much I love the quality of your translations and finished product, I'm distraught at the fact that you aren't finishing such a good deal of series.

[Adam_Arnold]

Meimei, the sad truth is that no matter how high quality some of our titles are...sometimes it just doesn't equal out to good sales. And worse, the days of better selling series propping up lower sellers is long gone. We're in the worst recession we've ever faced and bookstores are cutting waaaay back in their orders. As a publisher, we just can't afford to take any risks right now.


As for your series questions...

Boogiepop --

Tokyopop Germany couldn't even get Boogiepop past four books, so we're in the same boat here. The only difference is that we decided to put out "Boogiepop at Dawn" as our last ever Boogiepop release so that fans could finally know the origin story. But seriously, there's just no way that fifteen books of this series would ever sell. It's too fringe a series, and barely anyone even remembers the anime anymore. Hell, most new fans don't even know about Serial Experiments Lain, so there's no hope for Boogiepop having a resurgence unless Japan decides to up and make a new anime.


Ballad of a Shinigami --

Shinigami was indeed the highest selling of our light novels, but that's really not saying a lot considering how much the books costs to produce. And one of the latest bookstore chains chose to not stock our Light Novel titles, so there just wasn't any way for us to keep putting out more light novels without driving ourselves out of business in the process.


Strawberry Panic --

The manga is only two volumes, so we did release all that exists of that series.
As for the light novels, please see the above comment about Shinigami.


First Love Sisters --

I've mentioned in other threads that this series is tied up in rights issues that prevent us from licensing any other volumes of this series. Volume 1 is self-contained, so at least that is a small consolation for us not releasing any other volumes.


The Last Uniform --

Cut and pasted from another thread:
"The author seems to really want the final volume to come out here, and we were tossing around the idea of doing an omnibus of all three Last Uniform books... but there's just no way to make the costs work in the title's favor. We may take another look at the series later in the year, but right now, there's no way that the book would sell."

[CMB]

Thank you for the information. :saaad:

[catstigereyes]

just wondering instead of mass produce of books could you not make a limited number and be done with it? I hear google made a publishing company that produces books one the fly one at a time for a set amount would that help with less popular books? or costs? just wondering!

thanks

[Adam_Arnold]

just wondering instead of mass produce of books could you not make a limited number and be done with it? I hear google made a publishing company that produces books one the fly one at a time for a set amount would that help with less popular books? or costs? just wondering!

thanks

Standard Japanese contracts, advances, and royalty terms do not allow for print on demand, nor is it profitable (i.e. Tokyopop tried to do it with the final two Slayers novels they released).

[Zatch-kun]

Why not start releasing 1-2 volume series? Those should be easier to release all of, raise revenue, and then allow you to finish longer series. It is getting a bit disheartening to have so many series stopped partway through release. I've put my faith in this company one more time with the Wicked City novels, but if this series halts production, I don't know if I would be able to keep supporting your releases.

[Adam_Arnold]

Why not start releasing 1-2 volume series? Those should be easier to release all of, raise revenue, and then allow you to finish longer series. It is getting a bit disheartening to have so many series stopped partway through release. I've put my faith in this company one more time with the Wicked City novels, but if this series halts production, I don't know if I would be able to keep supporting your releases.

Wicked City is being released by Tor as a co-pub title (i.e. Seven Seas is handling the script and Tor is handling everything else). Tor's decision to license any volumes beyond the third novel will depend completely on sales.

As for the releasing 1 to 2 book series, that depends completely on the book itself.

[Pijon]

haha! I've just bought Wicked city It's awesome, but June is so far away :S

I hope that 2010 will be better and we will se some of the canceled titles (They say the hope dies last.)

[Adam_Arnold]

I think that having hope for some of the series that are on hiatus is a good thing. Jason and I are always discussing them, so you never know...

[whythedislike]

well there you have it.

half released manga is the normal now.

so get used to it. due to whatever those idea's are.

yea!
also please stop killing my forum ability.
or say why you do so.

[Adam_Arnold]

well there you have it.

half released manga is the normal now.

so get used to it. due to whatever those idea's are.

No company should be expected to keep releasing a series that never breaks even. Companies sometimes do make exceptions for critical darlings, but it's always on a title by title basis.

At any rate, I highly recommend that you read Answerman's reply to the first letter here as it touches on this very topic:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2010-12-31

[edh1017]

Have you considered an omnibus of The Last Uniform recently? You're putting out quite a few omnibuses in 2011 and I was just curious if you were considering doing the same for The Last Uniform.

[Adam_Arnold]

Have you considered an omnibus of The Last Uniform recently? You're putting out quite a few omnibuses in 2011 and I was just curious if you were considering doing the same for The Last Uniform.

No, we don't have any plans for an omnibus edition of The Last Uniform. The series was DOA when we first released it, so an omnibus would likely meet with the same lackluster response. There's just no way to take that kind of risk and have bookstores not stock it.