Inukami! - The Mysterious Sixth Volume

[The Inukami Ponderer]

Salutations! Just dropping in to say that I greatly enjoy the Inukami! manga, but couldn't help but notice that volume 6 is missing. I remember in another thread it being mentioned that volumes couldn't be announced before they were licensed. Does that mean volume 6 is still in limbo?

[Adam_Arnold]

We're unable to announce any formal release plans as they haven't been confirmed with the Japanese licensor yet.

We will be making some form of announcement concerning Inukami! very soon, though.

[The Inukami Ponderer]

Excellent. Thanks for the info.

[kushieda]

I know a lot of posts were lost when the server crashed, but was there any news on this?

[Adam_Arnold]

I know a lot of posts were lost when the server crashed, but was there any news on this?

Seven Seas will be including volume 6 as part of Inukami! Omnibus Collection 2.

[Noname99]

Any chance of volume 6 being released individually for those of us who have already bought volumes 1 - 5?

[Adam_Arnold]

Any chance of volume 6 being released individually for those of us who have already bought volumes 1 - 5?

The original books were released as Tor/Seven Seas co-pub titles, but Tor has opted not to do an individual book 6 release. So Seven Seas will be releasing the complete series spread across two omnibus editions. We currently don't have any plans to do an individual release of the sixth book due to the costs involved and licensing issues.

I know fans like to have the individual volumes all lined up on a shelf. Heck, I like it too. Thankfully, though, Amazon has both omnibus up for the pre-order price of $10.87 (on 2010-09-28), which makes it the same price you would pay for one of the individual volume in stores. That should take away a little of the sting.

[The Inukami Ponderer]

Confound it, I suspected this was going to happen when the original Inukami omnibus was announced. Gotta shake my fist at Tor on this one. C'mon, there was only one more volume to go! ONE MORE!

Seeing as I already own the individual volumes for 1-5, can't say I want to double dip for the omnibus releases. And I'm sure you understand that I feel kinda burned after waiting so long to hear about v6 only to learn it'll be omnibus only. But hey, you're a business and you gotta do what you can to keep going. Still, what a bummer.

EDIT: Actually, I have to ask: You guys won't publish the sixth volume due to licensing issues and costs, but isn't it technically already licensed since you're translating/editing it for the second omnibus? I can understand not releasing it due to not being able to license it at all, but if you already have it... Would a limited print run of volume 6 be remotely possible? Ever? (Probably grasping at straws here, I know)

Knowing how this whole book licensing/printing thing works would help me understand your decision better.

[LostSearcher]

So that's it? No single sixth volume from all of those that have purchased 1-5 individually? And you're claiming this will costs to much when you no doubt have several customers willing to pay for said sixth volume? I think you people are just being lazy and screwing with us. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the lot of your purposely released 1-5 individually with no intent of releasing the 6th one on it's own. Instead, you decided to cheat fans out by making the collection's volume.

So, what are those who purchased volumes 1-5 suppose to do now? Do we have the option of sending them back to you? Or are we stuck sitting on our hands and hoping that you'll find it somewhere in your pockets to release the 6th volume?

[Adam_Arnold]

So that's it? No single sixth volume from all of those that have purchased 1-5 individually? And you're claiming this will costs to much when you no doubt have several customers willing to pay for said sixth volume? I think you people are just being lazy and screwing with us. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the lot of your purposely released 1-5 individually with no intent of releasing the 6th one on it's own. Instead, you decided to cheat fans out by making the collection's volume.

So, what are those who purchased volumes 1-5 suppose to do now? Do we have the option of sending them back to you? Or are we stuck sitting on our hands and hoping that you'll find it somewhere in your pockets to release the 6th volume?

The singles for Inukami! and Hayate X Blade were produced in partnership with Tor Books. Seven Seas produced the actual interiors and Tor published them. When Inukami! was originally licensed, only books 1-5 were out in Japan, so when it came time to do the 6th volume, Tor opted to not pursue a release of the 6th volume, and we were allowed to repackage the series on our own.

There's one simple reason why Seven Seas chose not to release an individual 6th volume of our own... bookstores wouldn't order it. The singles were very slow sellers and, since Seven Seas is a small publisher, we just couldn't justify wasting money on a book that wouldn't sell the minimum amount of units to break even. But bookstores WERE interested in omnibus editions, and were willing to order them. And, to this date, the two omnibus editions of Inukami! have sold very nicely for us, and have gone on to had multiple printings.

[magelet]

Wow, LostSearcher, your comment was EXTREMELY rude. How are they cheating the fans? You can still get the book as part of the ominbus, and Adam even linked to a place where you could get it for the same price as a single volume! Just because you have absolutely zero understanding of how the publishing industry works does not mean that Seven Seas is being "lazy" or "screwing with" you.
Really if it weren't for Seven Seas and other small manga publishers, there would be a lot of lesser known manga that would never see an English release, so you should be grateful to them for making it available at all. Seriously, check your sense of entitlement.

Sincerely,
Someone who works in the retail end of the manga industry