One-Shots in the Western Manga Market and Reader Surveys

Last week, I received the November edition of Yen Plus, and in it was a cute little story by George Alexopoulos called “Prom Night”, a Western independent artist/comics writer who has a nice little web portfolio you can check out. Earlier this year,  Yen Press published a one-shot by Queenie Chan which was surprisingly interesting. These two writers are just a small pinch of the talent out there that’s trying to get work published as independent comics writers.

George’s story reminded me of a little fact – that anthologies, like in Japan, are perfect for one-shots. In Japan, contests exist throughout the year that allow new and aspiring authors get their work into an anthology and have it graded by the readers. Readers pick what they like and what they don’t, and those stories that they end up liking the most oftentimes get turned into long-running manga series. For example, if the readers of Yen Plus liked “Prom Night,” they would be able to vote it up and see what happens. While “Prom Night” is a fairly one-minded short, its characters, who are all cute, awkward, and lovable, could definitely be part of a longer running series.

The question is though – what is the point of a one-shot manga in the US? The publishing world in the West is a lot different than the publishing model in Japan, and making one-shots available to the general reading public isn’t nearly as important if you aren’t going to do anything with them. Showcasing talent is an okay use of space, but I really want to read more of “Prom Night,” and I’m fairly certain that I’m not going to get to.

It interests me that anthologies like Yen Press and Shonen Jump have surveys that have ranking systems like the original anthologies, but I wonder if they use the information they get from the surveys is used to influence publishing decisions. As an aside, the survey in Yen Plus is a page of the anthology that you need to tear out and fill in and mail to Yen Press. It’s pretty flimsy paper (because the anthology is printed on low quality paper) so it doesn’t hold up very well.  It would be a better system if they could get one of the post-card inserts that sells subscriptions to be a survey card. I would definitely fill that out and put it in the mail. Survey postcards would be sweet, but digital works too – give readers a slip to vote in an online poll and offer a small prize (maybe a copy of an upcoming manga release) to a randomly-drawn participant (Viz does this with Shonen Jump, but Yen Press doesn’t do this with Yen Plus).

When Shojo Beat went down, it concerned me that manga anthologies might be going the way of the dodo here in the US, and I think that giving readers a say in what gets published and what gets cut is an essential move for any anthology. If, in some imaginary world, I was a Japanese manga reader and the Japanese version of Yen Plus released “Prom Night,” I could vote on it and know that my votes would count to whether or not it got published again. That’s power for the reader, and it increases the investment that your anthology subscribers have to your brands, as well as your manga licenses.

Getting this to work would require some tabulation and extra work for each publishing team, but the trade-off is a strong idea of the popularity of each series in an anthology within weeks of its publication.The strength of such a series popularity survey is unmeasurable – letting readers have a say in what they read is just another way that manga publishers can interact with the community, change their content for the better, and sell more copies.

Kodansha Finally Hopping Into US Market?

Well, this is a shock.

TokyoPop has just announced that Kodansha, one of the large manga publishers in Japan, has denied the renewal of all licenses of properties they own. That means that series like Chobits, Love Hina, GetBackers, and Rave Master have all had their publishing rights returned to Kodansha, and that TokyoPop will no longer be able to publish these series. Plus, any series currently in publication can’t be finished if they’re from Kodansha, which may be a bit of a blow for the indie manga publisher. TokyoPop was looking for some upturn this year, and things were looking pretty good up until now – although, I’m not quite sure what series T-Pop is publishing currently which have to end mid-release.

The one thing this reminds me of, as Brigid astutely points out, is Kodansha pulling its licenses from TokyoPop Germany last year. With Viz’s parent companies buying up two of the major manga and anime publishing companies in Europe, perhaps Kodansha taking back it’s licenses from TokyoPop indicates its final introduction to the US and European markets as a publisher, instead of acting through intermediaries. If that is the case, we should be seeing some sort of proof from the publishing business here soon.

I do feel pretty bad for the folks at T-Pop though. They were just starting to bounce back. Hopefully their new licenses will be able to get them on their feet, and that this setback isn’t too major.

Another Random Twilight Thoughts Post

Twilight comics. Whether or not the manga community is ready to face it or not, they’re coming down from Yen Press. It’s not a terrible business venture. When Stephanie Meyers is selling 1 out of every 7 books sold in the USA, and Hachette, the parent company for Yen Press, owns the publishing rights to her books, it’s easy enough to see the Twilight cash cow getting milked into a comic book.

Some people don’t necessarily like Twilight, and that’s okay. I despise it. I think it’s terrible fan fiction. But, I am willing to accept the fact that even if it is drivel, it’s doing very well for its drivelly self. It’s selling well, and it’s bringing something to the table that I think is very interesting – a fanbase that is rabid for the content. Let’s face it. If you’re a Twilight fan, you love the stuff. ADORE it. You’ve probably read every scrap of writing Stephanie Meyer has put out, seen the movie, bought some stickers, a poster or something. You love it, and you’re probably excited for the upcoming movie.

Why is this important? Because we can transfer that very same fanship onto a work that is a bit different than your average book – it’s a comic book. It’s a graphic novel, a manga, or a manwha. Whatever you want to call it, pictures and speech bubbles will be the latest Twilight craze, and that gives manga producers an opportunity.

Yen Press has the biggest opportunity here – to plug their own shojo and other OEL works, including the fabulous Maximum Ride. It’s even my opinion that they should publish parts of it in Yen Plus – the magazine would SURELY get an increase in numbers, and it will build up tension and excitement for the trade paperback when it hits shelves.

Other manga publishers can hop into the craze as well. If you want to see an explosion of female manga fans, publishers and booksellers need to make a concerted effort to go out of their way and say, “Hey, if you love Twilight, and you liked the Twilight graphic novel, why don’t you try out ‘Pig Bride’ or ‘Kitchen Princess’ or ‘Solanin’?” Manga needs signs pointing to the Twilight book, and an endcap saying “If you liked the Twilight GN, we suggest…” Booksellers have nothing to lose, and much to gain.

If nothing else, Twilight is the next opportunity of manga – the community needs to embrace the opportunity, if not the fiction, and convince its Twilight-loving friends to give this funny backwards Japanese comic a try.

DMP’s Big Gamble

Digital Manga recently announced through press release that its yaoi-publishing imprint, June Manga,  that it would be releasing some of its yaoi titles for early print if they reached a payment window. This prerelease of soon-to-be-released June books could happen as much as a quarter (4 months) earlier than expected.  Johanna at Comics Worth Reading wondered if Paypal is going to be a dealbreaker for the publisher’s book printing, but I have a few thoughts to the contrary.

Doujinshi (fan written manga) written here in the USA is often printed using the exact same methods that DMP has recently decided to act upon, and many other forms of publication do the same. Normally, this is due to a lack of funds to be able to pay the printer to print and bind your comic, role playing manual, or other written work. It’s a bit of a trust game here, because fans of the genre must be willing to advance their money now for a potential payoff that will occur later down the road. On the plus side, it looks as though DMP is going to charge less for the presold books than what you would spend at a regular bookstore.

Paypal shouldn’t be a problem for the publisher, because of the slippery words of the presale agreement. Content that could be bagged under the fund-transferring site’s terms of service (ie pornographic materials) is being sold by DMP, so unless they are careful, they could have those funds frozen. However, I think that with the current wording of the web-a-thon’s sales agreement DMP should be just fine.

Presales initially seem like the company may be weak, but in actuality, I am convinced that DMP is doing something very unique that also happens to be a strong business move. Yaoi is microniche, and by using a prepay web-a-thon, DMP can do something with the information they garner with their presales – what fans want, and what they’re willing to pay for. It comes as no surprise that DMP is looking for better ways to market and make money on their microniche titles. By liscensing and publishing manga that people are dedicated enough to purchase in advance, the June imprint can save money while looking like “the publisher that listens to fans.”

Fanhood is a very interesting thing. Fans are more often than not willing to support industry that takes the time to listen to their wants and needs and respond in a positive manner. DMP has seemed to have realized this, and is taking steps to get a better gauge on what its customers want.

Now, the whole program could flop, and it may take some time before DMP starts to understand the trends and responds accordingly. It also takes a long time for customers to get their material, although if a book doesn’t hit the total dollar value before its time is up, those who preordered will still get the manga a bit early. However, what some people seem to think is a gamble looks more like a solid business venture to me. Time will tell if it works out for DMP.

The Implications of Shojo Beat’s Demise

Well, it’s official; it’s been way too long since I’ve updated my blog, but finals and heavy coursework will do that to you. I’m in finals week here at University, so my free time is going to increase very soon (more time to read manga! yay!!). In the meantime, I have been working hard at www.eyeofthevortexonline.com, and the May edition is finally ready for your viewing pleasure. We’ve got a ton of great features this month, so check it out.

I clicked over to ICv2 earlier this afternoon and was shocked to see that Viz Media is canceling their Shojo Beat anthology magazine in light of economic issues. This disappoints me for a number of reasons, which I’ll get to in a moment, but I think it’s safe to say that overall this is fairly disheartening, especially for anyone that had subscribed to the magazine. I cannot say that I was one of those people, but it’s akin to when Newtype USA was canceled; something you enjoyed every month is now missing.

The most difficult issue with economic downturn is that you start to see what portions of a company’s business are profitable and which aren’t. This normally isn’t a problem, but when the product is something you’ve invested in emotionally, it can get a bit hairy. Viz is traditionally known as a manga publisher with a very strong shonen lineup, including the chart topping Naruto, Bleach, and Black Cat. Their shojo line is also strong, but doesn’t get near the amount of attention that the shonen does.

The strange thing is though, that manga as a whole, is a comic s0ld to women (at least in your major book retailers). Shojo Beat is the heart of the girl’s comics movement, a collection of the “normal” girly magazine stuff with comics specifically written to be enjoyed by girls. And, when most of your bookstore market is the young female audience (who doesn’t have Twilight to distract them this summer), it seems like an inopportune time to cancel the anthology. More appropriately, it would seem, now is the time to give the anthology more press, more promotions, and try to tie it into product lines and get it into the hands of its chosen audience.

In contrast, Shonen Jump has received a lot of tie-ins with other products, giving it some cover recognition in stores, with its Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and other promotions. It also has Saturday morning cartoons to back it up, giving it more eye appeal to the younger crowd. Can we say that for Shojo Beat? Did it ever really get its chance to shine? Or was it more of a background player to the antics of Naruto and his other shonen buddies?

One of Viz’s interesting moves is that they’ve promised to send all Shojo Beat readers a free copy of Shonen Jump, which is well intentioned, but for the most part, seems misguided. The people who enjoy shojo and shonen are completely different, and the subject matter in Shonen Jump is far different from the content of Shojo Beat. You may get a few converts, Viz, but the people that would read both anthologies are probably already doing so anyway.

While I’m sure funds are tight in manga world right now, I don’t know that Viz is doing bad enough that it absolutely needed to cancel Shojo Beat. I’m sure Shojo Beat wasn’t profitable. I’m not actually sure that Shonen Jump is profitable. I think it was probably the right business move.

But as I say this, we see the loss of a very specific, important piece of the manga puzzle. Manga is meant for anthologies, like fish are meant for water.  It has been my joy to subscribe to Yen Plus, and I’m currently looking at Shonen Jump, because I think the anthology is so key to the way manga is written and should be read.  In losing Shojo Jump, we lose a part of that experience, and we lose a quality publication which has inspired and entertained consumers since it was originally published.

Viz has promised to continue the series in the magazine through their paperback manga volumes, but the effect is certainly not the same.  It seems like such a tragedy that such an important portion of the manga industry in Japan is so lacking here in the USA, and the loss of Shojo Beat further removes manga from its traditional format here.

April Edition of Eye of the Vortex

I’m not sure how much press this is getting, but the April edition of Eye of the Vortex is available to download or view on Issuu, at this link right here. This month, I go over an old review with The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and check out Yen Press’ Black God. We’ve also got game suggestions, reviews of some new suppliments for White Wolf Entertainment’s World of Darkness d10 system, as well as a look at Privateer Press’ new collectible miniatures game Monsterpocalypse. It’s an excellent edition, and I hope you will all take the time to look at it.

Expanding the Collection During Recession

Wow, it’s been a while!

In these uncertain economic times, everyone has had to cut back; this especially true for comic connoisseurs like manga fans, especially those who follow more than one series at a time. It’s almost impossible for me to purchase books for all the series I follow as soon as they come out, and there are plenty of manga that I’ve yet to be able to read.

My solution? eBay.

eBay is great place to buy manga; despite all the nasty things that you typically hear about the place, and the people selling you their books, the fact remains that eBay is one of the easiest ways to get your hands on multiple books for cheap, esepcially if they’re older series. However, bidder be warned, eBay is full of tricks, and auctions you want to steer clear of. Here are a few of my tips to help you save money and still keep up your manga obsession this spring.

1) First thing’s first; look at the books. If you type manga into the search bar at eBay, you will undoubtedly see all sorts of neat things, half of which, of course, are not manga. They may be posters, tea cozies, dog t-shirts, buttons, cosplay clothing, figures, and all other manner of otaku based goods, but they aren’t the comics you’re looking for. Make sure you filter your search so that you only end up looking at books. It’ll keep you away from anything tempting that would impede upon your manga budget.

2) Stay away from single books. Most sellers are going to try and sell you a book and make you think it’s a good deal; they post the initial price of the first bid at around 3.50. You think you’re getting a good deal, but take a bit of a closer look. They’re probably charging you $5+ for shipping, which can make it even more expensive than the book was originally, if you’re purchasing one of Viz’s 7.99 books. Be careful not to get charged by these tricksters. (If you’re looking for individual books, check out the Amazon or Border’s Marketplace for used copies that cost you around 4.50 (with shipping included).

3) Check out the big lot offers. Sometimes, you’ll have fans clearing out sections of their libraries to make room for more manga, and they’ll sell a large quantity of books in one fell swoop. These situations are key, and recognizing the deals when you see them might be tricky. You’ll look at a lot of 40 books for 50 dollars plus 12 dollars shipping. At first, that seems expensive, but do the math. $62 for that lot means you end up paying approximately $1.55 per book. That amount of money could only probably buy you 5 books at the local Barnes and Noble.

4) Stay away from Buy It Now. The caveat to my previous statement are the Buy It Now auctions. Many of these auctions are for entire sets of manga, but they sell the books at list price. If you look at them carefully, you’ll see they even charge extra for the shipping, so you’re ending up doing worse than you would if you went to the store and bought them. That’s not the point of using eBay.

5) Don’t be afraid of auctions that contain books you already own. Especially if the auction has a lot of books you want, but a few you already own, take a chance on it. You can always sell those books back on eBay, give them to your local library, or give them to friends. Extra copies of xxxHolic make great presents for your otaku friends.

6) Don’t spend more than you want to. Your manga budget is important. Don’t get sucked into the hyper-aggressive oneupmanship of heavy bidding right before the item ends. If the lot goes above your budget, forget it, even if it has some amazing stuff in it. That doesn’t matter. You’re trying to save money here, not throw it around. Be patient, and you’ll get some amazing deals.

Hopefully these tips have helped – even if you don’t decide to bid on manga on ebay, remember that, it’s always on display, and you can wait for that special deal just for you. With patience, and if you tone down your desire to get new manga immediately, you’ll be able to save a lot of money without that much work.

March Edition of Eye of the Vortex Released

I’ve been kind of quiet lately, and hopefully that will change soon, but in the meantime, Eye of the Vortex Online has released the March edition of our online magazine, and it features comics that don’t need spandex (a great little list of some pretty amazing comics) and my review of Toto! volume 1, published by Del Rey.

I’d be super stoked if you checked it out!

Will Akamatsu Change Content for Changed Readership?

Canned Dogs reported on Sunday that Ken Akamatsu has seen a trend in his readership; lately, the people that have been sending in the most fan letters and illustrations to the famous manga-ka for his latest series Negima are girls. Younger girls, at that. Akamatsu has declared that it’s the sign of changing times in Japan, that women are reading shonen comics because there are more “attractive men” to look at. Someone in the comments even posted the idea that Negima has more “pairings” (a la yaoi) than its spiritual predicessor Love Hina, and I can’t necessarily say I disagree. What makes me think isn’t necessarily that more women are reading what is considered a man’s comic, but whether or not Ken Akamatsu is going to do anything about it. Will the fan service and other things we’ve come to expect from Akamatsu take a decidedly female-oriented turn?

I wonder what this means for shonen manga as a whole. Does this change in readership make mangaka want to change the way they write their shonen manga? Or is this more an affirmation of the appeal of shonen style manga? I really can’t say what the change means, but I can say that it’s very interesting.

The Mainstream Conversion

Manga and western comics for years have been a fairly niche market, and each type of media catered to a very specific and small audience. Manga focused on girls comics and on shounen battle sagas, and western comics have been running superheroes since before I was born. Strangely enough, though, things are changing. Broadening out, if you will. It seems over night that comic books and graphic novels have suddenly taken a turn for the legitimate side of printed media. It’s been a long time coming, but I think somewhere between The Dark Night and Watchmen, comics and manga suddenly became mainstream.

I suppose the unlikely culprit is actually the superhero movie. It started realistically with the Spiderman movie, and worked its way from there. Now, with 300 a major production, the movie based off the manga Priest wrapped up, and comic classics like Watchmen hitting the big screen, the general population has been immersed in comic book entertainment. The New York Times even added a section to their best sellers list called “Graphic Books.” Their tactics for determining the list notwithstanding, we have seen a push for legitamacy in the comics market.

So, comics fans have Hollywood to thank for the bit of sunlight that’s peeked its way into our dusty little corner. And while the world is watching the Watchmen, it’s time to get out there and prove to the world that comics are legitimate. Now is the perfect opportunity to increase manga readership as ordinary Joes finish Watchmen and begin to look for their next fix. Comics can survive, manga can survive this economy;  publishers just need to apply the proper pressure at the right places.