Gazing over 2007, David Welsh takes a look at the big manga news stories:
The Age of the Omnibus: Maybe I’m overstating the importance of this because I like the idea so much, but this is another somewhat unexpected idea that seemed to gain a lot of traction in 2007 and actually work, leading me to suspect that the trend will expand in 2008. I mean, there’s already a mix of high-end, collector’s collections and value-for-volume versions, which has to tell us something.
Chris Butcher takes that ball and runs with it, offering his own unique thoughts on the past year:
…but are the readers actually going to buy into this? Are the retailers? Although 2007 eliminated the myth of the finite shelf-space issue (essentially, bookstore managers will allot however much space is necessary to product that generates income), not many of them are carrying full runs of any material in multiple formats. Once the paperback comes out, the hardcover gets remaindered and goes to special-order-only, that sort of thing. Further, I don’t think we’re going to be seeing that many second or third volumes of these ultra-cheap bind-ups, not for a little while. Essentially, if all of the sales are equal, 3 x 200 page books at $11 each are worth more than 1 x 600 page book at $13. Even with the reduced overhead and increased sales that one cheap book will provide, those sales have got to be pretty high indeed to make up for the sales of 3 books at a higher cost, particularly over a longer period of time.
Go ahead and read both posts; they’re well worth your time.
