But this also means that I expect a series to be completed. I don’t like feeling as though I’ve wasted my money on a series only to have it be discontinued when there are only three volumes left in the series! I can understand if the Mangaka didn’t finish and therefore there’s nothing more to release but as mentioned before, many series are either finished or far enough ahead in Japan that it would be best to just complete a series in the US before moving on. If you have too many projects going at once, it just becomes choatic and spread thin and people will resort to going online to read their favorite series because volume 47 has been uploaded while volume 25 has just been released in your local bookstore and the series is finished in Japan!

As both a reader and an artist, I like to have the physical copies in my hands to flip through and not have to boot up my computer just to find an image that I thought was in chapter 6 of volume 7. I use the artwork as references for my own and if sales continue to drop and series continue to be discontinued, then I fear for the future of the manga industry as a whole. This is an industry that’s been around since the 70s and to see it falling this quickly is sad. I’ll gladly pay the extra $2 but I expect the series to be completed. As of right now, I unfortunatly don’t really know what can be done to help get the sales back up. I’m doing my part but I can only do so much, I guess.

I bought some volumes of Battle Vixens and was immediately turned off by the “make up whatever words we want” that was done instead of a translation. That the title was changed to Battle Vixens in English instead of a translation of the Japanese title should have been a big hint.

Haven’t bought a Viz manga since.

Every manga company is, as you suggested, looking into new delivery methods, but because they have to form new and complicated partnerships for every new book they publish, they have always borrowed delivery methods from other, established industries (that way, the licensors feel safe enough to entrust their books to the companies). First it was the comic-book industry with 32-page pamphlets sold in a network of comic stores, then they emulated mass-market paperback books in chain bookstores. As I suggested above, they can’t R&D this themselves, so they have to wait until a useful and relatively proven delivery system comes along. That hasn’t happened yet.

@David “Illegal downloads don’t hurt? Tell that to the music industry.”

The music industry at least took aggressive (often misguided) steps to put a stop to the downloads, and other than complaining about it, the publishing industry doesn’t seem to be doing much about it. Though trying to stop it now is kind of like stopping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The hole has gotten awfully big to plug.

@William “In fact, scanslations-lead-to-customers has long been an excuse for supporting scanslations.”

That’s part of the problem. Publishers turned a blind eye to the scans or used them for market research and now that it is totally out of control (like the wayward rush to write no interest or no down payment loans – I like your example)it is easier to just point fingers than do something about it. Now that “free” reading material is so entrenched in those readers minds, I don’t know how you turn most of them into paying customers.

As far as pricing, pubs really do need to explore other methods of delivering content. Market conditions are very challenging right now, and if the publishers don’t become more flexible or more creative, they are going to continue to struggle.

No publisher sets out to put out subpar product. First, everyone will agree that there are subpar manga on the shelves, but you will never get agreement on exactly what that subpar product is. What you consider trash is somebody else’s favorite manga. And someone else will not see the value in the manga you hold most dear. As far as the publishers are concerned, the very worst of Japan has already been weeded out. They only put out manga that has sold reasonably well in Japan, and has a good chance of selling reasonably here. Even in the worst of the glut, no publisher published a manga just to get books on the shelves. Each licensing decision was thought out. It’s just that there were a lot of manga that was tried and which failed. That always happens in entertainment.

Finally, unless there is some breakthrough in paper and printing prices, the prices for those books aren’t coming down. The companies aren’t printing books at above the $10 mark because they are gouging the fans, quite the opposite, they know very well that the lower the price the better their books would sell. But you can’t lose money on every book but make it up in volume. The prices reflect the costs of doing business.

Many people who read scans do so as the scanlators are much more up to date with ongoing series than western publishers, and I know of lots of people who do just as I do, ie read manga online first, then buy the stuff when its officialy released.

Again, Im not sugesting that most people do not just read scans and never purchase legit manga, but their is a target market out there that scans and online viewing in general can satisfy as a gateway into collecting a series, and I feel it is slightly blinkered to suggest otherwise.

Jeff- When Tokyopop switched to cheaper paper, they got flack for it. Ultimately, companies have to be careful and stealthy about costcutting measures like that.

One suggestion that I can make to publishers is this; use cheaper paper. If I’m not mistaken, in Japan, manga is printed on cheap newspaper-grade paper. The only color is from a tint added to the paper to hide any leftover ink, as the paper can and usually is recycled. In this way, the cost of publishing is kept down.

Tony – I don’t know if scans help sales, the same way that I don’t know if they hurt sales. I still think the people who read them aren’t going to purchase a graphic novel regardless of price or how much they enjoy it.

Leif – I was not surprised to see Yen Plus go, either. I did buy the first few issues, but I don’t like to read manga magazines. I would rather read the graphic novels. The Viz price increase hurt me, too, and now I refuse to purchase a book unless is it on sale somewhere. I can’t pay full price given the quantity that I order! I have also started renting them from the library, which is something that I never did before.

Paploo – I don’t know how a publisher can quantify lost sales of a scanned title. Even if the book was only available in print, and scans magically disappeared, people would just sit in Borders or Barnes and Noble and read the books for free. And like you, I would rather pay 24.99 to complete a series than have it not be published at all. I am still upset that the last volume of Kamui was never published, after I stuck with it for every volume but the last. Argh!

Philip – Viz actually has a very broad range of titles. Biomega certainly can’t be classified as a girls book, and neither can Pluto or Dorohedoro. But you are correct to point out that they are pushing more marketable titles – it only makes sense for them to cash in on what is popular and to maximize whatever profit they can.

Also, I’d rather have a 24.99 omnibus of Mushishi 8-10 then no Mushishi at all- higher priced titles have allowed for more variety, and sometimes value [24.99 for 3 vols of content rather then 11.99 each]

I suggest instead on another version of the Harram manga that the compinies look for the better stuff like The genga weed series a fantastic series about dog’s that has been ignored

I think Dark horse is the only comic company that is doing manga right. they are carful with what books they produce and they don’t really on manga for most of there market now if they would finaly print the sequel to lone wolf and cub they would perfect

good day

If a book sells the same at 12.99 as it does at 9.99, companies will price at at 12.99. Though Vertical, CMX, DHorse and VIZ make up for it by usually give the pricer books better production values w/larger trim, colour inserts and what not.

As far as scanlations go, I read them. I also buy what I read, if it’s out in English. I mostly do it because they are so ahead of what is in english and I want to be up to speed. Viz has solved this problem somewhat by accelerating the releases of some titles like Naruto and One Piece. They also are releasing Rin-Re simultaneously. So some of that has become moot.

Speaking of Viz, I am upset that they increased their books. They used to be $8 and now they’re $10. Viz used to the cheapest books and they still do, but the $2 increase for their line shows when I add up the books I buy at the end of the month.

If anything scans HELP comics in that people have a way to check out books that they wouldn’t have bothered looking at otherwise. In the long run if a book is good enough its going to find its way into someone’s hands. That’s the bottom line. I think that companies go crazy because fans can check out the crappier books for free and realize they’re not worth buying.