Dearest Vertical, You hold a special place in my heart for
Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:07 am
Dearest Vertical, You hold a special place in my heart for having brought the works of one of my favorite authors, Koji Suzuki, to the states (heck, I wouldn't even know of him if not for you) and a translation of Parasite Eve. I consider you something of a ray of hope for translations of things that seem like they will stay in Japan for being the written word rather than anime or manga. Have you considered the Monogatari novel series? It seems like a good fit and I think it would be popular.
Hmm… Personally, yes. And most of us here are big fans of the series. However, fandom and business does not always make for the best of partners, especially when dealing with prose.Now I think the Monogatari series would be something that could do quite well in English. However, the fact that it is a series and a long on-going series at that makes it very very difficult for us. Ideally, I would like to simply do one arc but I am not sure how the readership would respond to that knowing that there is so much more. Now, just to clue you in, in case you haven’t seen our previous posts about light novels… There are many factors as to why light novels tend to be a bit of a challenge. The biggest issue is something that can be overcome through more exposure but it is impacted by the rest of these factors - lack of readership. By far the best selling light novels have not come close to the numbers of the best selling manga out there (actually few light novels do as well as most mid-level manga). So with that in mind, since light novels and novels in general cost around 10 to 40-times as much as a manga (depending on length) to translate and sales are usually 10 times less than most manga, they are not cost efficient. That is why Vertical tends to release novels that are one-shots or are really short series (2-3 vols). Editing novels also take way more time than manga. Obviously a translation can take months, compared to weeks for manga, and editing can take just as long (and given NishiOishin’s love of creating his own written language through visual puns, editing and translating would be extremely time-consuming). Seventeen volumes of the Monogatari series would possibly take us 6 or seven years to go through, in a perfect world…
In the case of the Ring series, Parasite Eve, or Naoko the potential for a breakout hit due to mass-media attention (in this case live action movies or video games, which are much larger media markets than anime/manga) really help (especially when those movies are redone in English by western studios). Cult hits, while important could be left to literature, which we do, but are a big financial risk for expensive pop-culture, like light novels. That said, things are improving here financially. And we are scheduled to do more prose starting this summer…So, who knows maybe someday a property like Monogatari can find its way to shelves in North America (I just cannot see all 17 volumes getting translated…at least, not unless something changes with how professional translations and edits get funded).
Hmm… Personally, yes. And most of us here are big fans of the series. However, fandom and business does not always make for the best of partners, especially when dealing with prose.Now I think the Monogatari series would be something that could do quite well in English. However, the fact that it is a series and a long on-going series at that makes it very very difficult for us. Ideally, I would like to simply do one arc but I am not sure how the readership would respond to that knowing that there is so much more. Now, just to clue you in, in case you haven’t seen our previous posts about light novels… There are many factors as to why light novels tend to be a bit of a challenge. The biggest issue is something that can be overcome through more exposure but it is impacted by the rest of these factors - lack of readership. By far the best selling light novels have not come close to the numbers of the best selling manga out there (actually few light novels do as well as most mid-level manga). So with that in mind, since light novels and novels in general cost around 10 to 40-times as much as a manga (depending on length) to translate and sales are usually 10 times less than most manga, they are not cost efficient. That is why Vertical tends to release novels that are one-shots or are really short series (2-3 vols). Editing novels also take way more time than manga. Obviously a translation can take months, compared to weeks for manga, and editing can take just as long (and given NishiOishin’s love of creating his own written language through visual puns, editing and translating would be extremely time-consuming). Seventeen volumes of the Monogatari series would possibly take us 6 or seven years to go through, in a perfect world…
In the case of the Ring series, Parasite Eve, or Naoko the potential for a breakout hit due to mass-media attention (in this case live action movies or video games, which are much larger media markets than anime/manga) really help (especially when those movies are redone in English by western studios). Cult hits, while important could be left to literature, which we do, but are a big financial risk for expensive pop-culture, like light novels. That said, things are improving here financially. And we are scheduled to do more prose starting this summer…So, who knows maybe someday a property like Monogatari can find its way to shelves in North America (I just cannot see all 17 volumes getting translated…at least, not unless something changes with how professional translations and edits get funded).