Rikki Simons has some bad news for Shutterbox fans: Tokyopop has cancelled the series, which he co-creates with wife Tavisha, although vol. 5 is complete. Simons is philosophical:
I know that this is an impossible thing to ask of the Internet’s denizens, but please don’t lash out at Tokyopop over this. That doesn’t help us or them. This is just the way publishing goes sometimes. We own our copyright and we have a termination clause and our manager is going over it with them. Tokyopop is responding very kindly and we have a sense that everything will work itself out in the end.
From this LJ post, it looks like the earlier volumes will be out of print as well, but presumably Rikki and Tavisha will find a new home for the series soon.
UPDATE: More bad news: Off*Beat, one of my favorite global titles, is on indefinite hiatus. (H/T: NarwhalTortellini.)
John Thomas has some good news and bad news for Dark Horse fans: Three series that people have been wondering about, Bride of the Water God, Shaman Warrior, and Translucent, will all be back, but not for another year. The delay is caused by a change in translators.
Sharpen your pencils! Dust off your Wacoms! Entries are now being accepted for the 3rd Morning International Manga Competition.
And maybe this will help: The Manga University folks have relaunched their website, and they have added a lot of new content, including drawing tutorials and a webcomic version of Moe U.S.A. Check out the preview of their super-cute Manga Cookbook as well.
Fanfare has landed another Jiro Taniguchi manga: Harukana Machi-e, to be retitled A Distant Neighborhood.
SDCC followups: A. E. Sparrow of IGN interviews Fairy Tail creator Hiro Mashima and Bleach manga-ka Tite Kubo and files a report on the Shonen Jump panel. Erin F. covers the Shojo Beat panel for Manga Recon. Deb Aoki posts her interview with Kubo at About.com. At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez has info and cover images for new releases from Bandai, CMX, Dark Horse, and Del Rey.
Reaching back a bit farther, Ed posts his Anime Expo con report on Go! Comi.
I’m going through my in-box and realized that I missed a couple of worthy stories, such as Sandra Scholes’ interview with translator Andrew Cunningham at Active Anime. Andrew talks about Death Note: Another Note and the work of the novelist Nisioisin. Also, The Wise Martian has an interesting post on portrayals of America in manga.
Here’s an interesting discussion of manga leechers who hang out in the bookstores and read manga for free all day. Different voices weigh in in comments. I don’t see much of this in my area, but one of my daughter’s friends admits doing it because she loves manga but has no money to buy it. Discussion question: Given that she’s not going to buy the books anyway, would it be an improvement to direct her to one of the many illicit free manga sites on the web, so at least she won’t be damaging books in the store?
Avid magazine reader Kowai Klack critiques Japanese shoujo manga magazines.
Tiamat’s Disciple thinks manga are getting sexier, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
News from Japan: Manga artist Fujio Akatsuka has died; Mainichi has a nice obituary ANN reports that Death Note creators Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba are about to launch a new manga, Bakuman, and Arina Tanemura is working on a Gentlemen’s Alliance side story. Adam Stephanides takes a look at this month’s issue of Monthly Comic Beam, which sounds interesting and a bit different. At the MangaCast, Ed Chavez bids farewell to Young Sunday, which published its last issue last week, and he starts his Big List of August releases with the BL titles.
Reviews: Erin F. has a thorough review of the first issue of Yen+ at PopCultureShock. I dare you to get through it without laughing out loud. Erin’s Manga Recon colleagues post some mini-reviews of various manga as well. Writer Tanthalos reviews the one-shot BL title In the End at the Escapist Magazine forums and finds a lot to like. At The Star of Malaysia, Pauline Wong says vol. 2 of Sand Chronicles “may be the best shojo manga I have read so far this year.” Chris checks out vol. 1 of Kujibiki Unbalance at Super Hapy Anime Fun Time. The Anime Pulse podcast team reviews vol. 1 of Kujibiki Unbalance and all of Peach Girl. Leroy Douresseaux reviews an all-ages title, vol. 1 of Sugar Princess, at The Comic Book Bin. Jessica Severs posts a brief review of Samurai Champloo for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Tiamat’s Disciple has had a busy weekend, filing reviews of vol. 3 of Comic, vol. 2 of Forest of Gray City, vol. 5 of The Antique Gift Shop, vol. 3 of Legend, vols. 1-20 of Salary Man Kintaro, and vol. 2 of Goong: The Royal Palace. He also gives Go! Comi’s online game O-Play a try. Lissa Pattillo reads vol. 1 of Daemonium at Kuriousity. Ed Chavez has a podcast review of vol. 1 of Kamisama Kazoku up at the MangaCast.
This is just to say thanx for quoting me and thinking the paper of America and manga wrthy of mention. I hope I can continue to recieve acclaim from experienced elders (like you) in the animanga community. See ya!
Jen Lee Quick also has some semi-news of the fate of Off*Beat and her future plans on her DA journal.
http://wulfmune.deviantart.com/
Direct her to free manga at the *library*. Not the bookstore, where she is actively damaging goods they would like to sell, or free manga sites where she is committing IP theft. Get her to a library, whose sole purpose is to supply books, A/V, and other forms of brain food – for free to anyone who walk in the door. She can sit in air conditioned comfort and read her way through dozens of graphic novels – without breaking a single rule or cutting into profits. If the library doesn’t have what she wants, tell her to ask for it! Interlibrary Loan puts millions of publications at her fingertips – and if the library knows that there’s interest, they may by a title the didn’t have before.
I’ve blogged about this before on Okazu. If you want free manga – get thee a library.
Cheers,
Erica
Hungry for Yuri? Have some Okazu!
http://okazu.blogspot.com
That’s a hard one to answer Brigid. I have no problems with scanlation, hell i have over 500gb of them :) But i equaly spend a fortune on buying the manga i like as scanlations.
I think it depends on how she looks at manga really. If she’s just in it for a free ride, then it’s just a matter of time before she finds scanlations anyway. However if she’s just looking for the right series to spend the little cash she has, then i say go scanlation. Find the series you love, then buy it. It’s how i got started. Read a few scanlations, loved the series and bought it. Several series i’m buying, XXXHolic for one, i read as a scanlation. But i still buy the volumes the day they’re released
Also, with regards to Erica’s comment about going to the library, that’s not always an option. Now, granted this is from the UK perspective, but Libraries are very reluctant to bring in manga, they’re even more reluctant to bring in normal graphic novels. The cost v loss ratio is just to high apparently.
I wish libraries did carry more manga, even if they made them reference only so they couldn’t be removed from the library, but it’s not likely to happen any time soon.
Best bet for manga is to join a local manga club (and if there isn’t one, start one!!) and have your own manga library. I know several places in the UK that have done that over the years. You have to pay the price of the manga when you take it out, but you get it back when it’s returned. Anime is the same, you pay a deposit which you get back when the DVD’s are returned
Forgot to add, another good place to hunt for manga is eBay, just recently i bought several long out of print but highly sought for titles for next to nothing. When they arrived they were in near mint condition.
True eBay is a bit risky, but before you buy make sure you read their feedback, and when you do pay, pay using PayPal so you’re covered against frud
I would never direct my child to engage in illegal activities on the Internet. Reading manga in the aisles leads to…reading more manga in the aisles.
Illegal DL of manga off the Internet leads to . . . who knows what? Why not DL anime, music, movies . . . why pay for media again?
The library is a great idea. Manga may not be big in UK libraries, but we are seeing them explode stateside. It gets kids in the door and reading, and that is the goal.
Actually, Stephen Robinson announced the licensing of A Distant Neighborhood a few months back…
Bit of an over reaction there John. Dling manga dosent lead to anything. It’s not like you’re going to turn into a thug just because you’ve dled some manga.
And frankly i’d rather people dled manga than read them in stores. There’s nothing worse than getting home with your lates volume of manga to find someones grubby finger prints all over the inside, the pages bent, and the worst, the spine damaged.
True fans of both manga and anime buy it when they can, hell hard core fans buy it even when they can’t afford it lol
Reading manga in the isles dosen’t just lead to reading more manga in the isles John, it leads to lost profits.
The stores have to sell the damaged books at a reduced cost and they can’t return them for credit. All they can do is stick it in a bargin bin and hope for some recovery from it.
However i also think the stores themselves are partialy to blame for this. They’re to easy going and don’t kick out the moochers. It’s simple, if someone is lying on the floor reading a manga they haven’t paid for, kick them out. If they’ve damaged the book, make them buy it. It’s what we do over here in the UK and guess what, we don’t have many moochers.
The other option, and this is one that several stores here do, is to shrink wrap the volume. If you remove the wrap before buying it, you have to buy the book. Simple, and it works.
Or just do what i do when i find them :) Last time i was in a store with a moocher who wouldn’t move, despite being asked several times, i stood on him and used him as a stool so i could get the title i was after. Oddly, he never came back to the store after that.
The stores in the US seem to be to soft on them, you need to come down hard, but fairly on them. I spend a fortune in my local store, but if i’m caught reading a volume (which does happen now and again) i get told off. Stores need to retake their isles from the moochers. Have the security guard pop round every now and then, and if he catches some one, kick them out. Same for the staff. If they refuse to leave, call the cops and have them arrested for theft. Thats happened over here in the UK, successfully as well. Several moochers were arrested and prosecuted for theft for reading and damaging several volumes of manga.
Get tough on them, it’s as simple as that.
A general note to people who have manga-scare libraries-
If you find there’s not enough Manga in your local libraries, you and other should let the librarians know. Libraries based the majority of their acquisitions on what people ask them for. Reviews, special sales, and reputations play a role, but a lot of it is just “Say, do you guys have Naruto?”
If you ask for manga, take out whatever manga they have available via interbranch loan or at the library itself, and tell others to do the same, there will be more manga at your library.
I don’t think it is an overreaction to discourage the confusing message of saying “It’s better to DL your manga as your grubby hands will wreck the book for paying customers.” If a child cannot afford to buy manga, she can’t afford to buy CDs and can’t afford to go to the movies or buy anime DVDs. You are opening up a can of worms when you allow one illegal behavior, but not another that look almost exactly the same.
Being able to read manga is a priviledge, not a right. A lot of work goes into bringing titles from overseas, and every non-sale hurts.
If a teenager has time to sit in the bookstore all afternoon and read manga, he has time to get a part-time job. Two hours of mowing lawns or flipping burgers should be more than enough to pick up a title, AND he will appreciate the value of the title that much more.
I agree, Tiamat, it is only in the stores’ best interest to keep non-customers from damaging the books. The problem is that many big box stores now have coffee shops and sofas for customers to preview their titles before buying. To pick on teens reading manga while “adult” customers are reading other books at the same time will be hard. The solution: shrink-wrap all the titles.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on that point i think John, since i honestly have no problems telling someone to go get scanlations or fansubs. Every manga i’ve ever bought, and every anime i’ve ever bought, started out as either a scanlation or fansub.
Originaly it was because i didn’t have a lot of cash, and i wanted to spend it on titles i would love and watch/read over and over. Later, because i didn’t like how publishers handled some series, (script re-writes etc etc) and wanted only to buy the best.
Moochers will never buy a title John. Dosen’t matter if they’re reading the title in the store, or dling it from the net. It’s not a lost sale because they never intended to buy it originally.
The problem is though john they aren’t just previewing the manga. How long does it take to read the average novel? When i used to read fantasy novels i could devour one in about four hours straight. A manga volume takes me 10-20 miutes depending on the thickness. I do’t have issues with people reviewing manga, i do it all the time, especially with publishers i’m wary about buying from *cough*Viz and TP*cough*. But i don’t sit on the floor and read the volume from cover to cover, bending the spine and pages, or leaving finger prints all over the pages.
At best i read a chapter, by that point i can usually tell whether it’s worth buying the volume. If not i put it back and look for something else.
I agree though, shrink wrapping is the best solution, and then force them to buy it if they remove the wrapper. There are laws in the UK that can force you buy something you’ve damged or defaced, surely you americans have them as well.
First off, I’m going to be a little lazy, and quote my response to Icystorm: “As a former musician & songwriter, I have listened to lots of arguments from all sides about the wisdom (or not) of giving art away, and whether or not it hurts or helps artists overall. I realize that your argument here is not exactly the same thing, but I think I end up coming down on the same side as I did when the arguments were about people leeching free music. Personally, I think anything that allows people to get or stay interested in manga is good for manga. People who leech free manga in the aisles of Borders and B&N will go home and talk about manga at school, or online with their friends. Even if that leech ruins one book that he/she will never buy, chances are, some of his/her friends/relatives/co-workers/random eavesdroppers *will*, which may sell two or three books for each one manhandled by the leech. I know I’m always rambling on about the series I love to my friends, in person and online, and while I know some of them head straight for scanlations, or end up standing in the aisles at B&N, more of them have gone out and bought the books for themselves. And now they are telling *their* friends about the same series, inspiring more purchases, and more interest in manga. B&N decided years ago that they could sell more books if they encouraged free reading in the store, and considering that they haven’t changed that policy all this time, I’d say it’s probably going well. So as annoying as the leeches are, blocking the aisles and carelessly handing the books, I think that overall, they are probably helping to fuel the manga business.”
Talking specifically about scanlations, though, heh, I admit my biggest problem with them is how incoherent the translations often are. Is it ridiculous to be concerned about artistry rather than legality? I hope not. But if I’m going to back up my earlier argument, I’d have to say that I think it’s easier to get hooked on well-presented manga, and it is people who get hooked to spread the word to others. Also, I’d rather the leechers were pointing potential buyers to a product to be purchased.
As a quick response to all the library discussion in this thread, I have to say that something I’ve found very depressing is the fact that my local libraries do not seem to carry any manga at all, let alone the titles I would be interested in recommending to others. It’s sad, but true. We don’t all have the libraries to turn to!
If publishers want to give away their titles for free, that should be up to the publishers how it is done, not the scanners and uploaders.
Publishers will give titles to libraries for free. I know Dark Horse does it. They want people reading the titles and talking about it and spreading the word. Ask your librarian.
In the end, it is the bookstore’s responsibility to keep these manga vampires out of the aisles. I would say SOLE responsibility. After Barnes and Noble and Borders set up these faux European cafes inside their stores with couches and and chairs, they WANT people to come and read their books for free! Even my city library is putting in a cafe. It’s just the latest and greatest bourgeois lifestyle. Something for nothing. I don’t care if people look through the manga, but take it to a table or something. Don’t sit in the aisle. In one of my recent podcasts I talked about going to the manga section in Barnes and Noble and seeing two puberty age girls HITTING each other with manga as they argued about Fruits Basket! And playfully throwing them at each other. And this falls back on the parents for letting idiot children run around unsupervised. At Borders recently there was a whole family of kids sitting leaning against the aisles reading manga. They didn’t come alone. If you don’t have the money for manga, then you just have to do without or as some have suggested, go to your library. Find a friend that will let you read theirs. I grew up reading American comic books and I didn’t have a lot of money, but you couldn’t and still can’t stand in a comic store or god forbid, sit on the floor and read through a comic store’s whole collection for free. They’d ask you to leave or buy something. It just boggles my mind that there are people out there that just expect you to give them manga for free. Or they expect to be able to read them for free. There are lots of people with very little money in the world and trust me, the last thing on their mind is manga. One of my friends at work has a kid that is into manga and anime but they don’t have a lot of extra money. So whatever books or dvds I don’t want but think would appeal to him, I pass on to her son and its cool because he’s always excited to get them. You need to find some friends that are into manga and pool your resources. You can buy different titles and then borrow from each other. Most libraries do have at least some of the most popular titles. But in the end, to me, and I know it sounds harsh, but if you don’t have the money to buy manga, then you should be able to do without. You’re not going to die or anything.
To me, the people that are into scanalations are not those who don’t want to pay for manga. They are fans that don’t want to wait years for a book to be translated, if ever. And the people that read them are in a similar situation. They don’t want to wait 2 years to catch up to the Japanese editions of Naruto. Viz needs to start putting their stuff online, along with the other publishers, so fans can PAY for what they want. They are fighting a losing battle right now. Do you know how much money they could make from fans that want to see the latest chapters of something like Naruto or Inuyasha or One Piece? TONS! They should carefully look at what has become of almost all the major record companies and see what the penalty for not adapting new technologies is.
John T: “Publishers will give titles to libraries for free. I know Dark Horse does it. They want people reading the titles and talking about it and spreading the word. Ask your librarian.”
This actually is not necessarily as easy as you make it sound. Here’s a story. I love Banana Fish. Now, Banana Fish is a difficult series to try out, because it is not easily found in stores (I’ve only ever seen one or two scattered copies for sale at stores near me), so pretty much the only thing you can do is take a chance and buy a volume or two online and just suck it up if it turns out you don’t like it. Fortunately, I did like it, and now own all 19 volumes. I’ve gone on and on about it to my friends online, a few of which have also taken the chance, and have now bought all 19 volumes for themselves. One of these friends actually works at a library in the Seattle area, and she felt so strongly that the series should be available for reading, that she put in a request for the library to acquire it. What the library decided to do instead was to go outside their local system and borrow the first volume for her from another library. In *Spokane*. If you have any idea of how far Spokane is from Seattle, you can imagine how frustrating and impractical it would be for a person to attempt to read the entire series in this manner. Now, you’re not going to find the leechers hanging out in the B&N aisles reading Banana Fish, because you won’t see it on the shelves (again, at least not any I’ve been to), but honestly, I kind of wish they could. It’s hard to get people to shell out cash for something they have no way of knowing if they’ll like beforehand.
The analogy to the record industry is flawed. The LP was something of a fluke; if you look at the history of recorded sound, you’ll see that the album enjoyed a brief period of dominance, sales-wise, but the single has always been a cornerstone of the industry. With the advent of MP3 technology, many people have adopted an a la carte approach to buying music, favoring individual tracks over entire albums, thus reverting to an earlier distribution model. I don’t know too many people whose manga buying habits follow this logic; most fans I know are completists, and want to read an entire series in volume order, not sample dozens of chapters from different series.
I also don’t buy the viral marketing argument. By circumventing legitimate distribution channels, scanlators and bookstore browsers hurt sales of all titles, whether or not they’re generating much buzz among fans. Bottom line: if you live in the US and can’t afford to buy manga, use the library. If your library doesn’t own the books you want, investigate interlibrary loan services. Many public libraries have exchange programs that allow you to request a book from another town’s collection—they’ll even deliver the book to your local branch. I’ve been doing this with older, hard-to-find series, saving my money for brand new titles or books I want for my permanent collection.
Katherine: “I also don’t buy the viral marketing argument. By circumventing legitimate distribution channels, scanlators and bookstore browsers hurt sales of all titles, whether or not they’re generating much buzz among fans.”
I don’t know how you can dismiss this so easily. In an eerie coincidence, after seeing this entry this morning, I went to an appointment with my massage therapist this afternoon, and as I’m there on the table, she starts talking to me about having been into B&N over the weekend to look at cookbooks, and how there were all these people in the, “How do you say it? Manga?” aisle, reading. I mentioned then that I read manga, and she asked me what kinds of genres there were, and at the end of our discussion, now she’s probably going to check out the aisle herself the next time she goes there. All because there were leeches reading in the aisle.
To be clear, I’m not a leech. I buy manga. I just think the leeches overall are probably doing more good than harm to the industry as a whole.
The “graphic novel” shelf at my local library grew from maybe a couple dozen anthologies to now two full chest-high shelves. Though they are rarely full as the manga titles (over half the collection) are constantly being checked out.
Getting books into libraries is essential, according to Dark Horse editor Carl Horn at a workshop earlier in the year, and DH even has a site dedicated to libraries: http://libraries.darkhorse.com/index.php
Is it easy to get your librarian to participate? I don’t know, but from what I have seen, once the ball gets rolling it is hard to slow down.
I think the excuse that DL illegally to “preview” a title is a little weak. DH has preview pages of all their titles. Amazon often has preview pages. More publishers are putting legit copies of titles online to generate interest. As you said, Melinda, many legit manga readers are “completists” so once you know you are into a title, the need to DL illegally is diminished for legit readers.
But I want to bring the focus back to Brigid’s original question:
Discussion question: Given that she’s not going to buy the books anyway, would it be an improvement to direct her to one of the many illicit free manga sites on the web, so at least she won’t be damaging books in the store?
I think anytime you send a signal that an illegal or unethical activity is OK to a child, you are opening the door who knows what later down the road, so my answer would be unequivocally. But I might say “Help with with dinner tonight, and I’ll buy that title for you.” or “Mow the lawn this weekend, and whatever title you want to read is yours.”
I read that “discussion” the question was linked to, and I found it a little disturbing, and made me feel a little better in my feeling that you should never encourage children to pirate materials. The OP there feels very justified in his own piracy of anime and video games, but can’t forgive aisleway manga readers.
I fear the idea of working to earn the money to purchase something you want has become as old-fachioned as churning butter.
Justifications like “they aren’t losing any profit…” etc. are tossed out, but stealing is still stealing. Taking something without paying for it is wrong, whether or not you would have paid for it or not. Despite the fantasy sales-charts we can twist logic into showing piracy leads to higher sales, the fundamental question must be answered first. Is taking something that is not yours right? I think we all know the answer to that.
” Justifications like “they aren’t losing any profit…” etc. are tossed out, but stealing is still stealing. Taking something without paying for it is wrong, whether or not you would have paid for it or not. ”
Isn’t this exactly what aisle readers are doing? Stealing? It’s wrong to DL scanlations, but it’s fine to aisle read?
Yes it is stealing, they’re reading the volume without buying it, and usually several volumes. I was talking with a chap on MSN and he told me of a girl who read the entire Fruits Basket series, then left without buying. If that’s not stealing i don’t know what is.
I never said there was anthing OK with aisle reading. Both are unjustifiable.
When I compared the manga industry to the recording industry what I meant was that they missed the boat on technology. Or at least adapting to it and using it to make profit. They actually FOUGHT against new ways of delivering their product. And then they sued the people that listened to their music. Because they were frightened. All the while using the data they collected on the illegal filesharing for their own marketing department. In the end they made deals with some of the very websites they tried to shut down. That’s the problem with the anime and manga industry. They are at a loss as to the next step. And they are burning and crashing just like the music industry labels. Maybe it really comes down to the fact that they are just not smart enough to figure out how to deliver their product.
I do think that some of the anime companies are getting smarter by releasing dvds with no dub and English subtitles at an earlier date than the dub version and at a cheaper price. This is a good first step because the hard core fans could care less about dubs. Why should I pay extra money for a dub I don’t even listen to? Why should I wait longer for a release because of a dub I don’t listen to? The manga publishers need to try something different as well. Manga lovers need a new way to get the newest and most interesting Japanese manga in a magazine or online instead of waiting years. There has to be a way other than illegally to get the newest chapters of a title like Naruto. Yen Plus is a gentle first start in that direction, but I would something more radical than it. Some sort of online magazine of japanese titles that have run in the past couple of weeks.
I’m sorry I missed this discussion as it started!
Just to chime in as a librarian, with advice for all those folks who want to see more manga in your libraries: Ask for it! As Andre said, most libraries are very interested in what their patrons ask for, not just what is deemed popular by general consensus. If you’re frustrated with your library’s lack of manga, go to the Reference Desk and make a purchase request. If your library doesn’t seem to have a graphic novel or manga section (especially if it’s only in teen, or only in Children’s) go talk to the Reference librarians, and the Director, and the Board of Trustees. The more the powerful folks within in the library realize there is a demand, and a diverse demand including adults as well as younger readers, and you’ve buzzed in their ears, then you are much more likely to have a solid collection in your local library.
No, not every library can afford to get every series. And while publishers like Dark Horse and many others are generous with review copies, they do not simply send out piles of free graphic novels to libraries in general. We have to buy them. However, Katherine is also right — getting manga from other libraries is great way to go, especially for older or out of print titles. We have this nifty thing called Worldcat, or the World Catalog, which means we can find pretty much any title anywhere in the world, and yes, we can get it for you. I once got a CLAMP art book to flip through when there were only five copies owned in the world by libraries — but I got it in a week. No, it’s not going to be instant gratification, but seriously, must everything be? I’m happy to wait for a book I really want to read, especially as it’s not like I’m going to run out reading material…ever.
Sometimes we also just need the extra request for a specific title — for example, the discussion here about Banana Fish made me remember that title, and think “Gee, we don’t have that here, I should totally go buy it for our adult collection.” Happily, I have a fairly substantial budget at my disposal, so I can do that, but having someone talk about the series is the trigger for me to remember that someone in our system should own it, and I’m happy to have my library be that institution.
As I work in a library, I fully admit that I very, very rarely buy any books any more. I not longer have an attachment to having the physical book, and now am much more likely to donate books when I’m finished with them anyway. To me, it’s more important to request the library buy a book, if they haven’t already, because then it’s not just me that gets to read a great story — it’s now out there for other people to discover and enjoy.
In my experience with teens who read manga, and I run my library’s manga and anime club so I hear from them often, the biggest reason they read manga online is that they want the latest story (not yet translated here) and they really don’t have any sense of the fact that it’s illegal. I’ve now enlightened a lot of them with the idea of copyright, and why it’s a problem, but I don’t know how much that will prevent them from reading online, if at all.
However, the teens I know do not only read online. They read everywhere. Yes, they read in the aisles of Barnes and Noble, but they also read in the library (and hey, we have comfier chairs, and they’re supposed to be reading here.) They now know to ask me for what they want to read, and I’ll buy it. Will this stop them from reading some titles online? No. Will they discover more obscure and older titles? Yes. Will they buy the titles they read online? I’ve asked them, and no. They do expect the library to buy them — to have the complete series — and they will reread here. There is no easy fix for all of this, but honestly, I’m if libraries can be a part of the solution!
It’s great to hear a librarian’s perspective! Thank you.
If Barnes & Noble and Borders does not have a problem with it or even has an informal policy allowing it, we shouldn’t have a problem with it either. Until a sale is made, it is their property and no-one has the right to question what they allow their potential customers to do with it. Perhaps they feel that allowing customers to browse or read books in the store leads to some additional purchases. Perhaps they just wish to sell coffee. It really doesn’t matter why they do not prohibit it. As for damaged goods, that’s what returns are for. Sure, it ultimately hurts the publishers—not the bookstores. But that’s the price you pay when you sell your goods on a returnable basis. I can’t fault the bookstores for using that to their advantage. If the publishers don’t like it, negotiate more favorable contracts. If you can’t, that’s life.
Now certainly, if the store asks you to desist, you should. With that said, I don’t see what the problem is. If you don’t like what B&N and Borders allows—as either a customer or a publisher—take it up with them. As far as I know, they have not commented publically on the issue and frequently do not ask those who partake in the practice to cease. As such, I think we can assume that, as of right now, they do not prohibit it.
I do not personally read manga in stores and rarely purchase it (I prefer to shop online and at used bookstores myself). I do often go into Borders, order a cup of tea, and study. That’s not really that different.
As a librarian, I too wanted to chime in on the discussion of manga and libraries. We buy all our copies. Sometimes, we get donations, then need to track down the missing volumes which can be hard if it is already out of print. Yes, librarians welcome all suggestions, please talk to us, drop us notes. We buy manga for manga readers and when you tell us what you are reading our collection and want more, it is very encouraging to know the books are getting use. An interesting phenomenon at our libraries is the number of aisle readers here too. The kids plant themselves on the floor right next to the manga racks and read. We tell them to check them out, they can sit on a nice library chair…but they prefer reading in the aisles. If they would only checkout those books, then those all important statistics would show that the manga is getting use and we could justify a bigger budget allotment or even fight to maintain the collection.
June’s comment also brought up another thought — we in the library keep track of what we call “internal use”, or when someone picks up a book in the building, reads it, and leaves it on a table. That counts as a circulation, and I’ve started keeping track of all of my graphic novels that way simply because so many people do read them in house without ever checking them out.
Is that something that bookstores even care about or keep track of? I wonder.
Shipon said: “Sure, it ultimately hurts the publishers—not the bookstores.”
And what happens when the publishers get hurt and sales are diminished?
Still think we shouldn’t have a problem with it?
@Shipon, have you ever been caught in a bottle neck because of mooches?
A mate of mine in the states has. he went to buy some volumes and found the aisle blocked with moochers who refused to move. In the end he didn’t buy anything. End result, store lost over $100 of sales that day, and lost a customer who spends more on manga in a month than i spend in a year lol
He now shops purely online. The more people move to online stores the more it’s going to hurt frontline stores.
As for returns, from a UK perspective it’s not as easy as you think. Manga can only be returned if it was damaged in transit or the store has decided it wont sell. Books that have been damaged through moochers can not be returned, and it’s upto the stores to absorb the loss of revenue.
As for the loss to the publisher, guess you missed whats happened to Tokyopop and several smaller publishers over the past few years because stores did huge returns that almost put them out of business??
TP are still trying to restructure and no one knows for definate which titles are being axed yet, or the impact its going to have on the industry as a whole.
I just stopped by my local Kinokuniya, and like stores in Japan, they shrink-wrap ALL the manga (Japanese and English). They do a booming business, and have “sample books” tied to strings so people can preview a handful of titles without worrying about ruining the merchandise. It’s not rocket science. So they have to take the time to shrink-wrap everything…seems like it is probably worth it.
The problem with shrinkwrap is that people just take it off. It’s usually only the mature titles or when when Viz includes an item with the manga, but I would say the shrinkwrap is off at Borders or Barnes about half the time, and that’s a conservative estimate. The problem is that bookstores like that are too big. A comic store is usually small enough to where the employees can easily keep an eye on the books, so they would see someone removing the wrap. I wonder if Barnes or Borders has ever commented on this practice somewhere. I’m sure they have. I buy about 70% of my manga online now from Amazon or Justmanga so that’s definitely the best way to avoid people having messed them up. When I go to Borders or a real bookstore, its more for buying titles I wasn’t able to get online for some reason or that are on the shelves before their official release date.