It’s time the get things started again! The world of publishing has been through quite a lot since last I wrote about it!
Category: General (Page 1 of 3)
I’m pouring one out for JManga. Today, May 30, 2013 is the last day of the service before its complete shutdown. Can’t really say why exactly it failed. I’ve read elsewhere that even its most popular titles only sold in the hundreds of copies. And I’ve read speculation that the marketing was not as good as it could be, or that there were just too many pirate manga sites to complete with.
In any case, I was a paying customer who will miss them. Thank you JManga.
CNET News reports that printer sales are declining in the face of the rising popularity of digital alternatives. As smartphones and tablets become the devices of choice for displaying what one might once have printed on paper, both printer and paper sales are in decline. I think that with the 7 inch tablet form factor ready to explode with the arrival of the Nexus 7 and others on the horizon, this decline will only accelerate. As one who over the years has wrestled mightily with balky printers, and expensive toner, I won’t be shedding any tears when they finally disappear.
As I prepare for Anime Central this weekend, I am pleased to announce the publication of OMG Kawaii Desu!: A parent’s guide to anime, manga, and cosplay! This book has been in the works for the last year or so, somewhat later than I had first planned. So thank you to everyone for your patience!
About the book:
Your kids are watching cartoons with apple loving demons and magical schoolgirls, mixing Japanese words you don’t understand with their English, reading black and white comic books backwards, and wearing strange costumes. What’s a parent to do? First don’t panic, it’s okay. Your kids are just fans of Japanese anime, manga, and cosplay. This guide is intended to give you an educated look into the world your kids have embraced.
Sailor Moon Volume 3 was easily found at retail, others manga titles, not so much.
A few days ago, I made a visit to the Barnes & Noble bookstore at DePaul University Center in Chicago. I just wanted to see how big the store was compared to the large one on North State Street. And I also wanted to see what their manga collection consisted of and how extensive it was.
Given that the larger bookstore doesn’t have the greatest manga collection to begin with, I wasn’t expecting very much. I had hoped that being at the university, the manga collection might reflect the interests of a manga reading college demographic. Sadly, this was not the case. What I found instead was a small collection that seemed to consist of random volumes and orphaned Tokyopop titles. It looked like a clearance shelf whose only notable new titles consisted of Sailor Moon volumes.
Disheartened, I decided to stop by Graham Crackers, a comics shop, to see what manga they might have. I already knew from previous visits that manga was not to be found in large quantities there, but I was hopeful of finding a few interesting titles. What I found sunk my heart further as there was even less manga there than my last visit of perhaps a year ago. The only new titles I saw were a few volumes of Highschool of the Dead.
Given that the print only title Sailor Moon topped the New York Times best sellers list for manga for several weeks, clearly someone is still buying manga in print, but my own experiences seem to imply that finding manga at retail bookstores is becoming more difficult. So it may be that the large drop in the number of bookstores, and particularly the loss of manga friendly Borders, has driven most printed manga sales online. I’ve been forced to buy most of my printed manga from Amazon simply because I cannot find it at retail anymore.
When available, I’ve been buying manga in digital format primarily from Viz and JManga. I can only wonder if sales of digital manga are making up for the loss of sales at retail. Still, not every popular manga title licensed in the U.S. is available, legally, in digital format. So lack of retail outlets, coupled with an internet savvy, but too young to easily buy online manga demographic, can only point to lowered print sales and perhaps upward pressure on piracy.
Right now it looks like print manga is in full retreat at retail. As a manga lover, I can only hope that all manga titles licensed for sale in the U.S. will also be available in digital format soon. There’s no turning back now.
As most people know by now, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. If I had to name one person who’s had the most influence on what technology I use and how I use it, it would have to be Steve Jobs. This site and the Learncrest venture exist and are empowered largely by Macintosh, iPhone, and iPad. And my own ideas about technology and aesthetics have been heavily influenced by the vision he promoted at Apple.
So rest in peace Steve. Now it’s time for the rest of use to take your vision of beauty and technology and make it uniquely our own.
One of the current controversies in Chicago is Mayor Emanuel’s proposal to add 90 minutes to the school day. The idea is to use the additional time for reading and math. Needless to say, the teachers are not happy with the largely unilateral way this was introduced, ignoring the collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union.
As my wife and I discussed this, we quickly realized that adding 90 minutes is not going to solve the most fundamental problem facing the system. How do we get more talented and motivated teachers into the schools? Initiatives such as Teach For America and various alternative certification programs have had some limited success.
They have drawn young, energetic, and motivated people from the colleges and professions into teaching. But most do not remain in teaching beyond their initial 2 year commitment, in the case of Teach For America for example. This should not be surprising given the extraordinary challenges many teachers face in the classroom, and the relatively low pay of teaching relative to other professions that those with great talent and skill might have available to them. In particular, highly talented women have far more opportunities available to them than only a few decades ago when teaching was the best career they could hope for outside of the home.
Most of the effort to abate this situation has been aimed at increasing teacher pay. But the brutal, honest facts are that through our actions, we as a society do not value teaching enough to do that. Teacher pay and benefits are not going to increase enough to attract and retain the best and brightest among us. So what do we do?
Back in the late 70’s, one proposed design for fusion reactors, the Riggatron, was planned around the use of cheap copper wired electromagnets rather than much more expensive superconducting magnets for the plasma containment field. These magnets would have to be closer to the plasma and would only last about 30 days. So the Riggatron was designed so that the magnets could be replaced quickly and easily, like changing a burnt out light bulb.
I think it is better to have a series of great teachers for a couple of years each, than a less talented one for a couple of decades. Why not expand and enhance programs like Teach For America so that there are enough of these young teachers to fill the naturally occuring openings in the schools as teachers retire and move on to other pursuits? Our students would benefit greatly from the wide diversity of talent, skill, and perspective such a system would engender. And I think our society would also benefit from having more of its members experience teaching as a profession.
Anyone who’s been following the Borders saga is probably not surprised at the news that Borders is closing its remaining stores and liquidating. Like watching the decline of an ailing old friend, I’m somewhat relieved that Borders will soon be out of its misery. All remaining stores may close as early as this Friday.
That Borders execs continued to seek bonuses even as the company sank, seems like some surreal necrophilic episode as this ordeal draws to a close. Much has already been made of the company’s failure to compete with Amazon and the rise of eBooks. But in the end, I think shortsighted, greedy executives killed what was once a great bookstore chain.
The demise of Borders is going to leave publishers with a lot fewer places to sell books and ultimately with a lot less leverage on Amazon. Like Apple was to the music industry, the demise of the large bookstore chain is casting Amazon into a similar role in publishing. If publishers want to stay in business and sell books, they have to play ball with Amazon whether in print or eBook format for the Kindle.
While Barnes & Noble can offer some alternative for publishers right now, it remains to be seen whether or not they themselves will escape Borders’ fate. Reports are that the Nook is doing well versus the Kindle, but the balance of our own eBook sales here at Learncrest points up an enormous Kindle advantage. Titles are moving on the Kindle but not so much on the Nook. And while Barnes & Noble stands to gain Borders customers in places where they have stores nearby, those readers farther away will likely turn to Amazon. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of marketing pitch B&N will make to woo those orphaned readers. Heavily discounted Nooks would be nice!
If anyone had any doubts that the book business had changed forever, they can be sure now. Rest in peace Borders old friend. Rest in peace.
As Borders reports that it needs an additional $50 million to reorganize, an interesting new bookstore has popped up in New York City. A so called, monobookist bookstore. This bookstore opened in a modest space, stocked with 3000 copies…of one book!
To celebrate the launch of his new book about the Phoenix Mars mission, author Andrew Kessler constructed a “monobookist bookstoreâ€â€“a temporary shop stocked with more than 3,000 copies of Martian Summer.
I’d been wondering when we might start to see the rise of boutique bookstores as the eBooks become the preferred way to consume literature. These boutique bookstores would be in small spaces, about the size of a cafe coffee shop, and they would only stock a few copies of the most popular new books. A monobookist bookstore is the extreme example of this, but makes the point well. A boutique bookstore would exist first and foremost to promote the works of the featured authors.
Selling a few copies on site would be nice, but I think the ultimate goal should be to increase sales of the author’s eBook catalog. Physical books can be great marketing tools used this way, but I’d probably plan to support the shop itself more on coffee and muffin sales than on the books themselves. No long term leases here!
A boutique bookstore should be an ephemeral thing, a temporary place to launch some books, sell some coffee, and host author signings. And don’t forget the free Wi-Fi to sell those eBooks too!
We’ll always have printed books, but the new star is the eBook. The bookstore itself is only dust in the wind.
The Anime News Network has confirmed that Tokyopop will close its publishing operation on May 31. Love them or hate them, this is big blow for American manga fans. Tokyopop was one of the oldest manga publishers in the US and did much to popularize manga here. They will be missed.
The fate of their digital manga publishing project and remaining print titles is yet to be announced. It seems likely that other publishers will pick up the rights to popular titles. I hope that the passing of Tokyopop from the publishing business marks a bottom of sorts for the collapse of the manga market in the US.
This latest news is more evidence that the traditional print publishing business model is no longer viable, particularly for niche publications like manga, graphic novels, and comics. The massive rush to digital comics I saw at C2E2 this year was no accident. The industry insiders already know that with fewer physical bookstores, that digital is the only way to cut costs, combat piracy, and reach a consumer base that clearly wants digital product. Going digital will also allow them to monetize extensive back catalogs of books in a way never before possible.
Sadly, it appears Tokyopop won’t be around to take part in the digital transition. RIP Tokyopop, you brought me Fruits Basket for which I will always be grateful.