Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?
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I figure this is a long shot but I think I saw that recently J-Novel club said it is unlikely that they will license any series that are over 5 years old.
Obviously I know that J-Novel is a business and if those licenses don't make enough money for it to be viable then that is completely understandable but there are some older series that I would love to get translated so I was wondering if maybe J-Novel might consider doing Kickstarter for some of their most requested old series?
For example I really want to see Wise Man's Grandchild get licensed and as it is currently the second most upvoted license suggestion on the forums it seems to imply I am not the only one who would be interested.
To mitigate the risk on J-Novels end they could run a Kickstarter for it, maybe they could even have stretch goals for things like a physical release.
Of course I have no idea about the process of licensing a series or running a Kickstarter and I don't know if it would even be plausible for J-Novel Club to do such, I just wanted to suggest it on the off chance it would work. -
@Perplexed it is something JNC has commented on before, and I can't find the exact details, but it was that it was not something they'd be likely to do.
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@GeorgeMTO said in Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?:
@Perplexed it is something JNC has commented on before, and I can't find the exact details, but it was that it was not something they'd be likely to do.
you said, "Most likely to do" ...
But they did already once (at least with Knight's and Magic) https://j-novel.club/series/knight-s-magic#volume-1
they licences it on 2023. (start publishing barely 2 year ago, 2th July 2023)
Kadokawa's "Book * Walker" Japan had it listed https://bookwalker.jp/de4fbd3ef8-1716-4bc5-8a81-cceb532e46c9/作品情報
シリーズ
ナイツ＆マジック（ヒーロー文庫）
著者
天酒之瓢(著)
黒銀(イラスト)
レーベル
ヒーロー文庫
出版社
主婦の友社
カテゴリ
ライトノベル
配信開始日 > Distribution start date
2017/6/27 (digital on B*W) by 2022, it was already 5 Y.O.
底本発行日 > "original date"
2013/1
ページ; 335 概数 (335 pages aprox) -
btw, not to mention "Slayers" ... which his anime adaptation was on the mid-late 1990's ...
And his outhor had publised 2 new volumes recently. (original series run for 15 volumes, and now is 17)
JNC Vol. 1 Part one streamed on 2020-07-04 ... until last Part 4- volume 17, streamed on 2022-12-12
whole series in a bit over 2 years streaming.
and it even had "Kanzenban" deluxe (3-in-1) Print.So if the series is enough "popular" and has not too many volumes... (& probably is aproaching an aniversary date) ... it might get a chance...
is my guess. XDD
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@Ekun said in Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?:
you said, "Most likely to do" ...
Where on earth did I say that?
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They could do it, and actually have done it once for Rokujouma. But the fact that they haven't done it since suggests that it wasn't an experience they're eager to repeat.
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@saffire I would consider doing only a kickstarter for a print edition of an already licensed series to be significantly different to doing a kickstarter in order to license an unlicensed series for digital release, such that it wouldn't be something they've already done.
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I am not 'in the know' with any actual decision making at JNC - but (to the best of my recollection) no kickstarters since the partnership with (acquisition by) Kadokawa. Kickstarters may be interesting marketing experiments or avenues to fund hobby/passion projects (when a company doesn't have venture capital, or staff etc) but the vast majority of projects on kickstarter don't make a ton of profit. Rokojouma was a project (I believe) that was driven by the love of the series - not revenue, I imagine a ton of folks put in time that they were not compensated for to see that come to fruition. A 'for profit' corporation just doesn't do that via kickstarter (if a title would be judged to be profitable to be licensed / worth the effort to license/translate- why not just SELL it in the regular channel?)
I read banned books
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@Jon-Mitchell said in Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?:
I imagine a ton of folks put in time that they were not compensated for
Usually a Kickstarter's base goal will include the cost of paying the people who work on it.
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My logic with doing it as something like a Kickstarter is mainly because I would guess that the reason J-Novel doesn't want to do another old series is that the ones they have done probably didn't sell as well as they hoped, even though lots of people may have been originally asking for them.
As such they wouldn't want to risk doing another old series as they tend to have quite a few volumes so it's quite a big investment and if all the people who were asking for it have forgotten about it and/or no longer care and don't buy the books it would be a huge loss.
The advantage with something like a Kickstarter is they can make sure they don't lose money, as long as they budget for the cost of translating with the license cost as part of the goal. Then if it reaches it's goal they will have already covered the cost of doing it (with presumably some profit margin that would also included in the goal) and any books it sells after the Kickstarter will just be profit as because J-Novel club does digital first there will be no additional cost of printing more books (that said they could do a stretch goal for a physical edition but then they could just make that for the kickstarter backers only if they didn't want to print more after).
If it doesn't reach the goal then they don't have to do it and they won't lose out on anything other than the time and effort it took to make the kickstarter so obviously if J-Novel was to consider it I would assume they would first do some surveys to see if people would actually be interested (as I imagine running a Kickstarter and getting licence agreements on condition they reach the goal would be a fair amount of work).
Like I said originally though I do think it's a long shot as I have no idea how any of the behind the scenes works, I just wanted to put it out there as a suggestion on the off chance it may help get some older books licenced.
...after all I really want to see Wise Man' Grandchild licenced :)
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My suspicion is that before you start a Kickstarter to fund translating a new series you have to have already entered into an agreement with the Japanese publisher.
Having a successful Kickstarter and then failing to obtain the license would be bad. You don't do that shit.
Which would mean you've already committed to it whether the Kickstarter funds or not, because it would totally trash your reputation with Japanese publishers to renege on the license "because the Kickstarter failed."All your libraries are belong to us. | Aub Rozemyne | Those who do not read shall not eat.
Help me, Satomi-san. You're my only hope. | Fight! Yurika! | WW[R|S]D
Croquettes, Baguettes, and Books, oh my! -
@Geezer-Weasalopes yeah that was the thing I thought could be the biggest thing that would block this idea. I was just hoping that if J-Novel entered in the agreement with the japanese publisher being fully aware that it would depend on the kickstarter being successfully funded, then maybe it wouldn't be an issue.
Like I said I know it is a long shot. It's really just wishful thinking on my part of a way of getting some of the older series licenced. :)
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I guess it all depends on how Japanese publishers would react when reached for negotiations with the premise that their product may not be desiderable. Some might take the chance to get extra money from licensing, but I can see some considering such an approach rule or worse, especially if a particularly prideful author us involved.
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@Lex said in Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?:
especially if a particularly prideful author us involved.
This reminds of something I once heard. My part assumption/inference/interpretation of it the context of the thread is:
Running a failed Kickstarter can lead to a loss of face by the translation publisher, Japanese publisher, and/or author. This could depend on how invested the parties get, but even at a minimum they may simply not want to be associated with any failure.
And if given the constraint that the Kickstarter has to be successful, is there a reason to even run a Kickstarter? At least with the regular licensing scheme, it's easier to simply not discuss unprofitable licenses.
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@Perplexed said in Could J-Novel run Kickstarters for series over 5 years old?:
The advantage with something like a Kickstarter is they can make sure they don't lose money, as long as they budget for the cost of translating with the license cost as part of the goal. Then if it reaches it's goal they will have already covered the cost of doing it (with presumably some profit margin that would also included in the goal) and any books it sells after the Kickstarter will just be profit as because J-Novel club does digital first there will be no additional cost of printing more books (that said they could do a stretch goal for a physical edition but then they could just make that for the kickstarter backers only if they didn't want to print more after).
yea - as Geezer pointed out it won't work (you need permission/ the license to launch a campaign on kisckatarter or whatever--but it might work in reverse. If an author wanted to have one of their older works translated - they could use kickstarter to raise the funds and HIRE JNC (or some other group) to translate and then subsequently market the end product ...(the author still risks losing face if the funds aren't raised to hire a pro like Warnis )
Guerilla marketing (assuming the author OWNS the license) he/she could just 'look the other way' if a prominent fan translation site just so happens to post a chapter by chapter translation of a work ...see what interest there is, then go from there (that would be the cover story anyway. In reality, the author and translator would be collaborating. when (IF) enough hype gets generated - the author makes a statement that although they are flattered that so many fans are interested, licensing must go through proper outlets, "please support the kickstarter instead"or
an author could enter a writing contest incognito, pen a work in English (or translated to English) in a setting that is famous from a series that is old (or a side story or something - close enough that the lampshade hanging is obvious) to gauge interest and if it's a 'hit' approach JNC to translate/market something from the back catalog
