Will J-Novel Club contine translating and releasing in these times?
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Due to the lock down I can't really go out, most of the shops etc. are closed and overall it's not advisable to leave the house. One of the few things I can do to ease my boredom is to read the novels of J-Novel Club. Now I'm a bit worried, that J-Novel Club will also temporarily shut down everything. So, my question is, if you will continue translating and releasing parts/new volumes etc.?
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Hi there!
We have no plans to slow down our streaming schedule or put anything on hold at this time. I have also not heard of any of our translators or editors needing a virus-related break, but please be patient and understanding if that does happen.
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I think J-Novel Club is ideally suited to survive these challenging times. I would imagine most of its income is derived from digital sales, and with lots of people worldwide suddenly having way more time on their hands, I'd suspect business is booming in that respect. The only thing that might take a hit eventually is physical book sales from physical book stores should they be forced to close.
I don't know how exactly J-Novel Club is structured but I suspect a lot of work by translators and editors is done remotely from home, so if those people are forced to stay home and "forced" to work from home, it doesn't change anything they weren't already doing.
About the only thing I can imagine being slightly impacted is new license negotiations with new parties. I suspect those involve face-to-face meetings in Japan, and that's simply not possible right now. On the other hand I suspect licensing of new volumes of current series can be done electronically (email etc), so probably shouldn't be affected.
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@GHDpro I think that the face to face would only involve new publishers. Considering how cautious Japan is of a mass outbreak, I would think that any of the publishers would be amenable to phone or video conferences if Sam has already established a working relationship.
At least I would hope they would.
