J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker
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@terabyte
Yen Press was acquired by Kadokawa years ago and even they weren't able to get a license with AlphaPolis.Rather than a problem of JNC I think AlphaPolis' stance on international licensing is the problem.
JNC LN Ranking:
1st - Rokujouma
2nd - Realist Hero
3rd - Bookworm -
@lighthawk96 That and the DRM are my main two questions I would like answered, but I'm guessing we will have to wait for time to tell us.
I'm hoping for a positive outcome. JNC have done a fantastic job so far. So here is hoping for more of the same.
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@lighthawk96 said in J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker:
My very big question is, can JNC still go afelter titles that they and us, the readers want, or will we just get whatever Kadokawa says they get. There is still a lot of titles out there that I'm hopeful for, but... where exactly does this leave us.
I don't think you're going to get a public answer to this that will satisfy you, but the FAQ has this answer:
Question: Does this mean that you will only be licensing books published by Kadokawa in the future?
Answer: No. Bookwalker sells books from almost every publisher in Japan, and we will also continue to license from all kinds of different publishers.
@jdmmis said in J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker:@lighthawk96 That and the DRM are my main two questions I would like answered, but I'm guessing we will have to wait for time to tell us.
Sam already answered this on page 1.
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@myskaros Missed that, thank you for pointing it out.
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Well this has come as a surprise. I just hope Kadokawa doesnt' mess with the DRM further down the line. Another worry about major acquisition is since Kadokawa has majority stake though who's going to tell JNC what they can and can't do now? As we know there is Kadokawa Japan and Kadokawa USA. I have no clue how the relationship between both branches works I'm hoping it's the Japanese branch that does most dealings and oversite. Most of the time I've been disappointed in major acquisitions like this because often times I don't see crackdown on branch companies in other countries when they start going wild.
Let's look at prime examples such Shuesha and VIZ. Viz has gotten kinda toxic with some of it's editors. There hasn't been much preemptive crackdown on toxic hires. And then there is the Sony x Funimation buy out (but it doesn't really fit as an example since it was a US to US company buyout but is a prime example of promises broken). While things may not change now, what about in 3 to 5 years? The Sony x Funimation buy had statements saying no changes would happen that would affect production and each corporate policy would be independent from each other. That statement didn't even last 3 years after the buy out. So I am a bit skeptical.
I'm a bit hopeful that and excited, since we'll access to new titles. Like maybe Oda Nobuna's Ambition light novel. But a part of me is worried with all the corporate power struggles going on. Also Kadokawa's movements have been worrying as of late with their cimematic studio, Kadokawa pictures seeming to do more and more partnerships/business with Sony x Funimation.
I was hoping that JNC would eventually grow to be a rival to the established players but a buy out is ringing alarm bells in my head. And I see this acquisition very logical because JNC was turning into a major threat to the established publishers.
I guess within the next 3 years we'll see just how much truth in the FAQ remain. But I'll hold on to my pessimism.
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@bartzbb said in J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker:
@terabyte
Yen Press was acquired by Kadokawa years ago and even they weren't able to get a license with AlphaPolis.Rather than a problem of JNC I think AlphaPolis' stance on international licensing is the problem.
True. I was thinking more along the line of "a bigger company might have a better chance" but clearly that's not the case... 😅
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So, I'm guardedly optimistic.
Kadokawa investing in JNC (hopefully) means that IP (Intellectual Properties) that are Kadokawa's (whatever moderately popular anime is out this season), JNC now has a shot at (and they really didn't before). I have no particular issues with Yen Press or Yen On, but they are nowhere near as nimble as JNC is, and I love JNC's business model (serial pre-pubs, active forums etc)how many titles in the suggestion forums were basically 'hopeless' because they were Kadokawa's IP? (I'm thinking a bunch)
so here is my wish list of 'synergies' I'm hopeful about:
- access to some of the printing infrastructure at Hachette = more hard copy titles. (super deluxe stab bound bookworm fan book?)
- access to some of the licenses that (maybe) Yen Press holds that they haven't gotten around to translating yet
- capital ($$) to build better apps /websites with (better)API's from JNC into bookwalker - bookwalker has an epub reader JNC app/library currently does not
- less beholden to Amazon (?)
- (edited to add) some kind of synergy with Sony (who owns a minor stake in Kadokawa- and a major stake in Funimation, and is in the process of acquiring Crunchyroll) More Anime and 'Merch' for IP that JNC translates???
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Everything answered basically boiled down to nothing really it seems. Like, JNC might get some data from BW in their licensing talks? But nothing really publicly recognizable at this stage.
I guess my questions would be:
- Any chance for bringing the BW exclusive perks to the JNC editions. I know How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord and Arifureta had them.
- What is the time frame before we actually see some kind of positive effect of the acquisition? Can we also get some kind of announcement when there is one that consumers can readily recognize? (Stuff like Kadokawa licensing doors being open, faster licensing pipeline, getting Premium Epubs for YP series, etc.) The reason there is a lot of general worry or confusion is that there isn't really much clear in the way of what both sides get from this acquisition that is supposed to directly benefit consumers. So having some kind of announcement when something does happen would help.
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People have been asking for ages for JNC to sell non-premium non-DRM epubs without a monthly fee, but they probably never will. There must be good reasons behind the scenes for that, because even if they sold it for the same price as Amazon, they'd make more because Amazon wouldn't be taking a cut. There's got to be more to them not doing it than blind greed.
So, since they seemingly can't do that, I'm sure they know that no matter how badly treated they've been by Amazon, that if they drop Amazon then their digital sales will dry up. After all, Amazon sells more ebooks than the rest of 'em combined.
It's doubtful that the average buyer will sign up for their expensive membership plans. So, I wouldn't worry too much. Unless they decide to ditch digital for print books, they basically have to keep selling on Amazon if they want to stay in business.
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I just caught up with the announcements (weird me being late, considering I'm in South East Asia).
Just wanted to say I'm more than happy that things stay the same. You and your crew do good work as always, Sam.
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As long as they don't change even one bit about the premium ebooks...
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I do wonder what this will mean going forward for what books are published. Now that Kadakawa owns both JNC and Yen Press how will they determine which books go where. Do they even need two separate English light novel publishers, I mean I know there are differences between the two but I still feel theirs some redundancy here.
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Now the question remains.
If IPs yet to come to English will have it easier or...god forbid, harder. :monkaS:
It'd be neat if certain JP only LN books get an EN release too, like ones you can't ever get as a normal product. -
Crazy how time flies and seeing how successful this venture became. Super happy to see the massive success and the continuation of the proliferation of fast access of Light Novels in the West.
Hopefully this Business Partnership has positive effects and leads to potential licenses that were unavailable in the past.
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@bartzbb and here I was hoping that Kadokawa could smoothen things out with AlphaPolis.
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@aruseus493 said in J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker:
What is the time frame before we actually see some kind of positive effect of the acquisition? Can we also get some kind of announcement when there is one that consumers can readily recognize? (Stuff like Kadokawa licensing doors being open, faster licensing pipeline, getting Premium Epubs for YP series, etc.) The reason there is a lot of general worry or confusion is that there isn't really much clear in the way of what both sides get from this acquisition that is supposed to directly benefit consumers. So having some kind of announcement when something does happen would help.
I doubt we'll see this spelled out. Companies don't usually 'show how the sausage is made'. We'll have to speculate (in the future) if something that happens is fruit from the merger or not.
One thing that I'm speculating is that because the press releases emphasized JNC's "digital first" strategy we'll see that leveraged. There might me future IP that'll be marketed as a JNC title in pre-pub and ePub, but marketed differently in hard copy (maybe jointly as 'Yen Press'?) Hachette has some big influence in the printed book marketplace.
This might also be a prelude to a digital weekly/monthly new product. In Japan periodicals of (multiple) serialized manga/LN printed under various 'hobby' or 'bunko' titles are popular. Could there be a JNC digital magazine?
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Man, would be great if there could be some collab in the future now between YP and JNC. This could make some YP titles release faster digitally (looking at you Youjo Senki, Tensura and Re:Zero!).
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@otonokakuei
hiring away some editors/managers from JNC to YP? consolidating translation practices? Whatever the 'secret sauce' is that JNC has that allows for FAST, HIGH QUALITY translations/digital publication is what Kadokawa made the investment for. I can't imagine that the model/personnel/culture (whatever it is) will not splash over to YPI read banned books
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@jon-mitchell said in J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker:
Whatever the 'secret sauce' is that JNC has that allows for FAST, HIGH QUALITY translations/digital publication is what Kadokawa made the investment for. I can't imagine that the model/personnel/culture (whatever it is) will not splash over to YP
Yes! I'm hoping for something along that line :D
YP could certainly learn a thing or two from JNC. -
Certainly surprising news but glad to hear there's no plans to change the business model.
