Web novel suggestions?
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Is there any chance for J-Novel Club to license a webnovel that hasn’t been turned into a light novel yet?
I absolutely love love love SSS Class Suicide Hunter, but the series’s Novel Update page says it’s not licensed. It does list J Plus Media as the original publisher though, so I’m not really sure how that works out. There’s also a WEBTOON adaption on TAPAS (SSS Class Survival Hunter) that is amazing.
I would love to see the light novel here, but I don’t know if there’s a precedent foe this or if it’s doable.
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@lunanyx The general response each time this topic comes up (and it has, several times!), is no.
Lots of reasons why, including that JNC would have to go into competition with their current partners, the Japanese publishers, and deal with a different domain of both copyright and licensing laws, with no on-ground people in Japan to manage it.
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@someoldguy Ah, sorry I should have searched first. Thank you for letting me know!
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@someoldguy
I’m curious - would this apply to non-Japanese web novels too? For example, if they chose to license something from Royal Road? -
@torka The details would change, but the overall problem does not.
Someone posts a web novel. The author has a copyright on it. The web novel hosting company will also have a compilation copyright on it, and there can be any number of issues in the hosting company terms of service that affect how the author can license it to others.
Have you read any manga or novels about authors and their interaction with their publishers? It isn't all fiction. It really does take someone in-country to manage authors. Some are doing just WNs because they would nave issues with being on a fixed timetable.
Doing direct licensing also has the pitfall of being in competition with your primary suppliers.
@sam-pinansky said in Web Novels(accepting other translation from other groups to post this website and their own website):
A lot of our licenses were originally web novels (like a lot of light novels these days). But we are licensing the print tankobon version of the series, not the original web novel version.
We definitely might consider licensing directly from authors in the future.
As for using fan translations, we make sure that all our translators are paid for their hard work and produce good quality translations. If you are a good fan translator we would love to talk with you!
That's from 5 years ago. I haven't seen anything from Sam that changes that.
