Acquisitions Speculation - General
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@hyperion said in New Acquisitions Speculation General [9 NEW AQUISITIONS ANNOUNCED (5 MANGA, 4 LNs) 1 LN Unconfirmed!]:
Yen Press announced 4 new light novels for October:
Those all sound like they could be fun to read, and I've enjoyed Killing Slimes.
The only bad thing is I'm spoiled by JNC's faster translations, so 4+ months between volumes feels like an eternity :)
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spoiled by JNC's faster translations
I used to feel this way too, but now it feels like there's just so many light novels constantly coming out that I'm okay with longer waits now.
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I'm fine with the 4 month ways, but when YP catches up to a series in Japan, it becomes hell. We're lucky if we get a new volume 10 months after the Japanese release date.
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@aruseus493 Since YP can't catch up, though, how could that be a problem?
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@someoldguy You clearly haven't been waiting for Sword Art Online Progressive.
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@aruseus493 SAO Progressive has to be looked at as an exception because it has taken a 2-3 year break in Japan twice. Most middle school kids with a dictionary app could translate it and catch up.
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As much as people like to joke about how slow Yen Press is, they only need to be faster than the author to eventually catch up. We're starting to see it more frequently with J-Novel Club with series like Arifureta, Infinite Dendrogram, Realist Hero, and so on. Isekai Smartphone is gonna be caught up within the year and there are plenty of series we're just hoping a new volume comes out in Japan. The turn-around between J-NC volumes after being caught up ends up being around 5 months depending on how long licenses take. (This is for ebook release, pre-pubs start after 2-3 months.)
On Yen Press though, we are going to start seeing more series "catch-up" at some point if we assume they maintain their 4-months schedule. This includes series like No Game No Life (you thought the delays were bad now, just wait until they have to fuck around waiting to license volume 11.), Defeating the Demon Lord's a Cinch (If You Have a Ringer), Overlord (within 2 years), Last Round Arthurs (within a year and a half), Combatants Will Be Dispatched! (Within 2 years), and the list goes on. Progressive isn't really an exception as we're seeing what happens when Yen Press catches up with a series with others. It's an interesting but sad phenomenon that caught up series will see twice the amount of slow down compared to having volumes already out in Japan.
Progressive Volume 5
- JP Release Date - Feb 10, 2018
- US Release Date - Nov 13, 2018
- 11 Months
Progressive Volume 6
- JP Release Date - May 10, 2018
- US Release Date - Jun 18, 2019
- 13 Months (7 Months after Volume 5)
Log Horizon Volume 11
- JP Release Date - Mar 20, 2018
- US Release Date - Jan 29, 2019
- 10 Months
Goblin Slayer Year One Volume 2
- JP Release Date - Nov 10, 2018
- US Release Date - Jul 23, 2019
- 8 Months (This might be their fastest turn-around yet for a caught up series.)
In the end, I'd much prefer Yen Press to license just completed series with J-NC getting all the longer series. (Seven Seas does Nintendo and does whatever the fuck they want. XD)
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@aruseus493 I think we're trying to make the same point. Japanese release dates are what slow down most of the releases on caught up series. You even mention No Game No Life. I gave up on that series LONG ago because of the Japanese release times (tried switching from the US release to Japanese release when I moved to Tokyo and even the bookstore clerks would look at me like I was some kind of sadist when I asked.)
I forget which series, but remember something constantly being asked for on the JNC forum throughout most of January because the Japanese release came out in December. In the case of JNC, we get pre-pubs, and most don't understand that translation isn't an automatic, and a license doesn't guarantee access to material before publication.
Having said all of that in defense of the publications, there's also the reverse side of the argument. Assuming that the material becomes available to Yen upon release in Japan (meaning same day) for long-running series which Yen would already have at least an anticipation of licensing the next volume, there's not really a reason for those 10-13 month spans. Typeset, print, and bind for a volume can be done in 4-6 months depending on whether it's being done in-house. I don't want to say that translation is more lax, but is dependent upon the quality of work expected. Straight translations are pretty much worthless and would drive even the calmest of editors to an early grave. However, they can be knocked out pretty quickly (this is based on a test I performed myself a couple of months ago, looked like crap, but could have been polished given time which I didn't have.) Basing on this, the 7-8 month numbers from your list are VERY reasonable timelines for print editions. However, those numbers are the exception, and not the rule.
That lag is where I see most complaints regarding Yen. There are always going to be those that want everything right then, but at least once the lag cuts down, they'll be in the same boat as the Japanese having to wait on the next volume. Can't really complain, although a lot do, about a translation not existing for a book which doesn't exist.
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@pleco_breeder said in New Acquisitions Speculation General [9 NEW AQUISITIONS ANNOUNCED (5 MANGA, 4 LNs) 1 LN Unconfirmed!]:
Japanese release dates are what slow down most of the releases on caught up series.
No, Aruseus is making a completely different point which I actually support. You can't do anything about the japanese releases so of course there'll be a couple of hiatuses on JNC too. But when they do finally release, other western publishers are trying to license and release the english version in a timely manner, while Yen Press for some weird reason postpone it for another additional year, even though it usually should be even easier for them (as a Kadokawa subsidiary) to license the new volumes faster than the competitors. Like imagine if the new volume of Isekai Mahou comes out in June 2019, but JNC will only start translating the first part in, say, March 2020 simply because they have already caught up with the series.
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This is a really good batch of announcements for my tastes actually. Have to wait and see how they turn out in reality, but they all sound potentially interesting. Not quite sure about Oda Nobunaga, sure the author has written a slice-of-life series before, but it's hard to imagine someone with such job doing anything else but warring.
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@novurdim said in New Acquisitions Speculation General [9 NEW AQUISITIONS ANNOUNCED (5 MANGA, 4 LNs) 1 LN Unconfirmed!]:
@pleco_breeder said in New Acquisitions Speculation General [9 NEW AQUISITIONS ANNOUNCED (5 MANGA, 4 LNs) 1 LN Unconfirmed!]:
Japanese release dates are what slow down most of the releases on caught up series.
Like imagine if the new volume of Isekai Mahou comes out in June 2019, but JNC will only start translating the first part in, say, March 2020 simply because they have already caught up with the series.
This is still 9 months, which is the higher end of a reasonable time frame for a print release after the Japanese release. If JNC takes 2 months for the translation, assume a standard of 8 parts, that's 11 months after the original publication. This is what I was saying was unreasonable. If a series is caught up, and established with both publishers, there's no reason it should be running up to 13 months from Japanese publication to print translation.
We have no way of knowing whether involvement with Kadokawa has any bearing on licensing aside from Kadokawa titles. Even there, subsidiaries are treated as any other business in regards to being separate entities for the sake of profit. Any other publisher, regardless of business relationship is still a competitor, and could just as easily delay the ability to license new titles. While there may be some preference for Kadokawa to license to Yen because of the subsidiary status, it doesn't mean that they automatically get the license. Subsidiaries still have to bid for and purchase licenses from their parent company. The parent company has to be concerned about their bottom line before being able to give any preferential treatment. This is the basis of the business entity concept and is enforced by corporate law in order to protect shareholders and owners. It also protects the parent company from losses if the subsidiary happens to fail.
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@pleco_breeder Dark Horse has been caught up with the Japanese release of Berserk, but they always take on average of 13 months to release the newest volumes in English after the come out in Japan. Which is very infuriating, as manga doesn’t have a whole lot to translate.
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@legitpancake I'd think manga actually takes quite a bit of time, while not because there's a lot to translate but there's also typesetting and redrawing and other steps (forgive me as I'm not very proficient in the translation process of manga) all of which can take quite a bit of time to get to a satisfactory level
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@cibastian The difference with manga is that you don't need one person to do all of it, you can split the work between translation and image editing.
Also, it shouldn't take months to do all that work either. Amateurs/non-professionals can easily scanlate a manga chapter in 24 hours, so even if you gave a professional team 48 hours per 18 pages, that still results in less than a month per volume.
Basically, given the 6-month lead time necessary to publish a book in North America, there's no way a given team shouldn't be able to send that book to the printers within 2 months. That means, based on Pancake's numbers, there's another 7 months tacked on there for reasons unrelated to actually getting the book ready for print.
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@myskaros The thing I'm hearing on the gaming side of English localization of Japanese products is that it is starting to get to be really difficult to get contract translators with experience due to how many jobs are currently available.
Not certain how much that is hurting LN releases but I could see it causing slowdowns if there is a delay in having the same translator/editor working on an existing series. Each book coming out needs something like 4-6 passes to hit a point where it's releasable, (possibly more if its an inexperienced team) there would be massive delays if the final edit pass by a senior editor is delayed by said editor having 6+ books to check before going gold and then falls ill.
So I can see a more traditional publisher like Yen holding the dates further out if their backend is at risk. For them it's probably safer to put the brakes on than to risk failing to meet delivery dates, as distributors can get viscious if contracts aren't met.
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@jampodevral The fact that JNC is still able to get their books out on time with no significant delays due to translation slowdown (their only delay troubles have been on the licensing side) leads me to still believe that what you're talking about is probably an issue unrelated to the translation workflow. Also, video game translation is a much lengthier process than light novel/manga/VN translation, so I don't think it's really applicable to explain why a single volume of Berserk takes 13 months to release.
Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
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When a new vol of a LN gets released in English there is a minimum of 6 months wait for when we get it in English (for print). Now add the time it takes to license the LN then translation. I think 8 months is a reasonable time to wait for a print of a LN. I doubt any sane publisher will set the release date exactly 6 months after the JP release or even 6 months after it gets licensed. It seems much better to set a release date when most of the translation is done and JNC takes about 2 months to translate and release volumes so again 8 months seems very reasonable.
Edit: I think Sam even said for the print releases that once caught up they should release 6 months after the Ebook release. Anyone can correct if I'm wrong.
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@myskaros You might argue that JNC has "hired" dozens of people to review translations between the "first" and "final" edits, so there is a difference in "staff" between JNC and other outlets.
The fact that it seems like about 20 of them post under the ID "Terabyte" is just an illusion. :)
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@drone205 six months after the eBook is getting pretty close to twelve months after initial Japanese release. I think Seven Seas and JNC doing digital first makes the length between releases look faster but once the print happens I’m not sure if it’s really that much faster comparing simply print release to print release, though this is just me spitballing and someone correct me if I’m wrong.
P.S. I’m fine with this as I prefer digital and wouldn’t be sad if everything was released digital first
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@the-green-death I have begun moving all my physical over to ebook purchases so I have more room for my other hobbies in my apartment.
