Sol Press Discussion Thread
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The concern is the status quo with Sol Press shown by their prior licenses.
Many licenses have in the past, with older companies have held licenses which they did nothing with, preventing others from acquiring them. The company then goes into sequestration ie bankruptcy which then causes issues in the future as the series if ever picked up has to be restarted from scratch.The series was released in November and they have had approaching 8 months. In that time they have failed on 2 counts.
- continue the release schedule promised, Volume 5 technically should have been released by now. But even in digital, it is still on 3....the first 3 which they used to draw attention with promises of quick releases.
- printing of the paperbacks, this was due February, and even before Covid 19 became an issue the deadline was broken, Heck Amazon did not even have a pre order option. And their own online store eventually stopped taking orders. All of these things are indicators of a failing business. Especially when placed in the context of their other licenses.
Everyone is concerned because if in this series, Sol goes down, the ability to rescue may never occur as the series may be seen as well non profitable. Personally, this series was superior to Asterisk War which Yen Press supported.
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@Terabyte Maybe their translation crew has been suffering from SLOVID for all these months?
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@Happy said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
If Sol Press got something licensed, it literally means nobody out there was interested in licensing it
I think you may be mistaken. Imagine that a title is available to be licensed and company x, company y, and company z "bid" for it, only one can 'win'.
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@Jon-Mitchell
If your local Basketball team is trying to get a player, while said player is being recruited by the Lakers or other premium destinations, your local team will only get him if every other big name literally wasn't interested in getting him or they decided it wasn't worth their time at some point. Its how things work. Its the reason Yen also calls the shots on every Kadokawa license before anyone else (granted they are a part of it but you get the gist of it). -
@Happy Every publisher has a limited throughput, they can't just license everything they think is good. There's a limited supply of staff, bookstore space, operating funds, etc. For example, two other publishers (SS and JNC) thought FUNA novels would make for good licenses, and I can't think that 80k was left behind because it was too inferior to the others. SS and JNC already had their new FUNA license and I imagine they might have come back later to try to pick the remaining one if it hadn't been doomed to eternal stasis in the clutches of Sol.
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@Happy said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
Its the reason Yen also calls the shots on every Kadokawa license before anyone else (granted they are a part of it but you get the gist of it).
80k Gold is Kodansha, Chivalry of a Failed Knight is Softbank Creative. I don't think you're going to have an easy time convincing everyone that no one wanted to pick up these series. Seven Seas and J-Novel Club announced FUNA's other two series at nearly the same time as Sol Press announced 80k Gold, and I've heard that Sol Press has been sitting on Rakudai Kishi for possibly years before announcing it and releasing the first 3 volumes, only to again fizzle out with no further updates. No one hated them at first, only once they failed to release more books in a reasonable timeframe.
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@Happy said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
Yen also calls the shots on every Kadokawa license before anyone else
Kodokawa chooses Yen whenever it makes sense because they are part owners of Yen. If Yen or One Peace, or whoever bid more $$ for 80k then Sol did, they would be publishing it (also was 80k able to be had so cheaply that 'no one else wanted it' ? I don't think so) I think Sol made a error, they paid however much for 80K and didn't have the capacity to do the job. (maybe some plan or funding fell thru or whatever) But the reason they get so much shade is the communication that "it's coming soon...like next week soon!" and not delivering...again and again, it's just unprofessional. If they can't get those logistics right, can we trust that they invested in good translators or editors (or pay them well enough to do a good job?) I'm certainly not going to pre-order a title if they can't adhere to their own schedule.
anyway - I'm done with them
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https://solpress.co/blog/803/where-we-are-and-where-were-going
New updates regarding their releases and plans after Covid. -
@Lotteliese Huh, dropping out of VN to focus on book publishing? Maybe they are doing stuff behind the scenes.
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@Lotteliese said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
https://solpress.co/blog/803/where-we-are-and-where-were-going
New updates regarding their releases and plans after Covid.I'd be hopeful except there's nothing concrete about actually releasing any more LNs this year.
Perhaps the next update will have some specifics.
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I recall commenting some time ago that one of the sources of my frustration with SOL was the scattered approach they seemed to have with their 'business model'- are they a games (VN) producer? Publisher (and if a publisher, focused on what? digital/physical? LN/Manga?) how do they generate income? actually producing product or crowdfunding?
it seems some internal dialog mirrored my thoughts- looks like they figured out they can't make money with VN/Steam and are pulling out of that market, and they are trying to hire more translators/editors for their LN projects...however I'll believe it when I see results
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One thing that stuck out in that blog post was the mention that some of the digital releases may be tied to 'physical release requirements'.
Obviously this isn't an issue for j-novel titles(duh), but it might explain why Yen Press delayed both digital and physical releases earlier this spring if they had similar conditions to adhere to. Why would a licensor require that? To deter piracy?
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@Korppi Or to keep bookstores happy? Or just plain hardheadedness, maybe.
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Or to be cynical, just as an excuse while they try to get their act together.
I'll be happy if they prove me wrong and start releasing a flood of LNs later this year.
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@Nosgoroth said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
keep bookstores happy
@Nosgoroth said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
keep bookstores happy
I suspect that this is the reason. A holdover from when people would go to brick and mortar bookstores and buy books in person. I remember folks lining up outside the local Barnes and Noble to purchase a Harry Potter book at the release date (at midnight)
some publishers set their ebook price to be a % of hardcover price on release date (not a 'thing' for LNs, but definitely part of the industry) and then the ebook price goes down when a paperback version is released
business operations at (some) publishers is still very much tied to the physical first model (I suspect it has something to do with how royalties are paid to authors too)
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@Jon-Mitchell said in Sol Press Discussion Thread:
I remember folks lining up outside the local Barnes and Noble to purchase a Harry Potter book at the release date (at midnight)
I remember lining up in Borders at midnight to purchase the last two Harry Potter books, and then each time reading through the entire thing over the course of about three to four hours.
But yeah, I agree, I have a feeling there's some publishers who require it because they want to support bookstores or have a not-insubstantial stake in one or more bookstore chains.
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I used to work at Borders when they started doing the midnight Potter releases (I think with book 4). Those were a lot of fun!
Regarding Sol Press: I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because I want to believe that 80k won't be lost in this and I'm interested in Chivalry (though I haven't started it yet).
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Hey, another volume 2 is materializing. Maybe there's some hope after all.
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Not 80k Gold unfortunately (which is their only series I've started reading), thus I don't care. I won't start any of their other series unless it's already completely translated. I just can't stand waiting for years between volumes...
EDIT: They're shifting focus to books? What did I miss?
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@Terabyte They updated their blog for the first time in ages a few days ago.
https://solpress.co/blog/803/where-we-are-and-where-were-going
