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Is Yen Press trustworthy?




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cookiemanstah



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 546
PostPosted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 5:33 pm Reply with quote
I am new to these forums, and I am not sure if there is a problem going on right now, but whenever I tried to access other sections more appropriate for this discussion (namely General), it freezes or crashes the browser. With that in mind, I will not post here frequently, but have been dying to ask one thing.

Yen Press is currently the main distributor of Light Novels and Manga that are not mainstream (Spice and Wolf, K-On, Suzumiya, etc), and while I have purchased several of their products before, I would like to know to from those with experience. Is it worth following their novels, under trusting them in it reaching the end? Specifically, referring to Spice and Wolf.

Now the reason I am so paranoid was because I used to avidly follow Bandai Entertainment for several of their products, namely Lucky Star. Following their bankruptcy, all products they had discontinued and fell into the void, and I have been extremely reluctant to follow non-mainstream publishers on continuing a series until it reaches the end.

Spice and Wolf is currently at 10 Novels in the US, and ended at 17 in Japan in late 2011. By the speed Yen Press is currently going, it is estimated be done early 2016. I am currently not sure if Yen Press is similar to Bandai Entertainment, but this was a twitter conversation I had with them.

Lenny Yoo @SmashBros101
@yenpress Is it likely Yen Press will continue Spice and Wolf until it's last novel? All I fear is the decision for it's abandonment.

yenpress @yenpress
Follow
@SmashBros101 We have every intention of publishing the full series.

I'm sorry if this was not a justified post in this section, but I would honestly like your opinion on this.
[/i]
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Yen Press has the distinct advantage of being owned by a big name book publisher, namely, Little Brown (which is why they made those Twilight manga, which, by the way, sold stupid well). It seems like a lot of their Little Brown based series are their bread and butter, these include Maximum Ride, Witch & Wizard, Twilight, and Soulless among others. Between this and having that backing by a major publisher that is clearly doing well as it publishes Stephanie Meyer (regardless of quality, you have to admit it sells) puts them in pretty good financial order. The only hint o trouble might be them ending Yen Plus, but I believe they still intend to release the chapters online, just not in the same magazine format.

Someone might need to correct me, but I don't believe they have any unfinished series that they've dropped out of the blue. Not counting ones that are on hiatus in Japan or something like Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. But I believe the Spice & Wolf and Haruhi Suzumiya novels are among their best sellers period, I can't imagine they wouldn't continue it.

So from a sale perspective, they're going to finish it. It would probably take something horrible happening to Little Brown to truly shut Yen Press down, and since that seems unlikely, I'd be pretty confident trusting them to finish Spice & Wolf. They're just kind of slow with releases is all, but keep in mind how long it takes to translate a book.
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cookiemanstah



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 546
PostPosted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:17 pm Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
Yen Press has the distinct advantage of being owned by a big name book publisher, namely, Little Brown (which is why they made those Twilight manga, which, by the way, sold stupid well). It seems like a lot of their Little Brown based series are their bread and butter, these include Maximum Ride, Witch & Wizard, Twilight, and Soulless among others. Between this and having that backing by a major publisher that is clearly doing well as it publishes Stephanie Meyer (regardless of quality, you have to admit it sells) puts them in pretty good financial order. The only hint o trouble might be them ending Yen Plus, but I believe they still intend to release the chapters online, just not in the same magazine format.

Someone might need to correct me, but I don't believe they have any unfinished series that they've dropped out of the blue. Not counting ones that are on hiatus in Japan or something like Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. But I believe the Spice & Wolf and Haruhi Suzumiya novels are among their best sellers period, I can't imagine they wouldn't continue it.

So from a sale perspective, they're going to finish it. It would probably take something horrible happening to Little Brown to truly shut Yen Press down, and since that seems unlikely, I'd be pretty confident trusting them to finish Spice & Wolf. They're just kind of slow with releases is all, but keep in mind how long it takes to translate a book.

I can't begin to express my gratitude for this post. Thank you so much, it relieves a lot of the stress I've been having lately over whether or not I should invest heavily into Spice and Wolf. Seeing how it also sells well according to you (I'm not too sure on these things), it shouldn't have a problem in that regard correct?

I would like to know your opinion on Bandai Entertainment and what went wrong if that is possible sometime as well, but all in all, thank you so much.
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:12 am Reply with quote
In essence, Bandai got screwed over by the Japanese side. Here's an interview with the former chief
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cookiemanstah



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 546
PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:26 pm Reply with quote
st_owly wrote:
In essence, Bandai got screwed over by the Japanese side. Here's an interview with the former chief

even so, do you think yen press is in safe hands?
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2013 1:45 pm Reply with quote
See classicalzawa's response. I agree with everything she's said.
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nobahn
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Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 5120
PostPosted: Sun Jan 05, 2014 5:02 pm Reply with quote
I sincerely hope that Yen Press is "trustworthy" -- I'm currently making my way (albeit slowly) through "Kieli." Anime catgrin
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Himeko90



Joined: 20 Nov 2013
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:43 am Reply with quote
st_owly wrote:
In essence, Bandai got screwed over by the Japanese side. Here's an interview with the former chief


Yeah, because, as you suggest, that situation was completely and absolutely one-sided....... Rolling Eyes
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