×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Kadokawa Corporation Acquires U.S. Publishing Company J-Novel Club




Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:44 pm Reply with quote
J-Novel Club which primarily focuses on digital releases of light novels and manga for the English market, BookWalker which is mainly a platform for other publishers to sell their titles but has a few translated titles of their own(Ruyo's Work Is Never Done!, Combat Baker), Yen Press who's a major English publisher of digital and physical light novels and manga. ...That's a lot of cooks under one entity, will all survive as independent subsidiaries?

Also, 'Digital First', I don't mind that stance, I've myself shifted mostly to digital copies. I just fear if J-Novel Club will be able to keep their drm-free approach to their own premium editions, BookWalker is pretty much opposite culture in that regard...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kuma991



Joined: 20 Jan 2021
Posts: 102
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:45 pm Reply with quote
I've had a negative experience with BookWalker, but new titles and opportunities are always welcome. I just hope they won't limit themselves to current and ongoing titles because let's face it... Most of them are issekai garbage. Meanwhile, some real old-school gems remain unobtainable to foreign readers.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Rogural



Joined: 28 Nov 2017
Posts: 47
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Hoping it is more "Digital first" and not "Digital only" like a lot of J-novel's offerings seem to be. There are so many titles they have that I only wish they'd launch in print.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3426
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:06 pm Reply with quote
Official press release/statements from J-Novel, BookWalker and Yen Press (J-Novel Blog);
[PRESS RELEASE] J-Novel Club Announces New Business Partnership with Kadokawa and Bookwalker
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
RockSplash



Joined: 28 Oct 2019
Posts: 495
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:03 pm Reply with quote
kuma991 wrote:
I've had a negative experience with BookWalker, but new titles and opportunities are always welcome. I just hope they won't limit themselves to current and ongoing titles because let's face it... Most of them are issekai garbage. Meanwhile, some real old-school gems remain unobtainable to foreign readers.


Agreed. There are so many older titles that have nothing translated officially. The gundam novels, anything Kikuchi outside of Vampire Hunter D. Heck, none of the Megaten novels have ever ben translated. Isekai just does not interest me, or there seems to be a heavy amount of sturgeons law going on for the genre
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Saffire



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 1255
Location: Iowa, USA
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:14 pm Reply with quote
JNC posted an FAQ about what this means (in the short term, not much). https://j-novel.club/blog/j-novel-bookwalker
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3627
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:59 pm Reply with quote
Hopefully this will mean even more physical releases in the future
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Casval Rem Deikun



Joined: 24 Feb 2021
Posts: 266
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:20 pm Reply with quote
I know they said "digital first" so I hope that means physical later on. I really prefer physical myself.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2434
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:06 pm Reply with quote
I hope this is good for the people who work there. They’re a scrappy little company that started from nothing not that long ago. And they all seem pretty nice online too.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kevruth
Subscriber



Joined: 12 Nov 2013
Posts: 27
PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:42 am Reply with quote
I'm hoping that they don't slow down book releases. Case in point, Yen Press is finally releasing the High School DxD novels. There are 30+ novels and short story compilations. They are presently releasing them at a rate of four times per year. J-Novel has a tendency to release books at twice that. I really don't want to see my J-Novel books get slowed up.

I'm also worried about the digital rights thing as well.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Bookwalker is alright, there are pros and cons to them. Prices are roughly the same with other competitors and sometimes you can get a better deal if you are an avid buyer with their coin-back rewards. I like the web reader which means we don't have to rely on apps like kobo or BN and for some Kindle books (so it's good for Linux) but the interface for the payment and bookshelf features in the web and mobile apps is clumsy. And they seemed to be very scared of cracking their DRM since they are not committed to their PC reader app, so that part is a little worrisome for JNC's membership DRM-free future. However given the censorship policies Amazon/Comixology and Kobo has since over 3 years ago (less so for BN), affecting even J-Novel Club's own licenses, Bookwalker is now the only store that will sell all titles, even a few of Fakku's.

Personally I've transitioned to digital only for books since they take up a ton of space, aren't as convenient, and decay over time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group