The past week was a mixed bag for manga publisher Tokyopop: They revealed they would no longer be doing business with the Japanese publisher Kodansha but also announced a handful of new licenses and put several stalled series back on schedule, signs that the once beleaguered company is returning to financial health.
Marketing manager Kasia Piekarz told PWCW that Tokyopop was told over a year ago that Kodansha would let its current Tokyopop licenses expire, and the company hasn’t acquired any new licenses from Kodansha, the largest publisher in Japan, in three or four years. The decision leaves Tokyopop unable to complete some long-running series, such as Beck , although another publisher may pick up the license, as Del Rey did with Samurai Deeper Kyo earlier this year.
The announcement was timed to coincide with the release of Tokyopop’s out-of-print list, which included all their Kodansha titles, and Piekarz said it was a relief to finally be able to explain to fans why some favorite series, such as Beck and The Kindaichi Case Files, seemed to be permanently on hold.
Kodansha’s move combined with the fact that Tokyopop’s biggest competitor, Viz, is co-owned by the Japanese publishers Shueisha and Shogakukan has forced Tokyopop to look further afield for licenses. Piekarz said most of the company’s more recent licenses come from Hakusensha and Kadokawa and they have also picked up some titles from Mag Garden and Ichijinsha. That diversification is good for Tokyopop, Piekarz pointed out. “It is much safer for us to diversify so our eggs aren’t all in one basket”
Piekarz said that Tokyopop has tried to expand its target market a bit, noting that all publishers are looking to capture readers in the 18-to-35 age bracket. “We have a real strong hold on the teen-girl shoujo market, and the majority of our sales are still driven by teens and older teens, just like five years ago, but we have a broader audience as well,” she said. “I wouldn’t say there are drastic changes, but we are always trying to think ahead.”
Two days after the Kodansha revelation, senior editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl hosted a web conference in which she announced a number of new licenses: Deadman Wonderland,by the creators of the Eureka Sevenmanga; Hanako and the Teller of Allegory, by Future Diarycreator Sakae Esuno; and three new entries in the .hack franchise: .hack//Alcor,.hack//Cell (a two-volume light novel) and .hack//4Koma,a single volume of four-panel gag strips. Piekarz described .hack as “a top five brand for Tokyopop.”
Diaz-Przybyl also announced some new volumes of long-running series that had been on informal hiatus since Tokyopop’s reorganization in June 2008: Suppli, Pick of the Litter, Monochrome Factor, Never Give Up, Nosatsu Junkie, Satisfaction Guaranteed,and King of Hellall have new volumes on the fall or winter schedule. And she highlighted two upcoming licensed books, Warcraft: Death Night, due out in December, and StarCraft: Ghost Academy.
Licensed properties, such as the Warcraft and Star Trek manga, continue to be an important part of Tokyopop’s mix, Piekarz said. “The Warcraft books did terrific for us,” she said. “Some of the others have been real hits or misses.” She holds out high hopes for the CSI manga published this month. The books Tokyopop co-publishes with Harper Collins, which are based on young adult prose novels, are also an important part of the overall picture. “It’s a revenue share,” she said. “Those are half our books, half their books. The Warriors manga have been unbelievably successful, and Vampire Kisses has been very successful as well.” She expects to announce another title in that line soon.
While most of the company’s original English-language manga is now online, Piekarz said that they would publish print editions if sales warrant it. The sixth volume of M. Alice LeGrow’s Bizenghast has just been released, and the third volume of Christy Lijewski’s Re:Play is tentatively scheduled for January 2010.
Tokyopop also recently announced it will be publishing Remember, a full-color graphic novel by Chinese creator Benjamin. Orange, Benjamin’s previous book, was a big hit for Tokyopop, she said. “We totally sold out of that. It really struck a chord because it perfectly hits our demographic: Teen angst. That's what Benjamin does.” Aside from that, Tokyopop is are being “less aggressive” with their color graphic novel line, Piekarz said, pointing out, “We made the decision to go in that direction just as we were going through our biggest changes last year.”
In June 2008, Tokyopop split into two separate companies, laid off 39 employees, and cut its publication calendar in half. Today, Piekarz says, it is a very different place. “I think if I can wrap it up into one word, I would say focus,” she said. “We are much more focused on every aspect, so we are focused in what we are acquiring, we are focused in our marketing efforts, we are focused in our inventory control, we are focused on our buyers, we are focused in our merchandising. Everything is clear and focused, and we are constantly reevaluating.”
That focus is paying off, Piekarz said: Despite a difficult economy and some risks that did not pay off for Tokyopop, the company is profitable. “Every month is a little bit better,” she said. “We are feeling very positive about the future.”
