[Starburst]

Originally Posted by tyranuus

I thought the point on the second cover had already been mentioned elsewhere, although whether it means Japanese printed cover with sleeve, or the same as the first, except with the sleeve as standard, I dont know?

I stopped following the situation after the first book because Yen Press' decissions angered me and I didn't want to deal with it again until the novel was released. I've pre-ordered my copy of volume 2 already so I'm getting it regardless of what they put on the cover. But that's one thing that angers me, and I'll get to that in a bit.

Dont get me wrong, I get your points and to some extent, but you've missed part of my point as well I think. Several large retailers would likely NOT have accepted the book if itd been introduced with an anime cover; because traditionally they dont sell that way. As an established book series with established sales levels, the second book doesnt have quite the same prejudice set against it by the retail market. Without retailers willing to take the book however, the series would be cancelled, end of discussion. I have also seen others supporting the new cover, or even saying they thought it didnt look that bad in person as well, so the response is NOT purely negative.

I didn't miss this point, I just forgot to address it. I mostly don't buy the point that large retailers wouldn't accept the book. It's always large retailers that I find an anime section at all, at least in Canada. Places like Chapters, huge book stores, seem to stock a good variety of manga. The only places that offer more are specialty shops, and they obviously would have stocked this with the original cover anyway.

The other thing is that you've mentioned that fans of the content bought it regardless...yes, they did, thats kinda the point, they KNOW the fans will still buy it in the vast part; regardless of the front cover.
The problem is there is also a large market this book might appeal to THAT WOULD NOT buy it with the anime/manga style cover, they'd be put off, by changing the front cover, you avoid a large section of that prejudice, people might be more willing to pick it up and read the summary on the back. The anime/manga/japanese market is still relatively small incomparison to the general fantasy reading base, and even more so outside the US.

This is the part that angers me and I don't like this line of thought at all. Abuse the fans because they'll buy it anyway. That's not a good method of gaining support for your product. It's generally those who like your product who talk about it and recommend it to their friends. If they're angry with you, they're less likely to say pleasant things.

Now regardless of whether you see the front cover as overtly sexualised, call me desensitised, but compared to the average run of books I see in a sci-fi section in a book shop these days, over in the UK, well it's not actually that bad (especially with the wave of Twilight-esque style stuff out there right now), my disagreements are more based on the fact i dont think it conveys the story so well, they could have made it far more representative, but as a more acceptable book that people are likely to at least read the summary on? Unfortunately yes it is.

I'm not disagreeing with the nudity on the front. I'm not a prude, I enjoy the female figure, especially Horos. It's the manner in which they present it, it creates a distasteful feel for me. Perhaps I'm exaggerating by using smutty, I imagine the word may hold different strength in different circles and locales. If I had to choose an alternate word I would choose cheap.

The other point, that by moving it away from the Manga section they may hide it from some of the audience...well possibly that is true, but then people into this sort of stuff will probably be used to being a slightly more niche audience whether they like it or not, and will likely find titles themselves, based on word of mouth, recommendations or even internet reviews. Arguably, by moving it to a wider sci-fi market, they're not only likely to capture people interested in the property like us who already want the material, or recommended to it by other fans of Japanese work, but also more likely to catch the eye of the average fantasy book reader; one who would have ignore the Japanese section altogether. Guess which is the bigger market, and the one they're working harder to appeal to because of this, given they know the Anime/Manga/Japanese work fan will likely find the book in the long run anyway?

I said potential audience. Similar to those they're trying to appeal to via the fantasy novel cover, except they prefer and enjoy anime. They don't know the series, haven't heard of it, but see the cover and something about it appeals to them.

But like you say, smaller audience, who cares about them.

If americanising the cover (as long as future ones are slightly more representative of the series) opens up the series to a wider range of people, then I'm actually all for it, because Im sure there are quite a lot of people out there who'd enjoy the story, but hold no interest in anything manga/anime related whatsoever, if more widely acceptable covers help get this book to them, then more power to it. As I mentioned previously, the anime/manga market is a niche, by appealing to a larger majority they have a chance to sell more which not only makes business sense, but introduces the property to a wider range of people, and in a capitalist world, making money and profit from S&W is the only way we will continue to see it translated and published, ergo a necessary evil.

I'm not against widening the audience, but I am against deceiving the new audience. It's interesting that you mention in a capitalist world profiting off S&W is the only way we'll be able to read it. Because this is untrue. There was a wiki project where people donated their time to translating the series of light novels for free. A good portion of the novels were translated, but now that Yen Press has licensed the material and requested it's removal, it's no longer available and can only be had when Yen Press gets around to releasing it. This means that while I've read up until I believe Volume 5, I get to wait another 2.25 years til I get to read volume 6. So them licensing it hasn't allowed people to read it, it's just allowed people to profit from those reading it. Which while I admit is fair to the author, doesn't mean we would never have been able to read it otherwise.

On the small kids not being allowed to read it because of overcautious parents? Well possibly, but then this book isn't really aimed at them anyway, it's a series really aimed at the 16/18+ region anyway, partially because of some of the concepts, and once you've hit 16/18+ if you cant go out and buy your own books...

I didn't necessarily mean small children reading the book. I meant 14-18, high school age. It's not that they wouldn't be able to get the book, it's that they wouldn't feel comfortable reading a book with a naked girl on the cover around parents or in public. But maybe I was just really shy in high school, though I think I'm the sort of crowd this book would be aimed at.

PS: LKK, I think you're spelling it right. That's how I always remember to spell it anywya.

PPS: Rajura, if you're willing to spend $60 on the life-sized poster of Horo... eBay.