Comments on: Tokyopop Layoff Update & OEL Marketing http://comicsworthreading.com/2006/02/04/tokyopop-layoff-update-oel-marketing/ Independent Opinions on Comics of All Kinds Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:42:16 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Matt Maxwell http://comicsworthreading.com/2006/02/04/tokyopop-layoff-update-oel-marketing/comment-page-1/#comment-796 Matt Maxwell Sat, 04 Feb 2006 19:02:12 +0000 http://www.comicsworthreading.com/2006/02/04/tokyopop-layoff-update-oel-marketing/#comment-796 This is the problem when you're trying to sell original material after having sold reprint material (which is both cheap, relatively speaking, and plentiful.) Original material is neither. And unless they want to front the funds and time necessary to get three or so volumes of work finished before they start selling any, this problem isn't going to go away. I'm wondering what the chances of mixing OEL manga works into a magazine anthology, the bulk of which could be reprint work would be? I'm not sure it's an issue of outright rejection of "fake" manga (not my pejorative term, but I'm sure that there's an equivalent amongst hardcore manga readers), but that could be playing into it. I don't follow the pulse of that particular subset of the comics world really. The above is an interesting comment because there really hasn't been a lot of marketing on the manga side of things, other than healthy convention presence, that I've seen. A lot of the manga publishers seem to be relying on familiarity with the characters by way of anime series and fan buzz. Again, this is an obversation largely from the outside, and might not stand up to closer scrutiny. This is the problem when you’re trying to sell original material after having sold reprint material (which is both cheap, relatively speaking, and plentiful.) Original material is neither. And unless they want to front the funds and time necessary to get three or so volumes of work finished before they start selling any, this problem isn’t going to go away.

I’m wondering what the chances of mixing OEL manga works into a magazine anthology, the bulk of which could be reprint work would be? I’m not sure it’s an issue of outright rejection of “fake” manga (not my pejorative term, but I’m sure that there’s an equivalent amongst hardcore manga readers), but that could be playing into it. I don’t follow the pulse of that particular subset of the comics world really.

The above is an interesting comment because there really hasn’t been a lot of marketing on the manga side of things, other than healthy convention presence, that I’ve seen. A lot of the manga publishers seem to be relying on familiarity with the characters by way of anime series and fan buzz. Again, this is an obversation largely from the outside, and might not stand up to closer scrutiny.

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