Retailers will love this… as announced at the Tokyopop Otakon panel: Tokyopop will be moving several of its manga to online exclusives, which can only be ordered from Tokyopop.com. Currently scheduled titles for this exclusivity are Atomic King Daibogan, Neck and Neck (starting with volume 6), and The One. I’d love to hear more about what prompted this decision… That’s the final volume of Neck and Neck, and One completes with book 11, while book 10 is listed for order. […]

As a big fan of Tramps Like Us, I would love to see more manga aimed at women, not girls. Publishers Weekly points to an upcoming title that sounds very promising, Kiriko Nananan’s Sweet Cream and Red Strawberries from Central Park Media. (Strangely, although PW says it’s out this month, I can’t find information on the book on CPM’s site, and Amazon has no release date listed.) MangaBlog also noticed the article and adds some comments about pricing and library […]

HarperCollins put out a press release today announcing that they would be handling Tokyopop’s bookstore sales and distribution as well as co-publishing adaptations of best-selling young adult novels. HarperCollins Publishers and TOKYOPOP today announced the companies will join forces in a unique co-publishing agreement to create a progressive new line of co-branded manga titles. The program will include several projects from bestselling author Meg Cabot, whose HarperCollins novels have sold more than six million copies to date. In addition, HarperCollins […]

As a followup on the rumors surrounding recent Tokyopop layoffs, Heidi MacDonald (link no longer available) posted word from their editorial director: We have not told any OEL creators to stop working on their projects as a result of Aaron’s departure. The projects that Aaron was supervising are being reassigned immediately to other TOKYOPOP editors who will provide continuity. Meanwhile, Lyle at Crocodile Caucus (link no longer available) has thoughts on OEL production schedules and marketing. The OEL titles are […]

You’ve probably already heard that Tokyopop laid off six? eight? people at the end of last week. (Reports conflict on the total.) Heidi pointed to a Publishers Weekly piece, which focused on the departure of the vice-president in charge of sales and marketing due to different forecasts on the future of the manga business. Mike Kiley, the editor-in-chief, was quoted as wanting to make changes to stay profitable in a maturing, more competitive market. An editor was also let go. […]