By Brigid Alverson
The news is all over the blogs that Tokyopop posted on their Facebook about the fate of their manga licenses, but we really didn't need to hear from the publisher to know what will happen: In Japan, for the most part, creators retain the rights to their work. When Tokyopop closes its doors for good, at the end of this month, the rights will revert to the creators.
Tokyopop has no say in what will happen to unfinished series, but in the past, creators have chosen to strike deals with other publishers. In fact, Tokyopop "rescued" several series, including Aria, Peace Maker, and Tactics, when ADV Manga lost the licenses.
There are two reasons why a publisher would pick up a license: To make a heap of money and to burnish its reputation as a publisher of quality manga.
Let's start with money. According to BookScan, Tokyopop's biggest selling Japanese manga was Alice in the Country of Hearts. Hetalia: Axis Powers also did well, especially considering that the first volume was released fairly late in the year, in September, but Alice in the Country of Hearts did outstandingly well, with over 18,000 copies sold of volume 1. The tricky thing about Alice, though, is that it's a six-volume series and Tokyopop released five—there is only one volume left. Publishers who rescue a license usually re-release the previously published volumes with new translations and their own trade dress; doing that for Alice would require a leap of faith that the audience wasn't already saturated. I don't know if Japanese licensors will even issue a license for a single book like that; if they do, it might be worth it. One possibility would be to release it digitally, possibly as an exclusive with a publisher's app. Read More...
