YAOI NEWS: Blu Manga Increases Pricing
I remember back when 801 Media got rid of the infamous dust jackets many yaoi fans loved and the stink that ensued. Their reasoning? Printing and production costs have increased and since they release far fewer titles than their sister company Juné, the change was necessary to reduce costs. Now BLU Manga has followed suit but instead of reducing quality, it is increasing its pricing as of January 2010 from $12.99 to $14.99. What do you think? Are BLU’s titles worth the $2 increase in price? Do you think this will help them by bringing in more sales dollars or hurt them by reducing overall sales? Here’s a current breakdown of MSRP's by publisher:
| 801 Media | $15.95 |
| BLU Manga | $14.99 |
| Deux Press | $12.95 |
| DokiDoki | $10.95 |
| Go!Comi | $10.99 |
| Juné | $12.95 |
| Kitty Media | $11.99 |
| Netcomics | $11.99 |
| TokyoPop | $10.99 |
| Yaoi Generation | $12.99 |
| Yaoi Press | $12.95 |
| Yen Press | $12.99 |
EDIT: BTW, BLU increased their pricing last January by $3. That means in the last year, the prices have increased $5 in total.
*BLU is an imprint of Tokyopop.
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Since prices have been rising the past year, I buy A LOT less than I had before. Thanks to amazon’s great prices and 30% off coupons at borders (plus border bucks) I can still buy a few things from time to time! BUT i will no longer be buying BLU titles for that price at borders..i remember how upset I was when I bought gakuen heaven 2 at 14.99 or whatever, I hadnt noticed the price until check out lol.
Also, I notice VIZ isn’t on the list? They increased prices too(are their titles not gay enough?lol) :/
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@Sorjei Does Viz actually have true yaoi titles? I don’t know of any.
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It really depends on the person. Yaoi fans aren’t gonna stop buying manga. However, with the price increase, it’s almost like a double-edged sword. BLU can (hopefully) make the money they need to stay afloat, but at the same time it’s possible that they could lose some customers because of it.
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Considering the fact that 801media tries to justify their higher price by citing a smaller print run and including things like color inserts, Blu really has no reason to raise prices. They have popular titles like Love Pistols, Love Mode, and Junjou Romantica. Their printing is average and they hardly have color inserts. The content isn’t super hardcore, so they can’t possibly be fighting to keep their titles on the shelves at Borders.
It’ll be harder to try new titles from them as well as titles which I’ve read pre-license in scanlation form, but I’ll still be buying books from my favorite series, albeit at a cheaper price on Amazon. Blu will probably see a drop in sales and a jump in illegal online scans. I really don’t believe raising their prices is going to save their sales–it’ll probably do the opposite, imho. ^^ii
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I just bought the second Gakuen Heaven manga for $14.99. While I enjoyed the art and the story, the pages and cover were so delicate I felt like the book was going to fall apart in my hands. I’ve only read the manga once and already the edges of the cover are frayed. None of my other Blu manga were manufactured this way and truthfully if I hadn’t had a combination of coupon + buy 4 get the 5th free deal + Borders Bucks going for me I would have left it on the shelf.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Asami's Girl, Rowan McBride and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: YAOI NEWS: BLU Manga Increases Pricing: http://bit.ly/5S0iew #yaoi [...]
[...] Yaoi Review spots an increase in cover price for Blu manga. Check the comments for some interesting [...]
I don’t see this as that big a deal. Tokypop/Blu titles are very easy to get on sale at places like TRSI. I never pay more than 10$ for one of their Blu titles. Also, they switched back to better paper last fall. (I would have been very disgruntled if the price had increased and the quality had stayed crap.) I do seem to remember reading something about them using more color inserts as well, I forget where (could it have been on Amazon? One of Tpop’s reps posts there). Anyway, this really isn’t going to be affecting my buying habits, but I could see people using it as an excuse to continue to download and not buy.
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Well, I’ll probably buy a lot less of their titles, sticking only with the titles I love (have been collecting) and the ones I know that I want for sure. Any that I’m on the fence about will stay on the shelf. That pricing is ridiculous. Then again, I think 801 Media’s pricing is ridiculous as well. I don’t buy much of their stuff anymore either, unless I can get it for under $10 from Rightstuf or Amazon. The same will go for Blu’s manga.
BTW – that pricing you list I’m assuming is retail? I’ve never paid anywhere close to $11.99 for Kitty books, nor Deux and YP books. I’ve always managed to snag them for around $8-9.
I thought I read somewhere that printing costs were not really as high as the publishers were making them out to be. So, I have to wonder what’s true. I’m thinking that some of the publishers are going to being pushing the online thing (ala Netcomics). TokyoPop had a poll about it not long ago.
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I’ve always been against paying anything over $13 for BL – it’s why I never supported BeBe. I think co-branding has helped keep the cost reasonable on DMP titles, but the trend I’m most worried about is this one where pubs are releasing books at the regular price, then less than a year later, putting them on sale for peanuts. If this continues, fans will eventually stop buying titles at the time of release–knowing they’re going to bottom out at $4-5 a copy later on. :/
Also – What does Yen Press and GoComi release in terms of BL? I know GoComi has Masque – but isn’t that a web comic now?
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Yes, the prices posted are MSRP or “list price” meaning it’s the suggested price to the retailer. “Our” price is based on the discount the retailer is willing to give off of that price so even though we typically do not pay list, our price will still increase because the retailer will no longer make nearly as much money as they would have so a portion of that increase will be passed on to us. My personal feeling is that a $5 increase since January of last year is a bit much.
@Tina Go!Comi published Bran Doll and Days of Cool Idols, both BL. Yen Press has about 7 released now. They just released since YaoiCon to now about 5 new titles.
I’m waiting on my order.
EDIT: See comment below. These are Netcomics releases, not Yen Press. Yen Press has Mr. Flower Groom and Mr. Flower Bride.
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“Go!Comi published Bran Doll and Days of Cool Idols, both BL. Yen Press has about 7 released now. They just released since YaoiCon to now about 5 new titles”
No shit, really? I’m so out of touch with BL imports.
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@Tina This is why I shouldn’t comment when I just wake up. Those are Netcomics releases, not Yen Press. Yen Press has only released Mr. Flower Groom and Mr. Flower Bride. >.<
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Yen Press also released Love Quest. All 3 of their BL titles are by Hoshino Lily.
I don’t think BLU has any titles worth paying $14.99 for right now.
But I usually wait for the price drop before buying anyway, so it’s hard to tell if the price increase will have any real effect.
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[...] [Via The Yaoi Review] [...]
[...] An item that caught my eye earlier this morning was this post (Japanator) linking to a report from The Yaoi Review, regarding the upcoming price increase on Tokyopop’s BLU manga line. Whether or not BL [...]
@ybless How could I forget Love Quest?!?! That was my favorite from them!
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Honestly because all the yaoi I get is imported this makes very little difference to my purchasing habits. It’ll just be absorbed by the falling American dollar so the prices won’t really change. Also I’m feeling a bit cynical about all the people whining about the prices, with tranport, import and price hiking charges I’m happy to get yaoi for AU$25-$30. Also I adore the blu translation as the DMP editors are way too dialectal for my tastes.
Also either the dodgy paper didn’t make it out here or I have an unusual preference for the more absorbent manuscripty variety.
Meh, good yaoi is good yaoi and I’ll still buy it if I can afford it.
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There goes the Canadian buyers. Honestly I’m just amazed at what Tp does, they have so amny series and yet they couldn’t put all they had into each and everyone of them. The prices are already high enough(especially for Canadians-_-) but the thought that really pisses you off, is that when they raised the prices the first time they couldn’t have included those color pages then, instead of NOW?!-_-
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WOAH! WAIT JUST A SEC! 18.99 in Canadian?O_O You could buy an omnibus with that!
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Price increases involve more than just dust jackets or higher production costs; there may be pressures from third parties unbeknownst to most readers. For example, comic store distributor Diamond requires books to meet certain sales minimums based on invoice rather than quantity, so it’s more important for a book close to that threshold to bring in more money, even if it means losing a few price-sensitive readers in the process.
To be brutally honest, sliding sales is most often the cause of rising cover prices. Print run size has the biggest affect on cost per copy. Blaming increased production costs sounds better than admitting that sales have fallen, while still being technically correct.
Manga is a mature market now. You’re just not going to see spontaneous, explosive sales spikes anymore. In this environment, tweaking prices upward is more desirable than doing a big marketing push to attract a new swath of yaoi readers heretofore hidden away from the reach of the internet. In all likelihood, they don’t exist.
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Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Thanks Simon! I feel more and more like it’s a losing battle for both publishers and consumers alike.
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Hmmm…I could be remembering incorrectly, but I thought I saw mentioned somewhere that Blu’s library was one of the (few) profitable sections of the Tokyopop family. If that’s the case, why raise the prices for Blu manga, when the regular TP library is still reasonably priced? If it’s true that the Blu section is profitable compared to other areas of TP, it makes me wonder if it’s because they think they can get more out of the niche yaoi audience to help cover losses in their shoujo/shounen line. Then again, maybe the Blu division isn’t very profitable at all compared to the rest of TP, which is the cause of the price rise?
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@yblees – YenPress also has Tales of the Waning Moon (I think that’s the name). There’s also ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, which isn’t classified as BL but has BL elements in it.
@Tina Anderson – I thought ‘Bran Doll’ was actually gender-bender, and that the BL classification was misleading? I’m unsure as I’ve not read it myself.
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