Comments on: YAOI NEWS: Blu Manga Increases Pricing

By: Jukebox

Jukebox — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:34:10 +0000

@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.

By: Jukebox

Jukebox — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:30:32 +0000

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?

By: Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:28:52 +0000

Thanks Simon! I feel more and more like it’s a losing battle for both publishers and consumers alike.

By: Simon Jones

Simon Jones — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:23:39 +0000

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.

By: Xyllotol

Xyllotol — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:21:17 +0000

WOAH! WAIT JUST A SEC! 18.99 in Canadian?O_O You could buy an omnibus with that!

By: Nia

Nia — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:17:55 +0000

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?!-_-

By: Fouloldron

Fouloldron — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:13:18 +0000

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.

By: Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl

Jennifer LeBlanc AKA Asami's Girl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:34:15 +0000

@ybless How could I forget Love Quest?!?! That was my favorite from them!

By: The Price of Love | Manga Bookshelf

The Price of Love | Manga Bookshelf — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:33:00 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Blu Manga: How much will you pay for your Yaoi? | Lolicon Images

Blu Manga: How much will you pay for your Yaoi? | Lolicon Images — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:25:35 +0000

[...] [Via The Yaoi Review] [...]