Last week in Vertical ASKs

[Vertical Inc]

Last week in Vertical ASKs

Haven’t posted these in a while. So I thought I should try to collect these again. ask.fm/VerticalComics_Ed
   
 Hi. I don’t know if this
is just a rumor but are you going to license the Monogatari series. If
so ten is there going to be a box on the book just like the original
version. and is it going to be the same size as the Attack on Titan
before the fall light novel because that novel was kinda small. 

   
     
   
   
   

  We announced KizuMonogatari last month. Regarding
packaging… At this time we don’t know how it will be packaged. But
the JP trim size for Titan was about 2/3rds the US size.
    Why are you guys releasing
Kizumonogatari first? Doesn’t Bakemonogatari come first? Are you only
going to release Kizumonogatari and not the other series because I want
to read the other’s too.   
     
   
    
The author and his team requested to have Kizu published first.At this time we have no set plans to release more. But I hope we will be able to. I’m aware you previously
had a license survey.  I took the survey but, there’s something I
wondering.  Is Vertical allowed to pick up titles from mangabox, which
is a legal free manga reading site?  Forgive me, if someone has already
asked you this question.
   

    
Allowed? I guess so. We are allowed to license from anyone. But
there are publishers that are not in our immediate access. Some of
those publishers work with MangaBox. So that is something to keep in
mind.
   On the note of Kizumonogatari, and the rest of the series, what would it take to get
the rest of the series published? sales? More general interest and
popularity? Has Nisio and his team said yet?
  It is up to Mr. Nishio and his team. I really do not know what would sway them. Or even if they are looking to be swayed. Do you decide quickly or do you think a long time?
    This is a little vague. But I’ll point this question towards licensing…Almost all our decisions are thought out for weeks, if not months.
But on occasion if we come across something really good we’ll jump on
it immediately (if available).
   Is Gundam: the Origin a
“limited series” or would you print more of any volume that began to
sell out. Any volumes close to selling out/going OoP? 
These have already gone to reprint multiple times. And as long as the series is on-going, there should be no concern about volumes going OOP.Do you know if there’s a place where I can get a shirt like the one Paper Boy (from PROPHECY) wears?
   

   
      
I am not sure if they exist in mass quantities. If anyone has them, it would be Prophecy’s French Publisher Ki-Oon.
   Any signs that you may license any manga pre 1990s in the future? 
   

   
   

   After Satoshi Kon’s DREAM FOSSIL, nope. I am sure we might release something someday. But I can honestly say we are not even looking at anything else created before 1990 right now. I had some ideas immediately after returning from my last Japan trip (in December), but after following up about files and doing some cost analysis projections, nothing seemed to work out…for now. If our license survey
suggestions don’t get picked up, should we assume they’ve been passed
on, or can we keep suggesting the same titles in hopes that things work
out differently later?
   

   
     
   
   
   

   
   

   
     First, let me say that we get thousands of submissions each
survey. And within those thousands we get hundreds of different titles
suggested. And from those hundreds, we will only pick one or two titles. So obviously we might have passed on it…at that time.But
do not take it personally. We know lot of people do, cause we get this
question a lot. And I notice fans angrily say they don’t want to
participate cause their titles haven’t been picked. However,
if your titles still fit the requirements, we suggest you keep on
submitting them (if you like them). The reason being that if we see
titles consistently pop up and maybe even grow in number, we’ll be more
confident in their fanbase. Three
out of the four titles we have pursued from this last survey were repeat
titles that have been on multiple surveys. 1 of the 3 grew its fanbase.
The other two held steady for years now.
   If a series that doesn’t
meet the requirements of your surveys (IE too
many volumes or too old) but you notice a lot of people asked for it/a
big fan base, would you guys think about licensing it?
  

Possibly not. I just delete those.
   Now this might sound cold. And it is. Business isn’t always a pleasant thing. But we have guidelines for a reason (many reasons actually). At some point I might consider doing an older title survey. Tricky thing about that is that’ll be a lot of work going through and following up with suggestions. But something like that might be better served with its own set of rules.Is the process of licensing a light novel much different from that of manga?
   

   
     
   
   
   

   
   

   
   Not really. In some cases it’s the same people/JP departments doing the licensing. Terms are pretty similar. Approvals are pretty similar. I’ve noticed eBook rights are a little trickier. But that might just be who we’ve worked with so far.Now regular novels… That’s pretty different.