Yen Press to Launch with New Chmakova; Licenced Manga
By Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 2/24/2007
Yen Press, the much-anticipated graphic novel imprint launched by Kurt Hassler and Rich Johnson, will debut its first list in the fall with four licensed properties from Japanese videogame and manga publisher Square Enix and a new original manga work, Nightschool, from Svetlana Chmakova, author of Tokyopop’s bestselling original manga DramaCon. The new imprint also has plans for a monthly manga anthology that will likely start publication in early 2008.
The four Square Enix titles are Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna, story by Ky Shirodaira and art by Eita Mizuno; Black God by Dall-Young Lim with art by Sung-Woo Park; Zombie-Loan by the creative duo Peach-Pit; and Alice on Deadlines by Shir Ihara. The titles will be published in October and November.
Yen Press has acquired world rights to Nightschool in a deal negotiated by the Judith Hansen Literary Agency. Chmakova’s bestselling DramaCon, an original work about a young American manga writer, is a breakout book for the original manga category.Nightschool is set in a school for demons where Chmakova’s young heroine has enrolled in order find out the fate of her sister.
In an interview with PWCW, Kurt Hassler, co-publishing director of Yen Press and the former graphic novel buyer at Borders Books and Music, said he was “thrilled” to have properties from Square Enix, the company responsible for the wildly popular Full Metal Alchemist manga and videogames like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. “They do some of the best manga in Japan and most of their properties have not been released in the U.S. They are very cagey about the U.S. market.” The deal was brokered by the Tuttle-Mori Agency in Japan, and Hassler says Yen Press will be working with the Tokyo agency to secure Japanese licenses.
Yen Press manga will closely follow their original format, including traditional color inserts. The price point will be $10.99. “My goal is for Yen Press to be as transparent as possible,” said Hassler, “and provide fans with as authentic an experience as we can short of learning Japanese.”
Yen Press is an imprint in the Hachette Book Group US. Its staff also includes co-publishing director Rich Johnson, former v-p at DC Comics, and the press is close to hiring a senior editor. Hassler said he has been organizing internal classes at Hachette to familiarize marketing, publicity and other editorial support units with the comics medium and market. “That’s why they hired Rich and me,” said Hassler, “they didn’t want to do this by trial and error. They wanted expertise in the category so they could build this imprint from the ground up.”
Both Johnson and Hassler will be acquiring titles. “I do manga, just because of my experience, but Rich is also looking at everything,” said Hassler. Although the line is launching with manga, Hassler emphasizes that “we’re not limited to any genre. We love manga but it’s not the only business and we want to grow the comics market as a whole.”
Asked about the state of the current graphic novel market, which grew about 12% in 2006, modest growth for the category, Hassler said, “I’ll take 12% growth on a $330 million market any time. The U.S. market is nascent, we’re really new. Everyone is saying that bookstore shelfspace is maxed out, but as long as there is growth in the category there will be space.”
Hassler is also a manga author (Tokyopop’s Sokora Refugees), writing under the pen name Segamu; and he is a children’s author as well. His children’s book Diva v. Poe was published by Seven Seas Entertainment. While Sokora Refugees will continue to be published by Tokyopop, Hassler said he intends to publish his own new manga titles at Yen Press.
