Manga Industry Insights: The Community Factor

It’s AnimeNYC week, which means this is fresh in my brain. If you’re going to be at AnimeNYC, I’m excited to tell you that you will 100% have a fantastic time, because it is hands down the best conference you can go to.

It also felt like the most appropriate time to delve into this topic. I want to start with an anecdote first.

When I was still at my previous place of employment, the biggest book store chain in the world, I noticed that they weren’t doing a lot to engage with the manga and comics community. Manga in particular is so community driven, more than any other storytelling medium, and it felt like a big gap in what this bookstore wanted to do.

So, with the help of Kodansha, I proposed two events—a signing with Makoto Yukimura (Vinland Saga), and an interview with Tsubasa Yamaguchi (Blue Period) at said bookstore’s flagship store. I was met with intense skepticism. For the signing, could we really expect 75+ people to purchase a $60 book? And for the interview, could we really fill 300 seats?

Absolutely. Positively. Yes.

The Yukimura signing sold out overnight. The Yamaguchi interview sold out the following day. And the day of the interview—which I was so fortunate to host—there was not an empty seat. People who couldn’t get seats came to stand and watch. The entire first few rows were full of cosplayers.

Bookstore chain was in shock. I swear I did not say "I told you so.” Much.

Manga publishing is as much about the fandom as it is about the bookstore marketing, or social media engagement, or deluxe editions, or whatever you want to attribute book sales to. The best way I can explain this is what I saw at San Diego Comic-Con this year, and what we will all see at AnimeNYC this week. Even for manga industry panels, which are traditionally where publishers come out and announce upcoming releases, you can expect full or near-full crowds.

Compare that to a few comics-related panels I went to at SDCC, which had ~10-20 people in the whole house. And the comics community is robust too! But outside of the Marvel and DC showcases, full houses are not expected. For manga, that fandom is just as vibrant for One Piece as it is for Blue Period, as it is for titles that haven’t even reached American soil yet.

It’s a beautiful thing. And it’s something publishers are learning to wield. Because they literally have to.

At AnimeNYC and beyond, the most exciting booths are Viz, Yen, Kodansha—the big publishers who know their community and what to give them. Whether that’s photo ops, activations or exclusive merch, or even just being a face for fans to converse with about their favorite titles, having not just a presence but an accessible presence among this community is not just suggested, it’s required for survival. Even newer/smaller publishers like Kodama Tales had a major activation and photo op for Baki the Grappler at SDCC and it was popping.

I mentioned the same in my BookCon recap post. I was so happy to hear of the return of BookCon, but it was limited to a small corner of the same Javits Center that AnimeNYC packs wall-to-wall. The only Manga Panel didn’t have an empty seat, and more than one person asked during the Q+A why there wasn’t more manga stuff to do at BookCon.

As you are surely aware, because I talk about it all the time, I am part of a team launching a new manga imprint that will be announcing itself to the world in three whole days. And we are very keen on engaging in the community from the moment we open the door. That’s why a large chunk of the panel is going to be asking audience members what they want more of. What they’re excited about. What they’ve enjoyed reading lately. We don’t want to tell you what to read, we want to know how to give you more of what you want.

And it’s not just us. Seven Seas and J Novel Club have active forums to suggest titles for licensing. Most of the major publishers use online platforms like MangaPlus to determine what to bring to print. They look at readership numbers—if enough people are reading digitally, they listen and they give readers more of what they want. This is a collaborative space, a community-driven fandom that is so wonderful to be a part of.