Tokyopop To Stop Publishing Print Versions of OEL books - Updated
According to Rivkah, the creator of OEL/World Manga Steady Beat as published formerly published by Tokyopop, Tokyopop is going to cease publishing print editions of non-licensed work. From her Livejournal:
“Just got off the phone with my editor, and it looks like not-so-good news for Steady Beat. In fact, it looks like not-so-good news for anybody who’s working with TP right now. I’m not sure how much I should say for fear of causing an outright panic with other creators, but essentially, nearly all of Tokyopop’s future books will be going straight to web. This wasn’t a case-by-case scenario. Neither I nor any other single creators were singled out. It looks like the whole line of non-licensed material will cease printing and be promoted online only.” - Rivkah, Livejournal, June 13th 2008
The creator is going to discuss the possibility of regaining the print rights to her work, or at least the (as-yet unpublished) third volume of Steady Beat.
You really ought to go and read the whole thing.
Update June 14, 2008: According to creator Christy Lijewski, not all books are going to the web. She says that the third volume of her series “re:play” will be published by Tokyopop as scheduled. Also, in the comments (scroll down) Lijewski notes “Yeah it really is case by case as some things are getting flat out cancelled (like Bettina’s book) and some things are going to web (like Rivkah’s book) and other things are being left alone.“ Yikes, you know? Just… yikes. Check it out for yourself, http://zombiejam.livejournal.com/119311.html.
- Chris
June 13th, 2008 | by Chris
6 Responses
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June 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Like I said on the beat, it’s definitely a difficult situation to be in and can only hope the creators are able to get their rights back or work out a deal that will benefit them in the best possible way.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
[…] Well, I think we were all waiting for some news from TOKYOPOP, but this is probably not what most of us expected: Chris Butcher has a report from Steady Beat creator Rivkah that TOKYOPOP’s non-licensed works– i.e. their original global titles (Warcraft and Harper Collins count as licensed) –will be web-only from hereon in. […]
June 14th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
It seems it is a case by case basis Christy Lijewski stated on her journal and on DA that RE:Play vol. 3 will still be published. So NOT all OEL are going straight to web.
http://zombiejam.livejournal.com/119311.html
http://nyanko-chan.deviantart.com/journal/18836779/
June 14th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
This is sort of off topic, but apparently PiQ has shut down as well: http://lesleysmith.blogspot.com/2008/06/piq-will-you-be-missed.html
I don’t actually think it will be missed though.
June 17th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
[…] Viimeaikaisten tapahtumien valossa Anime Almanac esitteli varsin laajaperspektiivisen Tokyopopin historiikin ja päätyi samaan tulokseen kuin minä: Tokyopopin lopullisen kuilun partaalle joutumisen syy on tietysti kaiken aikaa ollut toimitusjohtaja Stu Levy ja hänen maailmanmangafanatisminsa. Vasta viimeaikaiset masentavat numerot näyttävät saaneen hänet järkiinsä, vähentämään myös maailmanmangan julkaisemista, lopettamaan joitain sarjoja ja julkaisemaan joitain tulevia sarjoja vain netissä. Tekijöille lähetetystä rauhoittelevasta kirjeestä huolimatta faktat kun ovat faktoja: maailmanmanga ei myy yhtä hyvin kuin “oikea” manga. […]
July 10th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
[…] And that’s where this gets bittersweet. See, King City Vol. 1 was put out by Tokyopop, and their recent shakeups have left the future of King City, like many of their other OEL manga books, in doubt and maybe in search of a new publisher. That’s if the company decides to release the rights to these books back to their creators.This aprticular book has a confirmed publisher for it’s french language edition, but the non-francophone among us will have to wait and see what happens before we get to sink our teeth into a print version. […]