C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

[Darknemo2000]

If ZnT and SnS will get washed away by this one as well, then I don't see any good times for B-T coming.

The majority of bigger/most popular projects going down this place won't be very active and will eventually become a storage/graveyard of less popular novels, that have four-six chapters translated before being stalled.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

If ZnT and SnS will get washed away by this one as well, then I don't see any good times for B-T coming.

The majority of bigger/most popular projects going down this place won't be very active and will eventually become a storage/graveyard of less popular novels, that have four-six chapters translated before being stalled.

Good times are to be made.

And the idea of B-T was to promote the love for light novels? If they do get licensed and translated, we should be happy for it? Even if B-T will suffer a massive hit...

Damn, is there any other way to this??

[Sharramon]

Good LNs are always coming out. Such as Chrome shelled Regios, Ore wa Imouto etc etc. One good thing is that we'll have some translators left now.... but then again translators only feel like translating the books they really like. It's a hard enough business translating something you like, translating something you don't like is near impossible...

The only answer we have is to find good Light Novels faster and translate faster.

Another way to go about it is to translate LNs that are scheduled to have a anime or something... for publicity. But BT isn't all that bad yet...... is it?

The best thing to do would be to simply work our asses off... but really good light novels are hard to come by. At least we have Znt, Shana and Tora Dora right now. Although the last one's finished...

I'll try and find out what LN are good these days XD I've got a 'senpai' that reads TONS of LN. I'll ask him about it. I've heard that something called 9S is pretty awesome but I haven't read any of it so far. Better borrow it off a friend.

Good luck to all!

[Darknemo2000]

Good times are to be made.

And the idea of B-T was to promote the love for light novels? If they do get licensed and translated, we should be happy for it? Even if B-T will suffer a massive hit...

Damn, is there any other way to this??

Is this the place where I am supposed to jump from joy? Hooray *jump jump* NOT.

There are countries that do not publish them you know, the only way to get them is ordering through net, and that becomes a problem since some countries like mine have terrible taxes system which eventually increases the price tenfold if not more and that is just too much.

If they were selling them in my country I would act like you - one should be happy and it is pleasure to have printed copy anyway, but when the situation is like this, the chance of getting it at reasonable price are next to none, so excuse me if I cannot share any of your happiness at all and see nothing good in the situation at all.

So it being taken off from here pretty much means I will not be able to read them at all, unless I will find scans on the net, and since I ahvent found a single english novel scan on the net, I am not particularly optimistic about it either.

Good LNs are always coming out. Such as Chrome shelled Regios, Ore wa Imouto etc etc. One good thing is that we'll have some translators left now....

I would not take that for granted. If for example ZnT would be taken, I would pretty much move out from B-T and the chances for me to start/help translating any other project are as high as chances of releasing Light Novels in my country...

[Teh_ping]

As long as there's demand for it, there will be good light novels out there. We just have to look for it, though typing it is easier than doing it. Trying to promote them is probably the harder part. Anime is probably the best way to go. How many of us got interested in LN because of SHnY or some other anime series? Wonder if we can have a 'highly recommended' label for the better series like a restaurant menu recommending it's best dishes?

Yes, we can't take everything for granted, especially LN if there aren't any other publishers to sell them. It's like having a game that is only sold in Japan and importing it costs a whole lot more. I agree with Darknemo2000 that one will be unhappy if one loses out because of something someone else does, but again, it's a legal issue that we cannot really go against. Nobody gets what they want all the time, because there will always be people who would argue or fight for what they want. You win some, you lose some. I'll be frustrated as well if something I want isn't sold near my area, but then again, I can't do anything except to keep my mouth shut (or rant).

I know it's difficult for many to step out of their comfort zone and translate something they're not familiar with, but sometimes, we have to take that step forward no matter how hard it is. I liked S&W and actually wanted to translate it, but then I thought I wanted something lighter, and ended up taking Shana (Yes, I know how funny it is, and I was swamped by the time the 3rd week passed.). What kept me going was that 'want' to contribute something to B-T and to everyone at least, and I'm still here today. Though, if SnS is to be taken down, I'll probably look for another series to translate. (Trying to translate Index here, if I have the motivation at least.)

In the end, it all boils down to big boss' decision, so I have nothing much to say.

Btw I've read SAO and I liked it. Thx Sharramon.

[Kinny Riddle]

Well, there's still Toradora, at least for now. Which reminds me, I gotta get to work quickly.

New LN series will come out that will surpass old ones, and it'll be up to B-T to continue introducing them to the world.

OTOH, I can understand Darknemo's concerns. I would loath to see this place decay like ToriyamaWorld, a forum for the scanlator group that first got Naruto, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist into English. Their success was also their downfall, for it triggered interest amongst the US licensors, licensing series here and there before TW even got around to scanlating it. Since it adopted a no licensed series stance, the source of manga it could translate dried up significantly.

I used to be a forum member there in a long forgotten age, when I last left for good due to increasing boredom, it was dying a slow death as discussion dried up since it didn't know where to go as its raison d'etre, the scanlation of the latest unlicensed manga series, was taken away from it.

Every forum needs its raison d'etre. A soccer forum or a politics forum won't die because there'll always be action every day of the year, not so for a forum which relies solely on releases that could dry up. Even that other anime forum will be around because there'll always be anime torrents for it to list, ensuring ample supply of visitors.

So B-T might need to adapt or die. A solution I can think of is create a blog for B-T alongside its wiki for LN releases, with content provided by TLG, Oni and other senior translators and editors (may consider inviting other capable members to post their stuff time to time). We already have some members here to provide the blog's opening few posts with a stable readership, so the rest will be dependent on word of mouth. Blog would be mainly *but not strictly) on news or other stuff concerning LN, be they licensed or not, like tie-in anime and manga, figures, games and other goods, as well as other anime related stuff.

[Teh_ping]

Either that or we can expand out on the series themselves, providing more than just the light novels, maybe other sorts of content for that series. I like the idea of the blog, and we can definitely use some reviews around here.

The main issue regarding B-T is whether our 'birth rate' is higher than our 'death rate' or match it at least, and since there will be companies who will be 'oh so willing' to license these series in order to monopolise the profits, finding good series to replace them is imperative. It's difficult, but unfortunately, unless we venture out into other things as well, it's gonna be hard to maintain this for long, now that our flagships are gone.

[Beware the talking cat]

To be honest, I don't think we are going to have a problem with a large number of series getting published. Haruhi was published because it's HARUHI.

We had FMP and Shana get licensed, and both of them completely failed, as did Strawberry Panic's novelizations and any other novel licensing I can think of--there just isn't enough of a market.

So unless Haruhi becomes a major sensation, the odds of licensors continuing to pop up is unlikely.

[FNX]

So unless Haruhi becomes a major sensation, the odds of licensors continuing to pop up is unlikely.

Which is why it could be interesting to know how well is Haruhi doing with the current volumes out. Anyone knows any of it?

[poler]

Is zero no tsukaima liscenced as well?!!?

[Teh_ping]

Technically, yes, though there aren't any books out yet.

[Dan]

Seven Seas licensed Zero no Tsukaima, but they have yet to release a volume, send any notification (that I'm aware of), and I think they got stalled on another project. Haha, a company like that licensing it is almost a good thing for us!

[ShadowZeroHeart]

So unless Haruhi becomes a major sensation, the odds of licensors continuing to pop up is unlikely.

Which is why it could be interesting to know how well is Haruhi doing with the current volumes out. Anyone knows any of it?

Sometimes i wonder if B-T got that C&D letter because they figure B-T has enough influence to affect sales, or that their sales arent going too well, so they wanna find someone to blame...?

[joay_b]

If we were an influencing factor that could affect someone's bottom line, then the Japanese publishers themselves would have taken the trouble of sending C&Ds at us.

IMO, it's more like we're the ONLY targets (though we're that small ...) for them English book publishers.

[shichinanatsu]

nah.. the non-jap market for the novels was something the original publishers hadn't planned for. besides, the language itself was a formidable barrier only surmounted by B-T's legion..

*today's supposed to be the premiere of v4's movie.. how long must we wait to 'watch' it???