C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

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Rectifier
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Rectifier »

I just hope they don't visit the forums to look at the projects on Nemo's ratings and pick the ones that can make the most money...
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Kinny Riddle »

Did not expect them to swoop Bungaku Shoujo so soon. I just hope they are committed into actually releasing them, rather than hoard it up in the refrigerator and allowing it to rot into oblivion.

Anyway, we must seriously consider:

1. Blocking out certain sections/threads except to admin/mod and translators/editors, like Nemo's excellent ratings thread, to avoid too much unwanted attention.

2. Starting a blog for all things LN related, can be a collective effort, where all senior translators, editors can contribute, either that or watch this place die a slow death like ToriyamaWorld as I mentioned a few pages back as licensors slowly pick our work bit by bit, until there is nothing left. That's the only way to keep this forum and B-T as a whole relevant to people interested in LN.

Touch wood, I would like to complete my translation of Toradora before the inevitable happens. :roll:
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by FNX »

Kinny Riddle wrote: Touch wood, I would like to complete my translation of Toradora before the inevitable happens. :roll:
Its not entirely a lost cause, expect to be like a savior for all spanish and other language users who can only understand their own language and english, with your efforts we have access to enough things for the translation to our very own language making even more people happy and that they wont take down
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Delphian_Etude »

I saw the cease and desist news and then immediately checked Manga Jouhou only to find out that Yen Press is supposedly releasing those series in English later this year. I think it's safe to say that they're going to be keeping an eye on the fan community and seeing which light novels are making waves before they send the C&D then publish to make the money. At least Bungaku Shoujo only had 1 volume complete here, but it will take them forever to get caught up on Haruhi.

I'm in support of hiding the popularity of series from everybody except for the admins. Even making it available to registered users doesn't guarantee a company will register just to see the information. Hey, you could even sell the information to a publisher! Joking aside, I'm grateful that the artists are making money off of this with the purchase of their license. I still hope upon hope that Chrome Shelled Regios and Sword Art Online aren't targeted and then slowly released. It really sucks when you have to wait for the official releases to catch up to the fan translations.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by EusthEnoptEron »

I don't like the idea of restricting certain areas. First, does this information really influence their licencing behavior? And second, if you want those numbers, you can look just as well at the bottom of the wiki page.

I do, however, love the blog idea. I'm often in the situation that I want to write about some LN, but can't do so because I'm too lazy to set up a blog which would die in no time anyway.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by ShadowZeroHeart »

EusthEnoptEron wrote:I don't like the idea of restricting certain areas. First, does this information really influence their licencing behavior? And second, if you want those numbers, you can look just as well at the bottom of the wiki page.

I do, however, love the blog idea. I'm often in the situation that I want to write about some LN, but can't do so because I'm too lazy to set up a blog which would die in no time anyway.
You can, of course, just write them on B-T if you wanna...
Delphian_Etude wrote: I'm in support of hiding the popularity of series from everybody except for the admins. Even making it available to registered users doesn't guarantee a company will register just to see the information. Hey, you could even sell the information to a publisher! Joking aside, I'm grateful that the artists are making money off of this with the purchase of their license. I still hope upon hope that Chrome Shelled Regios and Sword Art Online aren't targeted and then slowly released. It really sucks when you have to wait for the official releases to catch up to the fan translations.
If companies do register to see the information... Why not? Its not like its wrong for them to do so? It sorta lets people take a look at how popular the series is, so even readers/fans of the series can take a look and be proud if their supported series do well.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by TheGiftedMonkey »

I'm not opposed to change... if it's necessary.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by blewin »

ShadowZeroHeart wrote:Bungaku shoujo is a good series... I dont blame them for licensing it... I just hope they release the series!! its hard to do a good job at it imo
I wonder why they licensed Bungaku shoujo? It doesn't even have an anime. Does that mean the English company license it based on its popularity in the Asian market rather than researching/waiting to see the reception in English market first? I thought they'd be more cautious in licensing light novels, as opposed to animes and mangas.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Sharramon »

blewin wrote: I thought they'd be more cautious in licensing light novels, as opposed to animes and mangas.
*Shrug* times change. Although I sort of agree. It is rather a big risk.

Then again places like US give them some idea of the popularity of LNs. I'm actually surprised they haven't gotten some of the better ones. I thought that if some were to get licensed Tora Dora would be one of the FIRST.

But we really don't have that much to complain about. Since ever time I go to a large bookstore I'm shocked at how many LNs there are that I haven't even heard about...and that's KOREA. Bet Japan has loads more.

About the changes to the site... I'm relatively new here so I've no idea what would effect the site in a good way ^^;;
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by RonnieCorny »

i think they license on title in bulk, so regardless of LN or anime/manga they cover every aspect for marketing and such...

well, the only *problem* with Toradora is that it doesn't have a continuation... so, the market is limited... at least that's what i think...

- ron
Sharramon wrote:
blewin wrote: I thought they'd be more cautious in licensing light novels, as opposed to animes and mangas.
*Shrug* times change. Although I sort of agree. It is rather a big risk.

Then again places like US give them some idea of the popularity of LNs. I'm actually surprised they haven't gotten some of the better ones. I thought that if some were to get licensed Tora Dora would be one of the FIRST.

But we really don't have that much to complain about. Since ever time I go to a large bookstore I'm shocked at how many LNs there are that I haven't even heard about...and that's KOREA. Bet Japan has loads more.

About the changes to the site... I'm relatively new here so I've no idea what would effect the site in a good way ^^;;
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Teh_ping »

It is a gamble all right. Releasing a light novel series where there aren't any other forms of media to promote it, even in Japan. God help them.

I thought they would license other series like Toradora! as well, since at least there is a rather large awareness of this LN series.

Now that you mention it ronnie, the series is finished now, which is probably why if I were the executive of the company, I'll license it and translate it, since I don't have to worry about how much time will it take, and that I know exactly how the series go. It's like TV companies in US licensing several anime series and dubbing them after the series is over, like good ol' FMA, or even crazier, the dub of GSD that came one week after the series was over.

To be honest, our indicators here isn't exactly a good gauge for the US market, since we don't indicate anything else other that ratings and viewership. Ratings are a rather good indicator of how good the series is, but without the viewership to match it, it's useless, and our viewership numbers don't give the exact number of people from a particular region reading it. If any company wants to use the indicators, ZnT would have been released to the US market a long time ago. So, I don't think that blocking the threads is going to help much.

I already agreed with the idea of a blog, and I'll still stand by it. Though, after all these, I'm kinda wondering if we should start putting reviews of the LN series online.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by IrishHaremOtaku »

So begins the Domino effect.
Too bad the server is in the US.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Kinny Riddle »

blewin wrote: I wonder why they licensed Bungaku shoujo? It doesn't even have an anime.
It does, will be released as a movie in Japan in April this year, covering the story for volume 1.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by FNX »

Just one thing, since Haruhi and the other are on the abandoned series part of the sidebar I think the projects that are on another language are getting severely hit since anyone who comes may think that all the Haruhi project was dropped so all the other languages most probably wont be seen.
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Re: C&D letter from Hachette Book Group

Post by Darknemo2000 »

Teh_ping wrote:To be honest, our indicators here isn't exactly a good gauge for the US market, since we don't indicate anything else other that ratings and viewership. Ratings are a rather good indicator of how good the series is, but without the viewership to match it, it's useless, and our viewership numbers don't give the exact number of people from a particular region reading it. If any company wants to use the indicators, ZnT would have been released to the US market a long time ago. So, I don't think that blocking the threads is going to help much.

I already agreed with the idea of a blog, and I'll still stand by it. Though, after all these, I'm kinda wondering if we should start putting reviews of the LN series online.
Well to be honest Zn"t was supposed to be released long time ago, its just that we got lucky that it was licensed by one of the most unreliable companies like Seven Seas, otherwise it would have been in US market long time ago.
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