Ask John: Why Isn’t There More Digital Manga?

Question:
Why aren’t light novels and manga being published in electronic formats? E-readers are quickly become ubiquitous and I’m sure publishers would be happy to drop the material costs of paper, ink, and shipping. So why are they still operating like it’s the 19th century?

Answer:
Honestly, I have to partially rely upon second hand speculation and rumor in order to provide an answer to this question, but I think that known evidence supports the theories. Domestic publishers including Viz and Media Blasters have confirmed that they’d like to publish domestic Blu-ray media but have to wait for initial Japanese releases and approvals from Japanese copyright owners. The same circumstance likely applies to digital versions of print media. Japan’s anime/manga industry isn’t Luddite, but it’s also especially wary of digital distribution. Certain aspects of Japan’s manga publishing industry have embraced digital distribution. For example, the erotic manga genres and the yaoi manga sectors of Japan’s publishing industry have made aggressive moves into commercial digital distribution in recent years, particularly within Japan. However, while commercial anime distribution online in Japan has been fairly aggressive, the digital distribution of print (excepting prose specifically composed for online distribution like blogs, digital manga, online novels, and cel phone novels) seems to have been primarily pursued by individuals, including manga artists Satou Shuuhou and Ken Akamatsu, rather than established, traditional publishing companies. And while certain Japanese publishers have gone online, they’ve mainly kept their digital media exclusive to Japanese readers. While the recent insistence that Fractale TV episodes be purged from unauthorized digital distribution in order to allow authorized online distribution isn’t quite the same as digital prose and manga, it still demonstrates corporate Japan’s anxiety over allowing online media distribution outside of Japan.

I absolutely envision a time in the foreseeable future when America’s very limited current digital print distribution will expand. Right now Japan’s anime distribution industry seems primarily focused on the threat of unlicensed global anime distribution online. But the Japanese publishing industry must soon face the reality of digital print piracy and the practical demands of consumers that are increasingly demanding digital media rather than traditional paper. While I don’t imagine that America’s most prominent manga publishers are eager to fully switch over to paperless digital media, I have little doubt that all of them would like to expand further into digital publication but cannot do so because their Japanese licensors are holding a short leash and are afraid to let the line out farther than it already is.