Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

So I got to follow up with Digital Manga Publishing's Michelle Mauk about their new program, which allows fans who pre-order a book to potentially receive their copy early as part of a limited run-- IF the pre-orders reach a certain dollar amount.

Here's the interview!

ANIME VICE: What inspired this new program?

Michelle Mauk: The new program was inspired by the current economy, we had been thinking about it for quite a while, it was inspired by webcomics primarily. We have always been a small independent publisher-and that gives us the ability to be more in touch with our customers and fans, and to be able to do things a little outside of the norm. We are committed to each order-so any pre-order placed will be backed by us. If a customer moves, or wants a refund, they just need to contact us. That information will be going up on the June' Web-a-thon page very soon.

AV: It's only been a day, but have you seen much response so far?

MM: We have seen a few responses, we think people like to digest these kind of things before they react to it. But hopefully it'll pick up and it'll catch on with the fan-base.

AV: Do you think a program like this could work outside of the yaoi niche, which features some particularly devoted fans?

MM: It's already been proven that it works for webcomics that aren't yaoi, so anything is a possibility. Provided that there is a core fan base that is willing to support the publisher or the artist, we think anything could be open in the future if the fans are open to it.

AV: Is this something you eventually want to offer as a possibility for all of June's titles, or will it only be offered for a few?

MM: It's only going to be offered for a few. We definitely want to test the titles and artists that people claim to like, but sales don't reflect. So this will allow core fans to really push for their favorite artists and titles to see faster publication and release. We will probably announce the titles that we choose starting next week or later on this week-with the second title that we decide upon.

AV: Will there be any difference between the limited-run editions of the books and the ones that come out at the originally-scheduled date?

MM: There isn't going to be a difference in terms of the books-it's the opportunity for fans to demand from us the publisher to print titles that we may end up either pushing off to later date or having to push off the schedule entirely. For us, we want to give artists and titles that may not have a huge sell through in the main bookstores and retail chains an opportunity to survive and thrive by the fan base-and there are some titles that we get a lot of inquiries for that are critically acclaimed and fan-loved, but have a tough time in the retail market. We want to publish them as much as you all want to read them.

So there you have it. I'm actually not familiar with webcomics that work on this particuar system, though of course many of them do come out in more standard print-on-demand formats, but if any of you know 'em, tell me.

Would you buy your books this way, yaoi or otherwise?