Has Yaoi Hit Its US Peak?
Gossip, Manga, News, Western News March 12th, 2008Tags: industry, western industry, yaoi
In an effort to continue the spectacular coverage that YaoiSuki maintained until just recently, I’ve heard word of several items that make me wonder: has yaoi hit its sales peak in the US?
One of the reasons I wonder this is that very few of the licenses at Yaoi Con 2007 were very exciting– most of the big stuff that can be picked up has been.
On top of that, TOKYOPOP’s yaoi line Blu Manga is releasing fewer books this year than in the previous two: they plan for 19 in 2008 and 20 in 2009, as opposed to 24 in 2007 and 22 in 2006. Not a major difference, but Blu– unlike TOKYOPOP –isn’t a big-volume publisher, so it could be significant.
Seven Seas announced at Anime Expo that they were expanding their line to include yaoi, starting with the title In the God’s Arms. The book never came out and has been removed from their website, with no word on the forums as to whether it will ever come out.
Juné, Digital Manga Publishing’s yaoi line, continues to churn out a half a dozen books per month, but they’re increasingly…similar. Even the fans seem a little quieter these days, if you ask me.
Iris Print, a western boys’ love publisher (but not a yaoi publisher) has hit a major financial snag that it’s working its way out of. And in the mean time, Central Park Media has, well, a now-long-standing and major legal snag it’s still working on.
So. Could yaoi have hit its peak in the US, at least in terms of its market? It grew very quickly because, let’s face it, women like the stuff– and there was a whole bunch of big-name popular titles that hadn’t been licensed. Now that they’ve (almost) all been licensed and released in English, what’s left to be excited for? Of course it’ll continue to be popular, but maybe it’s already reached its maximum growth?
Well, we’ll see!
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March 13th, 2008 at 3:21 am
[...] Has yaoi peaked? Gia surveys the landscape. [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I think yaoi has hit the peak of what it can accomplish in the first wave. I think all the big titles fans were waiting for, that were easily attainable with little conflict (cost, company, moral, etc.), have been done but there’s still a huge selection of books leaving fans salavating in wait. Okane Ga Nai, as one example. but it’s main character’s physical similarities to a twelve year old cause some issues for any licensor (as stated by 801Media reps). BeBeautiful currently has what could be one of the biggest yaoi lines-up with View in the Finger and Kizuna but they’ve been snagged for one reason after another and got little in the way of release. DramaQueen is close to the same state.
I think 801Media is the strongest publisher of yaoi now: high quality, good marketing and fan-happy titles. To pick up, the yaoi market needs to take a cue from them; they keep up with the fandom pretty well and release shiny, sexy books by well-known artists, hyping each one individually, without flooding the market like their partners in crime, June/DMP. Hard formula to fail with yaoi.
I think yaoi could definately have a second wave after this fading period, especially if companies like DramaQueen and BeBeautiful can spring back into action and groups like 801 continue to aim for the big name titles.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:07 am
I wouldn’t say it’s peaked. Books that are licensed but held by BeBeautiful are going for $100-400+ on EBay. That tells me there’s a hunger for good books. But I think that the excitement is difficult to sustain when publishers don’t carry through with their licenses, and the only alternative is DMP’s string of mostly mediocre books (though they have some gems in there). DramaQueen has so many titles licensed that I want to read. There are so many authors that people would love, like Miyamoto Kano, who haven’t even been released here once.
People love yaoi. Yaoi communities online are busier than ever. But people get tired of trying to find the releases they’ve been promised. Even BLU, DMP, and 801, the best at delivering on schedule, are only close to schedule half the time. If the companies fold, it’s not because the fans don’t want to buy.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:54 am
@Shelly: Having an industry “peak” and having an industry “fold” are two very different things. When I say I think it may have “peaked” simply means that I suspect it may not become any larger in its current state– I think it’s had its big post-birth growth spurt that came from a) the people who already knew BL and were eager to support a US BL industry, b) the fact that there was a huge supply of really excellent and buzzed-about content to distribute.
New people are getting into it on the ‘net and even just spotting it at bookstores, but that’s a much slower growth than the insta-hit that the American BL industry saw at its birth– and they also deal with the people who fade out of the BL fandom for whatever reason.
Also, since a lot of those serious A-lister titles have already been picked up and released (in most cases), it means that the time between major “OMG SQUEE!” licenses is going to get longer, which means that there’s a little less momentum to carry fans from title to title.
No one suggested that any of the BL companies are going to go out of business. Only that it may see a slowdown. I think the only way that it could see another exponential growth like it’s seen over the last few years is if some truly amazing title crossed over into the mainstream and introduced another really large chunk of audience. Such is the fate of a niche market. :)
March 17th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hi Gia: I was trying to say I think the peak is an artificial one. Because honestly, they haven’t brought over that many A list titles. The few they’ve brought and their mangaka are still hot, sure. But there are tons of hot titles and mangaka in Japan waiting to be brought over, and while some of those mangaka have been licensed by DramaQueen they haven’t been printed yet. I look at Japan’s BL output, and their most popular mangaka, and I see Yamane and Nitta and Kazuma Kodaka. But I also see Ike Reibun and Miyamoto Kano and Naono Bohra and Kanbe Akira and Hiiro Reichi and Sakuragi Yaya (who’s finally getting a release here) and Sadahiro Mika and so many others that fans are just really excited about reading, and no one here is capitalizing on it. If they did, I think they’d see sales climbing again. To me it’s not that people don’t want anymore yaoi. It’s that they don’t want more mediocre yaoi.