Kodansha has announced that they have launched the Kodansha Print Club which is a new publishing program aimed at bringing digital-first manga favorites to a printed format.
The first three previously digital-only series were announced to be given the print treatment:
- Love, That’s an Understatement
- Teppu;
- Blade Girl
Each of the volumes will be priced at $14.99 USD / $19.99 CAD and are available to order in print right now!
Kodansha commented on the launch of the Print Club:
“In the US, manga has to check a lot of boxes to be viable in the traditional print publishing route. As fans know, there are many deserving stories that could reach more readers if given a physical format. Some folks have been following and championing these series in their digital releases, and it has been encouraging to see how ready people are for them,” says Haruko Hashimoto, Kodansha USA, Sr. Editor, Digital. “Internally, we’re actually quite a small team working on Kodansha Print Club books. Each series, each file takes careful consideration from all sides: editorial, production, design, etc. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s an effort that we’re excited to finally launch. My hope is for the Kodansha Print Club to bring refreshed and improved localizations to long-time fans, and introduce these series to new readers, too. There are a lot of English-language manga to pick from these days, so giving an often-overlooked story another chance at visibility is important. I’m looking forward to seeing if what we’ve curated for you finds a place in your shelf—or your friend’s shelf!—like it did mine.”
“One of the things Kodansha is known for is its sizable digital-first catalog, and ever since the start of the digital program, we’ve noticed fans clamoring to have a number of these series available in print. The Kodansha Print Club is our way of trying to bridge this gap and start fulfilling some of those fan requests,” says Ivan Salazar, Kodansha USA, Sr. Marketing Director. “Across conventions and online, fans have told us how important it is to have a physical copy of their favorite manga—to hold them in your hand, and display them on your shelf—and the Kodansha Print Club is just one more way to respond to manga readers by bringing even more fan-favorite manga into print.”
The prints will be available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Books-A-Million, Kinokuniya, Hudson Booksellers, Indiebound, Powell’s, Crunchyroll Store, Target and Walmart.
In addition, if there is a digital manga that you want to see come to print, you can suggest it to Kodansha via their official Feedback Form!
Source: Kodansha
