Showing posts with label crazy idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crazy idea. Show all posts

10.30.2007

...So, an idea has occurred to me.

I... don't even know how practical it is. In fact I am pretty sure that it's not practical.
But, a few days ago an idea occurred to me.
I thought, "I would like to own a publishing house that translates Japanese light novels (young adult novels, generally fairly short--LABB and Kino both fall into this category) into English."

Now, it's an interesting idea, but I'm a little frustrated with it. It's so impractical! The idea of me starting a business... And this isn't even a simple home business like, "Oh, I have some cute screen-printed T-shirts. Buy them!"
Oh, no, it's nothing like that.
I'd have to acquire the publishing rights. (Requires money & interaction)
Translate it.
Have it printed. (Requires... well, something, and I don't even know what)
Market it. (Again... I have no idea how to do this. I do know that it would require money)

It's nearly impossible that it could all be done by one person; certainly I would have to spend a while struggling before it took off, IF it took off. But Seven Seas has dropped its novel line (to my great frustration--I wanted to read Boogiepop at Dawn!), Viz shows signs of not being very confident in novels (at least, this thought is recorded in my head. I forget if it was only caused by LABB, which would now make the thought invalid, or not), and Tokyopop... well you saw my issue with Tokyopop in the last entry. -_-
But in my mind... In my mind, I'm thinking, "Maybe they're marketing them wrong."
See, here's the thing. I hate saying this because it makes me sound like that evil man, but maybe the "manga crowd" that they generally market to doesn't really read as many novels. I mean, especially if they just got into manga because it was right next to the comics, or because they got into it through anime.
So if I didn't place the emphasis on them being Japanese novels... But then I risk over-localization which would cause me to explode in a fit of self-loathing.


Sigh.