Tokyopop Downsizing Manga in U.K
By: Jarrod SarafinDate: Friday, June 13, 2008
Source: Book Seller
It seems that Manga output will be getting a little smaller in the U.K thanks to mega publisher Tokyopop. The BookSeller T is reporting thatokyopop’s UK arm will cut back on the number of titles it publishes by 20%, in line with changes at its US parent company, where 39 positions have been eliminated and there has been a massive cut in output.
Tokyopop has been squeezed by increasing competition in the manga market in both the US and UK, with year-to-date UK sales dropping by 4.1% by volume in the year to 19th April despite a 40.2% rise in the UK graphic novels market over the same period.
Andrew Whelan, who has replaced Dennis McGuirk as UK sales and marketing manager, said: “We are now sharing space and market share more than ever before. In the past, we have had 80–90% of the market; now it’s about 50/50.”
McGuirk, who spearheaded Tokyopop’s advance into the UK market, left the publisher last month after four years in the role. “He wanted a fresh challenge,” Whelan said. He added that he was looking at cutting Tokyopop’s UK output back to 20 titles a month from 25, as the US looks to halve its current 500-a-year output.
“If you keep churning out stuff, eventually you reach saturation point, [so] in a way not printing as much is a good option. But we are only going to drop series that don’t sell. Essentially, we only do the best of the best.”
