I'm sure everybody has noticed a whole lot of
Manga in their comic books shops and at bookstores.
The biggest US publisher of manga is TOKYOPOP
Inc., but very little is known about the company
and the people behind it. This month's interview
is with Jeremy Ross, TOKYOPOP's Editorial
Director - their rough equivalent to the Editor
in Chief. We cover his background, TOKYOPOP's
growth in bookstores and their relationship to
the direct market. I should let you know a few of
the business questions were answered by Kristien
Brada-Thompson, TOKYOPOP's Marcom Manager.
Jamie Coville:
Give us some of your background. When were you
born and where?
Jeremy Ross:
I was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1953 but I
spent my early years in London, England.
Jamie Coville:
What was the first comic book you read?
Jeremy Ross:
Some realistic comics about WW II in England. When
I moved back to the States in Second grade I
started to get hold of comics like MAD Magazine,
the Fantastic Four and Archie.
Jamie Coville:
What did you do prior to working at TOKYOPOP
Inc.?
Jeremy Ross:
I was Executive Producer at Kleiser-Walczak, the
company that made the 3-D CGI Spider-Man ride film
for Universal in Orlando, FL
Jamie Coville:
How long have you been working at TOKYOPOP?
Jeremy Ross:
Jamie Coville:
It's been noticed that TOKYOPOP have been
hiring a number people in key positions. Has there
been turnover or is the company expanding?
Jeremy Ross:
It's almost all growth. We have doubled our office
space and dramatically increased the number of
titles we are releasing for 2004. We are also
expanding our business in many areas.
Jamie Coville:
TOKYOPOP already does a lot more than just
publish comics, what other areas will they be
expanding too?
Jeremy Ross:
Our revenue (and our business overall) has doubled
every year since TOKYOPOP's inception. In order to
meet the demands of a steady growth like this, we
need to supplement our staff. While manga is
obviously our biggest area of growth, we are also
greatly expanding our Cine-Manga line and delving
more into television properties and licensing.
TOKYOPOP will announce more exciting developments
officially in the future.
Jamie Coville:
Since TOKYOPOP is dealing with reprinting
material, I imagine your job is somewhat different
than editors at original publishers. What is your
workday like?
Jeremy Ross:
In fact, TOKYOPOP produces both licensed,
localized books and --increasingly--original books
of many kinds. Each are their own challenges. All
of the editors are working long hours to fill the
demand for manga in America. The energy and
enthusiasm as well as the pace are unusual for
publishing...but then again, we're an
entrepreneurial entertainment company that happens
to release a lot of books as well as animation,
soundtracks and other products. In a way, it feels
like working for a dot com with one significant
difference: We're making old-media products that
people want and doing it profitably!
Jamie Coville:
Does TOKYOPOP have plans to hire American
creators to do original work?
Jeremy Ross:
We already do. See our web site for titles such as
Shutterbox, @Large and World of Hartz. In the
future, we plan to hire manga artists from all
over the world to create many original works.
Jamie Coville:
Does TOKYOPOP plan to reprint comics from
countries other than from Japan?
Jeremy Ross:
We were the first company to successfully
introduce Korean manga (they call it manwha) to
America and now Korean books make up a significant
portion of our lineup. Our Digimon manga comes
from Hong Kong. And we are planning to publish
manga by European creators.
Jamie Coville:
How has the switch to right to left format
affected the sales of your books?
Jeremy Ross:
The switch to the Authentic format coincided with
a dramatic rise in sales. Readers prefer to see
the art as it was originally designed, not
flipped. There's something particularly appealing
to our audience about books that read in the
opposite direction from Western publications.
Jamie Coville:
How big was the jump in sales between left to
right and right to left?
Jeremy Ross:
Without giving any numbers--since we do not
release sales information as a rule--I can tell
you that our business doubled . . . and has doubled
every year since inception. Of course, you may
have heard this before, so I'll give you another
tidbit that should provide better perspective: In
the same month we launched our first line of 100%
Authentic Manga, our largest distributor at the
time--LPC Group--also happened to declare
bankruptcy. This was a tremendous blow to our
business financially, and we truly didn't know
what would happen. The Authentic Manga launch did
so well, however, that we still ended the year
with a profit! These books blew away everyone's
expectations. The line was a bonafide success
story!
Jamie Coville:
How did you go about courting the bookstores
and major chains into carrying TOKYOPOP books?
Jeremy Ross:
We have a fantastic sales team, a proven track
record, and a market climate that is ripe for our
form of entertainment.
Jamie Coville:
Recently many traditional comic book companies
have signed on with distributors to sell to the
bookstore market, but large print runs and slow
sell throughs have hurt them financially. How does
TOKYOPOP manage to do it so well?
Jeremy Ross:
Selling manga graphic novels in bookstores is a
cornerstone of TOKYOPOP's success. It has allowed
us to attract a very different demographic than
the traditional comic collector who buys at comic
shops. Teen and tween girls and boys love our
format and like finding their favorite series in
bookstore chains. We have dedicated displays in
stores such as Barnes and Noble. The buyers there
love our series-based books because they attract
dedicated customers who buy several series a month
and come to the store regularly. Our manga is also
found at Suncoast, Frye's, Best Buy and other
places where we can reach a mass audience.
Jamie Coville:
Within the "traditional" comic industry there
was talk for a lot of years about reaching out to
women and children readers, but nothing they did
seemed to work. How did TOYKOPOP successfully
market their books those demographics?
Jeremy Ross:
Even the traditional comics industry used to
appeal to a broader demographic. They became more
focused on superhero stories over the years and
were quite successful with them for a long time.
Manga, on the other hand, exists for every
conceivable age group including young kids and
adults. Our success was largely the result of
bringing compelling and unique content to an
audience that was ready for it and making the
books available in retail channels that attract
the broadest possible demographic.
Jamie Coville:
Was there any specific advertising done that
reached those readers or did you get sales because
the TV anime shows were popular and spin off from
that?
Jeremy Ross:
Our success in reaching girls and children may be
attributed to a number of marketing tactics, but a
big part of it is supply and demand. Typical
American superhero style comics do not have as
much appeal to these audiences as manga does with
its multiple genres. We are providing girls and
children with an entertainment form that largely
wasn't there for them in the past. The tie-ins
with related anime TV shows (for some properties)
certainly help as well, but that's only one part
of a very large equation figuring into the growth
of manga sales to girls and children.
Jamie Coville:
How important is the direct market to TOKYOPOP?
Jeremy Ross:
The direct market is important to us because it
allows us to reach more customers, but it
represents only a portion of our sales.
Jamie Coville:
What is the percentage of TOKYOPOP sales
between the Direct Market and Bookstores?
Jeremy Ross:
We're a private company and we do not release
sales figures, but it's fair to say that the
majority of our sales are through bookstores.
Jamie Coville:
When TOKYOPOP releases books to the Direct
Market, a lot of books are shipped on the same
week. Why do it that way?
Jeremy Ross:
Considering that we are releasing on average 40
books per month and that our business is way up,
we ship once or twice a month, usually in the
first two weeks of the month. Our distributors
then determine when and how the books land in the
direct market. With so many titles, this is simply
the best way we've found to do it.
Jamie Coville:
Shoen Jump has been selling Manga through the
newsstands, do you see TOKYOPOP doing something
similar?
Jeremy Ross:
Shonen Jump is an anthology magazine with
serialized stories. TOKYOPOP has a history of
selling manga anthology magazines on newsstands in
the past (Mixxzine, Smile) but we have found the
economics of the magazine business for manga to be
challenging. We have had such runaway success with
the industry-standard graphic novel size that we
pioneered, sold through bookstores, that we have
so far chosen not to re-enter the magazine
business. We do sell manga anthologies (The Rising
Stars of Manga) and give away samplers (TOKYOPOP
sneaks) in our standard graphic novel size.
Jamie Coville:
Many traditional large comic book companies
make the bulk of their money off licensing their
characters. Yet TOKYOPOP is the one licensing
characters for comics. How does this affect the
company?
Jeremy Ross:
We are a licensee of many Manga series, but also a
sub-licensor of those same properties. For
example, we licensed Radio Shack the Initial D
property for their micro machine RC cars. At
Comic-Con 2003 we announced that we have acquired
the rights to the Korean series Priest to make a
major motion picture. When we acquire or develop a
property, we are more often obtaining the rights
to multiple licensing categories. Rave Master is
the most recent example of a property for which we
have the master license, with the exception of
Asia.
You can expect to see more announcements of
TOPYOPOP as a licensor rather than a licensee in
the future.
Jamie Coville:
Are your licensed books still your strongest
sellers?
Jeremy Ross:
For the time being, yes, especially when you
figure in the Cine-Manga deals with Disney,
Nickelodeon, Sony and other heavy-hitters. Those
books do extremely well. However, since we've only
really just started working on original material,
we have no true basis of comparison. Ask us in
another year, and you may be surprised.
Regards,
Jamie Coville
2003-11-10
