[MMM]

Comic-Con '09: Yen Press Adds New CLAMP Manga, Tackles Scanlation Questions

Q: "I was wondering what kind of effect scanlations have had on your most popular titles? I know Shonen Jump / VIZ Media is trying to publish more of their titles online closer to the Japanese release datest to try to address this. What is Yen Press' stance on this issue? Have scanlations affected the sales of your titles?"

Hassler: "It's really tough to say what effect scanlations have on sales of manga. It would be next to impossible to come up with any sort of quantifier to say this X scanlation online equals this many copies (of the licensed print edition) that were not sold. Obviously, scanlations have had the effect of raising awareness of some titles. But at the same time, they have impeded sales of some titles."

"They are illegal usages of art that are often justified with 'Oh, if someone would just publish it, we wouldn't do this scanlation.' But at the end of the day, this is someone illegally using materials that is not their own, and benefiting in some way, shape or form from doing that. It is a process that is very problematic for the market. It's the same as in DVD sales; it's a rare example where you see fan enthusiasm negatively impacting the market."

"Early on in the manga industry, (scanlations) were something that raised awareness. Now I think that it's something that almost any publisher would agree, is something that is impeding our ability to grow our business, and bring the fans the books that they want in the market."