Slayers novels

[LT Stormwalker]

Upon checking the Tokyopop website I noticed that the Slayers novel page only lists 1-6 now, even though all fifteen have been licensed. Also, I can find no trace of the Seikai Trilogy novels on the Tokyopop website, but saw a news release mentioning the Tokyopop has the rights to them. Is there any word on future releases for either of these series?

[PeterAhlstrom]

Only the first six Slayers books were included in the initial license, but it's definitely an important series that [Edit: I would love to see] continuing in some form in the future; however, nothing is set at the current time. I personally love Slayers and would be very happy to see more volumes as well as the Special novels, but I don't know if or when that might happen. [Read Kara's posts below for more info...]

[Edited thread title: Let's leave this thread for just Slayers, since there is a bigger thread for Seikai novels.]

[Blu_Moon]

Hello! Novels Editor here! Thank you for your questions! (And support of our novels!)

Novels works a little bit differently than manga. With novels, we usually license a few volumes at a time, and keep going if there is popular demand.

TOKYOPOP will most likely not continue to release Slayers novels because there are not enough sales to merit the costs of making the books. We editors are, of course, very sad about this. Slayers has a very loyal fan following and we appreciate the respectful letters and emails they send us; unfortunately, there are not enough sales of this title to continue to do another 9 books. But the future is never certain. Perhaps something can be done for print-on-demand direct orders. We want to do our best to make fans happy, whenever it's possible, so we're listening to suggestions.


TOKYOPOP has licensed Seikai: Crest of the Stars novels 1-4. If those do well, we will certainly consider Banner of the Stars 1-3 and Phrase of the Stars 1 to however many more there will be. At the moment, the first volume of Crest is with the rewriter (a very dedicated young man who is working closely with me to try and figure out the best way to respect Morioka-sensei's use of the Abh language.)

In the Japanese text, you see, the entire book is written in kanji. Then in the furigana next to that, the Abh word is spell out. So the Japanese reader immediately knows what Morioka-sensei is referring to, and then can figure out an instant translation of Abh without the aid of a glossary. We don't have a way to do rubi in English text, so I'm currently trying a combination of Abh words with context clues, Abh words explained in parentheses, and a few Abh words (like bath towel, for instance--used only once) switched into English, but still listed in the glossary for those die-hard otaku that just have GOT to know how the Abh say bath towel! ^_^) When our rewrite is more polished, we will display product information (and hopefully an excerpt!) on our website. But rest assured, we do have it, and we're shooting for a September 06 release, and I am doing my very best (rented the anime, read the manga, consulted the translator, and emailed fans for their suggestions) to treat this title with the utmost respect, so please be on the look-out and help spread the word!

Yours, Kara Stambach

[Tara-hime]

I hope you'll keep a hold of Slayers for a little while longer. The possible reason for the low sales is because the companies who have had rights to the Slayers anime and manga never actually put it out there quite as it should have been and allowed the series to be forgotten. A bunch of series became extremely popular when they were shown on television, etc and as a result, gained a large fanbase. Slayers never had that chance till recently with FUNimation acquiring a new license for the series. With the media attention FUNi gives to its series, there's talk of a revival of interest in Slayers again and not just for us loyal hardcore fans. So hopefully with the new license, Slayers will also be shown on television outside of the International Channel and interest will spark for new fans as well as the old. This could lead into more sales for the novels as well in the long run for those of us who crave for more Slayers. I've personally have been dying for the Dynast arc since 1998 so I hope I don't end up having to wait another decade for it. :p

[Tasuki]

The possible reason for the low sales is because the companies who have had rights to the Slayers anime and manga never actually put it out there quite as it should have been and allowed the series to be forgotten. A bunch of series became extremely popular when they were shown on television, etc and as a result, gained a large fanbase. Slayers never had that chance till recently with FUNimation acquiring a new license for the series. With the media attention FUNi gives to its series, there's talk of a revival of interest in Slayers again and not just for us loyal hardcore fans. So hopefully with the new license, Slayers will also be shown on television outside of the International Channel and interest will spark for new fans as well as the old.

I completely agree; I think FUNimation's remastering of the three TV seasons is going to return a lot of attention to Slayers again, especially if they manage to sell the Cartoon Network on airing the show on Toonami or Adult Swim. Even though I currently already own the Central Park Media box sets, I still plan on forking over the cash to pay for the new FUNi ones because I know they're going to do a great job.

Central Park Media did a horrible job on releasing and marketing Slayers. I've recently been re-watching my copies of Slayers NEXT and I noticed how poorly the box set was put together; artwork and screencaps from episodes found on the first DVD are used for the jacket and CD silk for the second DVD. It's the same with the rest of the discs in the set -- the third DVD has artwork from the episodes on the second DVD and the fourth DVD has artwork from the third. :P And I don't even need to go into any detail on how terrible the artwork is for the first box set. FUNimation doesn't have to do much to do a better job than CPM did. :P

Er, guess I'm kind of rambling here... Long story short, I really hope that Tokyopop will continue to translate the Slayers novels. I really do. Like Tara-hime, I've been waiting for a long time for the opportunity to read the entire series and I'd hate to wait another decade to see it as well. :X

Out of curiosity, how many volumes would have to sell before Tokyopop would get the rights to the rest of the series? And how many have sold so far?

[LT Stormwalker]

Blu_Moon, you mentioned print-on-demand direct orders, how would these work, and if it can get me a copy of Slayers 7, what can I do to support it?

[Blu_Moon]

Blu_Moon, you mentioned print-on-demand direct orders, how would these work, and if it can get me a copy of Slayers 7, what can I do to support it?


I'm honestly not sure yet. Though I've worked on it, Slayers isn't my title. It's something we novels editors talked about--about printing only the amount of books for which we have online pre-orders, and then shipping it right out to the buyer, not really putting any on shelves in stores. Almost like a vanity press situation. It was an idea. It might not work. The licensors might not like that idea, either. The cost and time it takes for licensing something, hiring a translator, a rewriter, editing it, designing the books, and shipping them are more than you might think, and direct orders might not make up the investment, but it's not something we refuse to think about. I'm very hopeful that if Slayers starts coming out on TV again, that sales will go up. But at this time, we haven't made any decision beyond stopping with our last license, volume 6. We'll have to wait and see.

[Blu_Moon]

Out of curiosity, how many volumes would have to sell before Tokyopop would get the rights to the rest of the series? And how many have sold so far?

I wish I could answer your question, but all editors and employees signed a confidentiality agreement about stuff like sales numbers, so no one on any of these boards is going to discuss stuff like that in detail. That kind of information is for TOKYOPOP only. Suffice to say, not enough novels sold, and that makes us just as sad as you, believe me. Everyone at TOKYOPOP is a fan of the properties, too. We love this stuff. The news of it maybe being released on TV gives me hope that we can make a case for continuing, but for now, we have to wait and see.

[PeterAhlstrom]

The format options available could be changing a lot in the next few years. Who knows...maybe in a couple years something like e-books would be a viable alternative for the C-list titles. I personally think Slayers would be ripe for releasing in cheap 3-book omnibuses, since 3 books would be only around 130,000 words, which would make for a longish paperback, but this is purely my personal speculation and I have no idea whether licensors would be at all willing to do something like that. The only thing that's clear is that the format they were published in did not work. It works for .hack, but Slayers is not a recent enough property to support it.

It will also be interesting to see how the Pop Fiction books like Kino no Tabi and Scrapped Princess go over.

[Alphonse Elric]

i heard they where really good

[Countess Cain]

TOKYOPOP will most likely not continue to release Slayers novels because there are not enough sales to merit the costs of making the books.

That's disappointing. I've read up to the third one, and I was looking forward to reading the whole series. T_T

[MadGSC]

Thanks to Tokyopop for at least putting the first six out, six is better than none, but definitely 15 is better than 6.

[emeraldisdead]

TOKYOPOP will most likely not continue to release Slayers novels because there are not enough sales to merit the costs of making the books.

That's the most upsetting news I've heard all day but I guess it makes sense. The Hastings in my area still hasn't gotten volume 6 in (but then again they are horrible at getting new stuff in) and the five or six copies of volume 5 are just sitting there collecting dust. It's sad that newer anime fans aren't interested in this series but maybe that will change.

[Veroniku]

Central Park Media did a horrible job on releasing and marketing Slayers. I've recently been re-watching my copies of Slayers NEXT and I noticed how poorly the box set was put together; artwork and screencaps from episodes found on the first DVD are used for the jacket and CD silk for the second DVD. It's the same with the rest of the discs in the set -- the third DVD has artwork from the episodes on the second DVD and the fourth DVD has artwork from the third. :P And I don't even need to go into any detail on how terrible the artwork is for the first box set. FUNimation doesn't have to do much to do a better job than CPM did. :P
I haven't checked out FUNi releases for years, but back in the day, I had very bad experiences with them...

As to the current Slayers boxsets, they were... Alright. The paper boxes were way cheap though, I have to agree. They got damaged with me just blinking at them! But the subs were alright. Nothing really annoyed me enough for me to remember them. Though I should watch them again...

As to the low sales, you might think I'm gullible or something, but I'm VERY surprised about that. Maybe because all my friends who are anime fans know about the series? Maybe because I got so much into it that I knew bits and trivia about stuff that weren't even in the anime?

I think Slayers is such a great saga. I also love Kanzaka's style. He makes fun of his characters so easily. ^_^ But he also has such a hierarchy and big story, thousands of years wide, in his head... It can only gain popularity! Especially with people that love Star Trek or whatever! (sorry I haven't seen any Star Trek or Star Wars but I hear their fans love big sagas and stuff...)

What I'm saying is perhaps it just needs more publicity? I talked to a friend who said she was a great fan of Slayers, and she didn't even know the novels were out!

I always imagined the Slayers fandom as being very very wide. Am I that wrong? I think Tokyopop just needs to target them better. Maybe talk about it much more in conventions?

Also, I'm proud to say I really did my part, buying in total 6 copies of the first novel! (They made AWESOME Christmas gifts, thank you! They're easy to ship overseas too!) and got all the novels for myself. :þ (Though they're at my ex-boyfriend's and I'm thinking of buying them again...) Can I tell you how many bookstores I had to go to buy all 6 copies though?! Four! @.@

Oh and you should blackmail your superiors or whatever. After what Xelloss said in the 6th volume's epilogue, you can't end it there! I was waiting for that part ever since the first volume! ;_;

[MikeyS]

*Blinks* Whats Slayers? Is it about vampires?

[Klawzie]

*Blinks* Whats Slayers? Is it about vampires?

No it's not - for shame! Not knowing about Lina and her wonderful adventures with Zelgadis and the gang. ;3

It's a semi-parody of your typical fantasy story. It's awesome.

[Weazul-chan]

it makes me sad to hear I may not be able to read the rest of this series. Slayers was the anime that got me back into anime after 3-4 years away from the anime fandom and it's a series that holds a special place in my fangirl heart. if there is a way for you to release the rest (the 3-in-1 omnibus idea sounds really good, IMO, especially since I'm a fast reader) I would be sure to buy copies, both for myself and my nieces (manga, novelizations of anime, and novels that got turned into anime are about the only thing my middle niece can sit down and read for any length of time, almost everything else fails to keep her attention).

[Tasuki]

It's something we novels editors talked about--about printing only the amount of books for which we have online pre-orders, and then shipping it right out to the buyer, not really putting any on shelves in stores. Almost like a vanity press situation. It was an idea. It might not work. The licensors might not like that idea, either. The cost and time it takes for licensing something, hiring a translator, a rewriter, editing it, designing the books, and shipping them are more than you might think, and direct orders might not make up the investment, but it's not something we refuse to think about.

I think a lot of fans would be really supportive of direct-to-print online orders, if it meant that they'd be able to continue reading the series. I know I would. But I understand how it might not happen due to costs. :/ Still, even if the price of the books were higher, I know I'd gladly pay the extra bit of cash to get my hands on the books. I'm sure it's the same with a lot of other fans out there.

What I'm saying is perhaps it just needs more publicity? I talked to a friend who said she was a great fan of Slayers, and she didn't even know the novels were out!

I always imagined the Slayers fandom as being very very wide. Am I that wrong? I think Tokyopop just needs to target them better. Maybe talk about it much more in conventions?

I agree... maybe the novels just need more publicity. Maybe they'd sell more copies if the novels were put in the Fantasy section of book stores, along with all of the other sword-and-sorcery novels? :9 And I really like the idea of talking more about them at conventions... anything to get fans aware that they exist, right? :3

[MikeyS]

The direct to print thing might not work because what if fans want to read it but can't exactly buy them online. Would there be a way to get them through bookstores or something?

[Tara-hime]

Perhaps Tokyopop could put up a poll or Q&A in their next newsletter about continuing with the Slayers novels to get the word out more?

[Countess Cain]

Still, even if the price of the books were higher, I know I'd gladly pay the extra bit of cash to get my hands on the books. I'm sure it's the same with a lot of other fans out there.

I'm pretty sure most fans would be willing to pay an extra two or three dollars to get it too. Especially if they already have all the ones that are out right now.

Perhaps Tokyopop could put up a poll or Q&A in their next newsletter about continuing with the Slayers novels to get the word out more?

That's a good idea. Maybe you could do something in the Manga/Takuhai/whatever it's called now magazine too?

[Veroniku]

Perhaps Tokyopop could put up a poll or Q&A in their next newsletter about continuing with the Slayers novels to get the word out more?
A great idea! Yes, get the higher boss people to see that there IS a lot of fans out there!

And I would be willing to pay 15$ each. @.@ Maybe I wouldn't buy them for friends then though... XD Really I loved the cheap price, and I really thought they'd be popular because of it. I'm way gullible I guess. ;_;

The proof of my loyalty: just a day after I said I would, I re-purchased the Slayers novels 3, 4 and 5. XD (Already had 6 with me, so just missing 1 and 2 which they didn't have in stock!) Maybe I should ask my bookstore to order more? ^..^

[Minerva]

First off, let me say: I registered on these forums only for this thread. A supporter of my movement (http://www.mazoku.com/~szurane/challenge) directed me here.

I received information that Slayers would be continuing their novels release. Apparently this is incorrect, or at least, unsure. I'll have to fix our front page. I do like knowing that our letters have been getting received. We will continue to mail and I will continue to push the movement further.

The biggest inhibition for the Slayers series has been advertising. I am an enormous fan of it and I didn't even know it was released until someone told me, and they happened to see it on a shelf. There is no real advertising. Nothing. This series is much-anticipated, and has fans all over the map. Not only is Funimation re-releasing it, but Slayers Central (http://www.mazoku.com/~central) is being formed after the success of Slayers Challenge, as a center community for all Slayers fans since we're scattered all over the place after some 16 years of fandom. "So you can stop wondering where the hell the rest of us are."

With all of this coming together at once, with a little advertisement, the novels could definitely go a long way. Hell. We'll advertise on central for you, no charge. I'm not kidding. We just ask you release the novels for us. Challenge went so far as to make flyers. We might not be able to do that about novels, since they're yours and would be considered actual promotions, I'll have to look into the legalities on that- and where I could do it anyway- but I don't think Central would have problems with doing similar if we found out the technicalities and you would let us, should you continue publishing.

I appreciate your work. We all do. But I think some of it is just that a series that could do so well is getting glossed over. Miscategorization doesn't help either. I've seen it put in anime, and in fantasy. Add that occasionally stores have trouble spelling "Hajime Kanzaka" and "Rui Araizumi" correctly to look it up in a catalogue, and you have problems finding it at all. There needs to be some kind of rule set down on where these books go: Anime or fantasy, where they're going to get more notice and more sales. I'll personally contact any store I see mispelling the names myself in the catalogue, I dunno about anyone else. I'm very pro-active. But on the front of advertising, that's up to tokyopop and tokyopop only. I'm sure slayers central will gladly advertise for free that the novels are coming out. We can all do it as a community. It's a matter of if tokyopop wants to gamble on us for another few books. We've been showing our support. I KNOW there have been sales because I know people ran out to buy the books like mad, I know of at least like 15 book sales within only a few people, personally. And that's just me. So... I don't know. Willing to give us a shot? We'll do our best. :)

~Minerva

[Blu_Moon]

I received information that Slayers would be continuing their novels release. Apparently this is incorrect, or at least, unsure.

The biggest inhibition for the Slayers series has been advertising.

But I think some of it is just that a series that could do so well is getting glossed over.

Miscategorization doesn't help either.

I KNOW there have been sales because I know people ran out to buy the books like mad, I know of at least like 15 book sales within only a few people, personally.
~Minerva


I really appreciate fans like you, Minerva. They make me extremely happy. I wish I had more time before work this morning to chat with you! But for now, I'll have to make this as quick as I can.

There's a few things I need you to understand, going forward, okay?

1. All the editors would like to continue Slayers. You don't have to convince us that it's a great property. We are not glossing over it. Now, perhaps my boss, Nicole Monastirsky, was able to work something out with printing more books and she hasn't had a chance to tell me yet. But the last we spoke of it, we were looking into direct print options but nothing was decided.

2. Advertising costs more thousands of dollars than you realize. Imagine the up hill battle it is to get a company to pay thousands of dollars to advertise something in the hopes of getting a few more sales to continue printing? Because while I am not at liberty to discuss the actual numbers of anything (insider biz info) I can tell you that they are not doing well at all. Not at all. As for being misplaced in the bookstore, our electronic numbers and our genre descriptions on the back of the books tell stores to place Manga Novels in the manga section, but we can't control whether they actually do.

3. Marketing and sales look at the numbers and inform the Acquisitions team if we can continue to license something. We've licensed Slayers 1-6. To license more volumes, it would cost a lot more money than you realize, and we would have to approach the licensors again and give them a minimum guarantee that we'd sell X number of units, which, based on past sales, we can't guarantee. So now we're asking the company to put up money for advertising a series that doesn't do well, buy more books that don't sell well, and promise our licensors--a very important relationship, you realize--with a minimum guarantee that doesn't sell well.

Now, with it being picked up and put back on TV, that's ammunition! I can go to marketing and sales and have them revisit the profit and loss statement and see if something can be done. But I can't promise you anything, and, as a fan myself, I understand how frustrating that is. What I need you to realize is that the editors are, in their (very limited ^_^) spare time, investigating what can be done, and we're on your side, but we have to work within certain perimeters. It's not a question of if we want to give you what you want, but if we can.

Yours, Kara

[Minerva]

I'll see if the rest of the girls at Central can get the page together more quickly. If we can organize the site, we can get a lot of centralized information about the developments on Funimation's release and other fan-based information on Slayers that would help the promotion of Slayers period.

Like I said, the problem overall is marketing. I understand it's expensive. I'm not a kid, and I don't mean that to sound snotty, text is hard to convey emotions with. That's why I say "We would publicise your efforts" should you begin republishing. When it was announced that Slayers would possibly be cancelled, I made it known that people should go out and buy anything they don't currently own. It might be considered arrogant to think it has a significant effect, but right now, Slayers fandom is spread to hell and back. We're scattered and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. There not being advertisements of novel release isn't going to help sales. I think if we get Central running at least on a basic level it might help, and considering Challenge's relative success I think we'd do very well.

News up about Funimation's re-release, anything else that might help promote it? I intend to rifle through news about this as much as possible. Also I would like, if possible, to get some interviews with you guys like direct word-of-mouth if it's not too time consuming? I have my own chat that would make it go quickly. I just like putting rumors to rest. I'll make a list of questions, and if anything is something you can't disclose I'll understand that, but since someone outright said "well it's being released" and that might not be so-- it'll be nice to know what's going on. I understand if it's too much to ask.

Um-- let's see what else. "Glossing over" is bad wording on my part and I'm sorry. I haven't slept yet. That sounded very dismissive. I meant more it's being passed over because really, nobody can pay for the advertisement. It's sort of everybody's fault and nobody's fault at the same time, as I discussed above. My bad.

[Blu_Moon]

I don't mean that to sound snotty, text is hard to convey emotions with.

Also I would like, if possible, to get some interviews with you guys like direct word-of-mouth if it's not too time consuming?


Minerva--I don't feel you were being "snotty" or anything like that--I can tell you're passionate about it and that makes me happy. I even like red pen constructive criticism, just with respectful language, of course. So no worries on that score.

Thanks for the offer to promote us to the fans that already exist for Slayers. I think, as you said, once the fandom gels and the property is back on TV, we'll have enough ammunition to go back to marketing and make a strong case to license the next 3 novels, at least.

Right now, no one is prepared to give an official interview about this. The simple reason is that we just don't know anything yet (or we're not at liberty to discuss it.) It's not that I'm trying to be dodgy--I really like interacting with the fans on this forum. But I cannot tell you any more than I've already told you.

Nicole Monastirsky might have mentioned that we'd try and pick the series up. I know she was really championing at least a direct order print. The fan movement really did help. But again, we were road blocked by the sales numbers. We need to see what happens with the TV following; we need to see what we can do regarding negotiations with licensors, etc. Marketing needs time to see what the market does. So right now, the best thing you guys could do is hold tight and let us compile the info.
Yours, Kara

[Minerva]

RE: Direct order prints.

How much exactly would those cost, and how exactly would one go about that? I'm sorry if it's mentioned elsewhere on the forum, but I haven't poked around much on here. Like I said I pretty much registered for... this thread.

If I was a person with more money I'd personally order a set number myself of each and see if I could set up something where people know they're out there if they contact me. But alas, I just have it in me to buy my own. For now. And sadly those with money aren't maniac-fans like I am.

If direct-order prints are allowed/set up, I'd gladly pass out information on how people can order them, at least, until the distribution comes back if it does.

Also, is there any way at all to get the afterword from book six that sort of vanished off the face of the earth? =/ That disappointed me. Is there anywhere it's available?

[Irkdesu]

Also, is there any way at all to get the afterword from book six that sort of vanished off the face of the earth? =/ That disappointed me. Is there anywhere it's available?

Hearts to Peter for posting it over here awhile back. (http://forums.animeondvd.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1214558&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=11&vc=1)

[Irkdesu]

Thanks for the offer to promote us to the fans that already exist for Slayers. I think, as you said, once the fandom gels and the property is back on TV, we'll have enough ammunition to go back to marketing and make a strong case to license the next 3 novels, at least.

NOT that I wouldn't love three novels instead of two, but I've been getting a bit confused as to why companies pick up serieses in set increments, instead of picking them up in finished arcs. If you buy the next two, the current story arc will wrap up. With three, you leave the next story arc open, and a lot of frustration from readers if it's left off there. When we were running Slayers Challenge, one of our key points was that we didn't demand all 15 novels released, but going up to novel 8, and finishing up the current plotline, would be nice, and leave all readers, if not completely satisfied, at least not feeling like they've been left in the lurch of a storyline.

[Minerva]

There we go. That was around the time Derek was here on vacation so I lost track of that thread for a bit. I saw it earlier on. Thanks!

...and here I was just saying Phil was never in any porn.

[Minerva]

... When we were running Slayers Challenge, ...


Considering it's been announced that it's still cancelled, we should consider ourselves still active, Irk.

And my FTP is working again.

Therefore, new chat schedules, new promotions and we can start promoting Challenge again like we used to.

Challenge can be our temporary center-point until we get Central up.

[Klawzie]

[...] I've been getting a bit confused as to why companies pick up novel in set increments, instead of picking them up in finished arcs.

Let's say that the arc lasts 8 books (I'm just guessing from your comments, I don't actually know). You buy the rights to the first eight books, shelling out a LOT of money in advance. Let's say the sales utterly flop (as it appears they're kinda doing at the moment). Printing books costs money - heck, just translating them costs money, let's forget the actually printing them part. If the first few books utterly tank, why throw good money after bad when you seem pretty unlikely to get a return on your investment?

Buying books in small increments lets a publisher 'test the waters' before throwing themselves into the deep end with two anchors tied to their ankles.

If I'm missing something, someone from Tokyopop can correct me! :)

[sailortitan]

I wasn't that interested in the Slayers Novels, although I was curious since I knew that the novels were the source material, but hearing this makes me want to read them more (call me the champion of obscure series...) Plus a friend of mine was talking about how she liked the Slayers anime.

Could someone give me a little wrap-down of what they like about the seires? The blurbs I looked at in the magazine made Slayers seem kind of silly and superfluous. Is there more to this series than I had intially thought?

If it's okay with the mods, maybe some fans could pick out their favorite passages to sell me on these books...?

[Irkdesu]

Let's say that the arc lasts 8 books (I'm just guessing from your comments, I don't actually know). You buy the rights to the first eight books, shelling out a LOT of money in advance. Let's say the sales utterly flop (as it appears they're kinda doing at the moment). Printing books costs money - heck, just translating them costs money, let's forget the actually printing them part. If the first few books utterly tank, why throw good money after bad when you seem pretty unlikely to get a return on your investment?

Buying books in small increments lets a publisher 'test the waters' before throwing themselves into the deep end with two anchors tied to their ankles.

If I'm missing something, someone from Tokyopop can correct me! :)

Well, I'm more asking, with the current situation, why shell out on 3 when 2 will do the job better and not leave anybody off? It wraps up at 8, 9 starts off a new arc. That seems to me to be an extra that can be trimmed, if you're looking at budget. It would make more sense to start on a new arc if the series picks back up again instead of diving into murkier waters with it. Basically, going with the assertion that things cost money, I'd say to spend the money WISELY.

[With the first 6 books, it would have been a better bet to go with the first three, because starting with the fourth one the novels kick up an ongoing plotline, whereas the first three can really stand alone without going any further. However, this is all assuming these are numbers that can be set so logically, I can imagine in rights negotiations there's any number of reasons for math to go crazy. But that's in the past - I'd rather focus on the fact that giving us 2 novels and stopping is much better than giving us three and stopping, because that's actually something that can be changed, whereas the past is done until I build that time machine.]

[Irkdesu]

Could someone give me a little wrap-down of what they like about the seires? The blurbs I looked at in the magazine made Slayers seem kind of silly and superfluous. Is there more to this series than I had intially thought?

The blurbs don't really give you much of an idea of the awesome that they're made of.

The novels are the source material, yes, but they are far from a text version of the anime series. It's like looking at alternate universes. What I like best about the novels is that after reading them, not only did I have a greater understanding of Slayers, but I also still appreciated the series just as much, if not MORE. It wasn't a case of the book ruining the movie for me. The novels supplement the anime and the anime supplements the novels, and I really don't know HOW that all worked out so perfectly but it did.

Kanzaka tells his stories differently. They're all set from Lina's perspective, since she's telling them. So you get a constant view of her own thoughts. The narrative is very clever and pretty much impossible to duplicate in an anime version unless you had a constant voiceover. Line explains things as she casts spells, sees certain magical effects, etc. That happened in the anime too, but the novels leave a lot more room for "and this is the mechanics of so-and-so spell" without breaking pace.

Something I've seen lauded about the novels, over and over, is that they give a darker view of the series. I would say that this is true, but I would also say that they are still the perfect blend of comedy and drama that defines Slayers. In fact, that perfect blend STARTED in these novels. Everything you love about Slayers is in these books.

Characters are a bit different. Gourry isn't as completely stupid. He's still a moron at times but there are other times where you can tell that he's playing that up to throw people off. He earns a lot more of my respect in the novels because he doesn't just let Lina kick him around all the time. I find him much more likeable overall. Zelgadis is...you know I'm sure he's different but in a way he doesn't seem different at all. I'd say he's a bit more distant and coolheaded than the anime version of himself, but there's not that much difference. Amelia, now that's who REALLY shines in the novels as opposed to her anime counterpart. She's even MORE gutsy and preachy and daring and somehow this is an awesome thing. She's a real sparkplug. I think it's similar to how it is with Gourry - she earns more of my respect in the novels. I just love to see her enter a scene, whereas with anime Amelia I feel she got a bit grating. In the novels she has MORE energy, and I think it's BETTER energy, even.

As for Xelloss...a friend asked me to describe novel Xelloss recently, and I replied, "Lightheartedly genocidal, well-mannered prick." He has some of the best lines that I've read in all six books that are out in english. He doesn't hide the fact that he's heartless, but he's also got a smooth edge to him, and a certain etiquette. Xelloss is my favorite character in ANY anime and the novels only made him love him MORE. That is a tall order.

Other than that...hmm. Basically, it's the Slayers you love, but more, and awesome. The plot is different enough that you will ALWAYS be guessing what the heck is going to happen after #2. The one that's most similar to the anime plot is #1, and it's got enough twists and turns that you'll still be on your toes at points.

Now go forth and buy them.

[Irkdesu]

Considering it's been announced that it's still cancelled, we should consider ourselves still active, Irk.

And my FTP is working again.

Therefore, new chat schedules, new promotions and we can start promoting Challenge again like we used to.

Challenge can be our temporary center-point until we get Central up.

Well, I meant more, back in the day, over a MONTH ago...the days of our youth... ;.;

But you're right. Back on the wagon!

[LunarBunny]

I hope they bring back Slayers. But I did hear the Foxs saterday morning program is thinking about picking up The Slayers ( Oh man I hope that happans) Slayers is the one anime that will always be in my hart becuaes thats the show that made me want to do my own comic work. I am willing to pay 20$ for a novel just becuaes I love them that much .

[Minerva]

NOT.

FOX.

Please not FOX.

Fox is why things started getting dubbed "Monster" to begin with. They expressed interest in it, so "Mazoku" was dubbed out as "Monster". While "Demon" isn't a complete literal translation [read: "Race of Evil", "Evil Race"], "Demon" is considered one of the closest by a lot of fans and really, it'd be very superfluous to keep saying Race-of-Evil Race-of-Evil in English over and over, and "Mazoku" just would throw a lot of people off audibly. That said, spell chants and other things were also originally changed [see: Dragon Slave] to fit public broadcast, until later. This is why Slayers is getting fixed by Funimation. If anyone picks it up once Funimation re-releases it, it's probably going to be Cartoon Network or something, some cable network. Early morning cartoons are hyper-paranoid about terms like "demon" and chanting "demonic spells" or this issue wouldn't have come up to begin with. Funi's work is all about fixing these errors.



Anyway: Irk's summary of the characters is... perfect to a tee, really. And, should it be the case you've never actually seen the Slayers anime: One of the catches of Slayers is that it is quirky. It parodies a lot of other series, in the anime. It takes cracks at cheesy anime lines and bad outfits and archetypes and overall, makes jokes of things that they obviously find humor in. The novels have less time to goof around in, but it still has a good mix of fantasy and humor alongside the new tone of darkness you find looming in the background that the anime tends to be lacking in.

Really, a lot can only be said for the books in reading. The wisecracking demon kings are something to experience for yourself. They both make and break stereotypes. That's what Slayers is here for, really, IMO.

[Blu_Moon]

A couple of thinky thoughts.


1. We're still looking into the direct print thing. It has never been done at TOKYOPOP. We'd still have to sell the idea to marketing. We'd have to figure out who would be in charge of those orders (i.e. who has the time) and how they'd get placed (online? bookstores? how does it actually work?) We'd have to figure out how much money and guarantee printed copies to offer the licensors. We'd have to make the offer. We'd have to wait for months and months for the licensors to get back to us about the offer. We'd have to get them translated, rewritten, edited, formatted, printed, and shipped. It takes time. I don't have any more answers for you. When I do, I will post them. But if it's going back on TV, that will bring in more fans that what Slayers has now. And that will allow us to actually try and license some more books the way we've always been doing it--on the commercial shelves.

2. Normally things get licensed in 3s or 6s. I will tell the Acquisitions team about a story arc finishing at volume 8 and see about just doing the next two *if* the TV show sparks lots of hype and new interest and marketing and sales says it's a good risk.

3. I'm glad you guys are getting Slayer's Challenge back up. TOKYOPOP is already more than aware of your interest, so, please don't keep sending us letters. If you guys want to do other things to help gel your fandom and promote interest, great, but you cannot image how busy we are. When I left the office today, there was honestly not a single free space on my desk. Manuscripts, books, letters, materials are all stacked there. I never stop working. It's 9pm and here I am, working. I mean, I can't stop you from sending us letters, it's your right. But honestly, we don't have the time to keep going through all that mail--we need to focus on our titles. The editors at TOKYOPOP know that Slayers fans want Slayers novels. The problem is that there aren't enough Slayers fans to make the kind of sales needed to break even on books. So let's hope new numbers crop up after the TV show.

[Irkdesu]

I hope they bring back Slayers. But I did hear the Foxs saterday morning program is thinking about picking up The Slayers ( Oh man I hope that happans)

They bought the license, then realized what they bought, then decided to never air it, but keep the license until it expired so competitors couldn't have it. They did the same thing with Detective Conan/Case Closed, which, as you may have noticed, Cartoon Network scooped up once that license expired. And Funimation has it now. Funny little coincidence there.

[PrincessK492]

I hope they bring back Slayers. But I did hear the Foxs saterday morning program is thinking about picking up The Slayers ( Oh man I hope that happans)
Did you hear about FOX picking it up sometime recently? Because correct me if I'm wrong, but FOX was going to air it a couple of years ago, but they decided not to because they would have to edit out way too much. I don't think that FOX changed their mind, but I could be wrong. If anyone picks it up, I think it might be Cartoon Network.

[Irkdesu]

3. I'm glad you guys are getting Slayer's Challenge back up. TOKYOPOP is already more than aware of your interest, so, please don't keep sending us letters. If you guys want to do other things to help gel your fandom and promote interest, great, but you cannot image how busy we are. When I left the office today, there was honestly not a single free space on my desk. Manuscripts, books, letters, materials are all stacked there. I never stop working. It's 9pm and here I am, working. I mean, I can't stop you from sending us letters, it's your right. But honestly, we don't have the time to keep going through all that mail--we need to focus on our titles. The editors at TOKYOPOP know that Slayers fans want Slayers novels. The problem is that there aren't enough Slayers fans to make the kind of sales needed to break even on books. So let's hope new numbers crop up after the TV show.

We've really tried to focus on organization for SC, and of course are always glad to hear our efforts to get fans to write paid off. Butwe want to help the novels get published, not hinder! However, it's actually very hard to tell if people are sending letters, very few actually TOLD us they were. So, to help us sort of manage that...overflow of love, could somebody email us sort of a general estimate of -

How many letters SC buried you in
How steady they're coming in now as opposed to when word first got out
If the flow is increasing
Also, if most of them mentioned the SC SITE, or if a significant number said "I read about it in so-and-so's journal", because we kept pretty good track of the people who announced the letter-writing in their journals, so if in fact a large amount of the flow is coming from journals, we'll know to put a priority on stemming that.

...I can't help but say that made me feel really good, though. nn;;; I understand the problem but...it's nice to hear it worked! Sorry!

[Minerva]

*Points princess to her post regarding that, and Irk's* :P

Really, letters are a big part of Slayers Challenge. If you're getting a hefty amount of mail that is consuming your time too much to read, that goes to say that there is a significant amount of support for the series that became realized possibly by fans and publishers alike when the series became threatened. And SC has eased off from the movement drastically in the last two months because we were [wrongly] informed that things would be getting published. If mail is still coming in, that's actually very inspiring to me, because that shows that people still want their books. Badly. Challenge stopped pushing their movement when we were told things incorrectly, but you say mail is still coming in - people want their books and the support is still there. We may just look like a few drops in a bucket, but if you look at it from a larger scale, it's a large ripple effect, considering it was triggered a while ago and never really stopped.

http://www.funimation.com/f_index.cfm?page=funhack2 Here for info on the Slayers release. It's scheduled to be released within the year, exact date unknown or unreleased.

To clarify for everyone, fans and TOKYOPOP alike: There's no guarantee a network will take it up, but fact is it at least is being repackaged and sold in new box sets. There is no actual quote from Funimation that it is being sold to a network, but in past experience with Funimation they have a tendancy to put their newly acquired stuff up on certain networks, like Irk stated- what vanishes from Fox's grip ends up with like Cartoon Network.

We'll see. I do have a question though- are the old novels out of print entirely or are they still able to be found on the shelves? I haven't checked. It'd be hard to look for what happens in the profits when Funi re-releases it if it's not out there. That's another reason I'm sort of pressing for a few more to be released around the time Funi is releasing things, so the two or three are out there at the same time. But if at least the old novels are still in print I'd imagine they're free to find new fans.

[Irkdesu]

We'll see. I do have a question though- are the old novels out of print entirely or are they still able to be found on the shelves? I haven't checked. It'd be hard to look for what happens in the profits when Funi re-releases it if it's not out there. That's another reason I'm sort of pressing for a few more to be released around the time Funi is releasing things, so the two or three are out there at the same time. But if at least the old novels are still in print I'd imagine they're free to find new fans.

They're still on shelves where I live, but the first volumes are a rarer sight now. No real idea on how long the bookstores will keep them around. But it would be nice if there were a few out there when FUNI gives me my DVDs.

On a completely different note, I would hate to see them go simply because Slayers novels are really the only Slayers presence on manga shelves now. :/ CPM's Slayers manga are getting to be a rare sight indeed...without novels, it'll be empty. ._.

[Blu_Moon]

Okay. I was not the editor for these books. I took over the 6th book--and if there are more someday, I'll probably take those over b/c my boss is far too swamped. But understand, I've got 8 other properties under my belt and I'm building an entirely new line to be announced at a later date. I'm working 12+ hour days as it is.

I don't have any more answers.

I don't know exactly how much mail we've gotten. I did not say that we are still getting a lot of mail. (TOKYOPOP gets huge amounts of mail every day and we sort through it when the Interns have the time to. I barely have time to glance at submissions addressed to me.) I'm simply saying there's no need to start bombarding us with letters again--believe me, we got the message the first time around. And now we have this forum, so let's save trees. ~_^ Sales will listen to the weekly numbers we get reports on. The letters were very gratifying and did help show there's interest, but the sales numbers are the only thing that's going to make Sales green light future books. Period.

The books aren't out of print yet. I don't think there will be a reprint of anything unless there's a revival of interest.

I'm truly sorry--this is a printer deadline week. I honestly don't have any more time to devote to a property that, for now, is in stasis and probably won't be picked back up unless it goes on TV and generates buzz. I don't have any more answers for you. It's a waiting game now. And it will take months.

In the meantime, I absolutely must focus on what's on my desk. I will not forget your passion, I will not forget Slayers. We will keep an eye on future buzz and numbers, and if things can continue, they will.

Please understand, I mean no disrespect, it honestly breaks my heart that I can't do more for you--you're such great fans and it would make me so happy if I could give you what we both want. But right now, it's my duty to focus on my current titles, and hope that Funi can rope in some new fans.

I hope you won't think ill of me. Yours, Kara

[Veroniku]

Dear Kara, can I tell you how precious you are to me? ^_^ I know that sounds kinda weird, especially since I only chatted a bit with you on here, but I'd like to point out that I love to know there is a great person like you working over at Tokyopop for fans like us. Thank you. <3

I can't talk in the name of all fans, but I personnaly totally understand that it'll take months. Prolly years. Afterall, novels aren't that popular in the anime fandom as a whole. We can't expect it to go as well as anime released in boxsets and purchased so easily in conventions and Best Buy's. We need to fight! The only way is to purchase more copies, people!

The birthday of your cousin is just around the corner? Buy the first Slayers novel for them! It's cheap and a great read, even for non-anime fans, you can always say it's fantasy / medieval! Once they read it, they'll beg you to lend them your DVDs! XD

I purchased 16 novels in all, and plan to buy more. You might call me a freak, but it's rare that you can find a book that could please any individual, really. And that is that cheap ("real" novels that size are at least 50% more expensive where I live!).

Business is all about sales. TOKYOPOP isn't some scanlation project; no matter how much people annoy them to translate something, they won't do it unless they make money. That's what capitalism is, guys.

On a side note, I'm really happy to hear they aren't out-of-print, since I've yet to get volume 1 and 2 for myself again. I'll have the bookstore order them for me, then!

And on another note, I'll answer sailor_titan another time when I'm not a sleep-deprived-hyper-freak, but I have to say I totally agree with Irkdesu on all points.

[sailortitan]

The blurbs don't really give you much of an idea of the awesome that they're made of.

Kanzaka tells his stories differently. They're all set from Lina's perspective, since she's telling them. So you get a constant view of her own thoughts. The narrative is very clever and pretty much impossible to duplicate in an anime version unless you had a constant voiceover. Line explains things as she casts spells, sees certain magical effects, etc. That happened in the anime too, but the novels leave a lot more room for "and this is the mechanics of so-and-so spell" without breaking pace.

Now go forth and buy them.


Well, I haven't actually seen the anime at all, except for one dubbed episode (which was *really* bad). So comparisons to the anime are a little moot in this case. but I'll check it out when I get some $$$.

[Veroniku]

Well, I haven't actually seen the anime at all, except for one dubbed episode (which was *really* bad). So comparisons to the anime are a little moot in this case. but I'll check it out when I get some $$$.
Hm, alright, a lil' summary without references to the anime...

Well it's an RPG/Fantasy/Medieval-ish universe. ^_^ Really, it's not Earth. You don't really know what planet it is, heh... And Kanzaka created a very wide universe, but it all starts out simply, with a sorceress named Lina, only 14-15 years of age and very skilled, a bit impulsive, very loud and flat-chested.

She travels the countries alone, in search of some bandit-killing-action and loot, and perhaps a little fame... ^_^ She's very self-confident, but still is very smart and knows what she's doing (at least, most of the time XD). Everything in the book is seen through her eyes; she's the hero and narrator!

In the first book, she meets Gourry, a blonde (and I mean BLONDE, both haircolor and smart-ness XD) swordsman, which is very extremely skilled. And because Lina always is unlucky and gets struck in the weirdest situations, she gets stuck with him. XD And lots of other colorful characters get attracted in her adventures...

There are mazoku (a demon race with a strict hierarchy, which feed on fear and anger), dragons, spells, sword fighting, travels, fight strategy, lots of humor, etc.

A great read, really. If you are even just a tiny bit interested in those kinds of fantasy / RPG stories, you'll love it. :)

[Irkdesu]

Sales will listen to the weekly numbers we get reports on. The letters were very gratifying and did help show there's interest, but the sales numbers are the only thing that's going to make Sales green light future books. Period.

The thing is, there's only so many of the same book I can buy. I've bought several copies of them already, for gifts and such, and I try to make sure I can show as many people the books as possible, but there's a certain point where it basically boils down to: I'm not your advertising team. I mean, really, it's hard to convince non-Slayers fans to buy them for themselves because the back blurb, design, and general lack of advertising don't appeal nearly as much to people who aren't Slayers fans already. If you want to offload your current stock of them, I think sales would see a significant jump if they were ADVERTISED. The only advertisement I saw for Slayers novels in print was for novel 6's release, and very few prospective joiners are going to jump in for #6, I really think they'd prefer #1. Which I DO see in stores, but they blend with the entire rest of the shelf of manga. There's nothing to make people pick them up as opposed to any other thing because there's nothing to pull them in. SC is trying to spread awareness as much as possible but we are only so many fans, and we don't even get paid for the hours we're putting in.

Basically, I realize that it takes TIME to get liscences, to schedule projects, to translate, to adapt, to set up the copy, to print, to arrange release dates, to ship to stores, and this is a process that requires money. Let us put the issue of giving us more novels aside. I know advertising takes time and money, but it's cheaper than putting out another novel. If sales really wants to SELL, then where is the advertising effort to get these books out to fans, whether diehard, casual, or totally new to Slayers? Funimation can't be the only thing to generate sales for you.

...For one thing, I hear they're a totally separate company than Tokyopop.

Or basically, to put it another way, we hardly ever got people buying measured pourers at the business I do graphic design for. In our next postcard mailing, we included a mention of measured pourers and their price per dozen along with all our usual advertised stock. Suddenly we're getting a lot of calls ordering measured pourers. People weren't ordering them because they didn't know we SOLD them. And every time I discuss Slayers novels in, say, my deviantArt journal, I inevitably get at least one person who says "wait, there are Slayers novels for sale?" You can't move product that nobody knows exists.

[If you need more advertising staff I am available. Believe me. Arranging copy to move measured pourers off of the shelves = boring and frustrating, and gives me very little feeling afterwards that I am making an impact on things that are relevant to my interests. I would be glad to work 12 hours a week if it's an hourly rate. Or if I could just never take another call for bar supply sales again. I am not joking about this, I am serious. I will gladly bust my butt.]

On another note, would you like us to direct potential letter-writers to this forum, then?

The books aren't out of print yet. I don't think there will be a reprint of anything unless there's a revival of interest.

Does that mean that the first print is still running? Or is "out of print" defined in another manner?

[Klawzie]

This is just an idea, and I'm not sure how .. workable it is - but perhaps you can encourage the fans to ask for their local libraries to get copies?

Perhaps I'm unlike many people, but if I like a book, I buy it. I have two copies of a book in my house right now because I read the book and then immediately hit up Amazon, and the due date on the book isn't up yet, but my Amazon order's already here.

Couldn't hurt to think about, hey?

[Irkdesu]

A great read, really. If you are even just a tiny bit interested in those kinds of fantasy / RPG stories, you'll love it. :)

It should also be mentioned that Slayers INVENTED the swords and sorcery parody genre. If you are a fan of any of that kind of thing, like Sorcerer Hunters or Louie the Rune Soldier or Gokudo, then basically Slayers is the mother of those stories. And if you're the sort that likes fantasy but gets tired of the pretentious and often generic staples of the genre, Slayers lampoons them. It's like a breath of fresh air that way.

[Minerva]

Irk basically said everything I wanted to say, as I was discussing it with her already. She beat me to the post. There's no need to say things over again, so I'll say what little hasn't been said:

Slayers Challenge is glad to try to spread the word for you, but there's only so much a fan movement can do, as it's typically limited to--well--fans. We can spread the word to friends and family by buying things as gifts and the ilk, but in the end, it boils down to the fact that we're pretty much limited to our own reach. I suppose you could say that, if it's implied we weren't making you enough money, we aren't enough of a fanbase to spread the word, and you're the company with the money to weild for advertisement. Like irk says above, advertisement is what brings in the money, and nothing else. And this isn't just applied to Slayers, it can be applied to any series. Does it look like something is suffering? Advertise it, people might not know it's there. That's basically what I've been saying.

As much as I appreciate the work that has gone into the novels, there's a bit of harsh reality that needs to be checked about the profit margins: If you're selling the early books, you're not going to be getting any good profits about it. The several color insert pages are, in reality, quite the deal for the buyer and not the publisher, and I'm sure that's why they were taken out partway in. Right around then is when the project managers started getting bumped around, according to the inside flap of the book, as I imagine profits weren't looking too well because of that. There will not be good profits because, frankly, the selling price that was chosen with the inserts will not give a good profit, and I think, as is very possible, TP thinks that if the price is raised they will get less sales. However, many fans have stated that they would willingly buy these books for more money, and some of them don't even have the color inserts anymore. That makes up for the profit issue, and regarding fanbase, well-- you wouldn't have gotten sweeps of mail and you wouldn't have communities organizing about this if you didn't have fanbase.

And the fact of the matter is, I do not know what is going on with distribution, but that can not be helping sales. Some people are saying they find it in the shelves. Some in excess, some have trouble finding it. Me, I've personally never found it on the shelf, ever. For all six books. And I scour. Every single time I've had to go to the B&N counter, ask if it's in, and they end up having to order it and I wait a week or so because they never got it. And I live in a relatively major city [Milwaukee]. The distribution seems entirely random, so I really--don't know what's going on. But that can't be helping the sales, et all. Between no advertisements and them just flat out not being in the shelves in some major cities, it's going to put a cramp in sales. I don't mean to sound like I'm telling you how to run your business if it sounds like it, but this is customer feedback, from the other end, on what's going on and what and where the problem lies.

A little distribution-tweaking and bumping up the price wouldn't hurt anything, even if for whatever reason the advertisement is still avoided. I think "graphic novels" seems to confuse the heck out of systems, too, when they're told where to place things, because they're still getting placed in fantasy or elsewhere. Is that any similar or different to what's marked on the back of the manga books? I dunno. Either way, as novels they're getting misplaced on a large, too. If there's a way to straighten that out at all I'd suggest that- for this series and others. I don't know if it'll happen to others, since Slayers is obviously fantasy at a glance so miscategorization is kind of easy if you misinterpret something, but...

[Klawzie]

I... really don't think Tokyopop was intending to make the fans do their advertising for them or anything. Maybe I'm just misreading that part of your post. :)

But it does seem to me that the editors at Tokyopop are doing what they can on their end and you're doing what you can on your end and though each side seems to be appreciative of each others' efforts. ... So it looks like something of an impasse to me. Let the pot simmer.

[AstroNerdBoy]

I know that the issue I'm about to write about has been discussed earlier in the thread, but I must get up on the soap box and speak. :p So the editors who post here, please understand my frustrations aren't directed at you.

I understand that TP decided to license only six volumes of the series because of costs and uncertainty of sales. However, many fans like myself are left with a bad taste with the company for cutting the novel series off with two more novels to complete the story-arc. My thoughts were, "Why did you even bother to license it if you weren't going to complete the first story-arc?"

So, what does this mean for fans like me? Well, I look to your upcoming Scrapped Princess series of novels. I'm not sure how many novels are in this series (I understand they are still being written), and while I'm eager to read them, I'm left to wonder if I'll be left with a case of blue...well, you know. ^_^;;; Since you couldn't even complete a story-arc in Slayers, do I risk getting involved in Scrapped Princess?

You see my point? TokyoPop's only looking at the short-term bottom line can easily harm the long-term sales and decrease your reputation within the fandom's eyes. Without fandom sales, your chances of success decrease.

Further, what sort of marketing was done for the novels? Being a fan of the anime, I found a couple of fan-sites which mentioned the series being based on novels. Thus, I was made aware of TP's licensing of the novels (as well as through AnimeNewsNetwork). Beyond that, was there anything done to promote the novels? If there was, I wasn't aware of it.

Since TP and FUNimation have done joint-marketing before (Fruits Basket), it is my hope that the two of you will do so again when FUNimation finally begins re-releasing the anime on DVD.

[Veroniku]

I... really don't think Tokyopop was intending to make the fans do their advertising for them or anything. Maybe I'm just misreading that part of your post. :)

But it does seem to me that the editors at Tokyopop are doing what they can on their end and you're doing what you can on your end and though each side seems to be appreciative of each others' efforts. ... So it looks like something of an impasse to me. Let the pot simmer.
Exactly. ^^ *nods energetically*

Dear Minerva,
no one is asking you to do any publicity. You have bought your copies of the books? Great, you did your part in helping the industry, and all the fans are grateful to you! Now anything extra that you do own your time out of free will is your decision; you can't go accusing anyone that your efforts went to waste because of them or anything. I just wanted to point out that fact, sorry if you feel it doesn't apply to you.

Now, let's say you own a company. You released a product; it didn't sell well right away but you kept hope and you released more of it. After you released everything you could, you still didn't get back your investment. And in releasing more you probably lost even more money! Would your reaction be "Oh let's go get more to release!"? Or even "Let's double or triple our loses by advertising, without any clue whether we'll even get our INVESTMENT back, much less the advertising cost!". Capitalism tells you: no. (But trust me communism would be much worse! XD) You said: "Does it look like something is suffering? Advertise it, people might not know it's there.", to which I can only reply: the Slayers novels aren't suffering, their throats are open and they're losing blood. I think you don't understand just how bad the situation is, no matter how many times it's been repeated here.

I think everyone can agree that TOKYOPOP could have done quite a lot more publicity when they FIRST started releasing the product, at conventions namely. But really, TOKYOPOP doesn't have the money to go reach outside the manga and anime fans group. There's a reason why they call it "manga novels". Their target audience are manga readers.

One last thing about the publicity point; I think AstroNerdBoy had a great idea. When TOKYOPOP joined with RightStuf to make a Gravitation contest, I thought it was brilliant. When I didn't win, I purchased all of the manga for myself. XD; But really only the sales department could tell you if it did help sales a lot or not (and don't even ask, they won't tell you! それはひみつです！). I think a joint campaign would be a great idea, but really, just let those people do their jobs, alright? They know better than us if more publicity would be profitable for them.

With the "OMG TOKYOPOP should advertise!" point aside, I'd like to pick up your "there's so much the fandom can do" comment, whether you were totally serious when saying it or not. Ok first I don't know a thing about your website. I don't know much about the Slayers fandom either 'cause I have been a small spectator in it, e'tou... 4 years ago? And the new OAV and manga really didn't spark any new interest in me *coughTHEY SUCKEDcough* so I've been out of the loop in that matter. But I love fandoms. Now, you said the Slayers fandom is limited. Sure, that could be true, especially if you're talking about active fans; this is such an old series. And that your reach is limited too? Of course, you're not gonna start yelling at school that everyone must buy the books, you're only gonna talk about it to people you know. But that's already a step forward, my dear. The more people actively talk about it, the more it'll spread. The more the fandom could grow. Ran out of real life connections to tell about Slayers to? Then just help the fandom, show a good example to newbies by always taking your thoughts further, by backing up your opinions with facts, by being open-minded and not stubborn. Fandoms, to be wonderful, need great input from their members.

I might have been going a bit off-topic there... What I'm saying is yes, the situation is glum. Very glum. But you can't lose hope. You can't expect to change the world either, though. Just do your part to spread the word, trust the power of fandom. Don't blame anyone if something goes wrong. It WON'T be your fault, the fandom's fault, the companies' fault, anyone. It just won't have worked out.

I might have gone on my own tangent there... Let me reply to something you actually said: no more color pictures hurt, the distribution is bad, and raising the price would be good.
a) I personally didn't mind the color pictures gone, you can find them online easily. If not, just ask me to scan my artbook (but I'll try to find them online first 'cause I don't wanna kill my book XD). I don't think anyone thought "Hey, the pictures are gone, I won't buy this!". They were just a marketing idea at the start. I think it was a smart move from them to cut on the printing costs on this.
b) The distribution thing you pointed out might be true. But at every bookstore in California I went to (and god knows I went to a bunch) which held manga, they all had a few copies of Slayers novels, random volumes, never a bunch though. My point being it didn't affect me. But who knows how it works over at TOKYOPOP? I'm sure it must be a lot of work to ship copies to every bookstore in America, of course they could be having problems. I'm not saying your point isn't valid, just saying to forgive them?
c) I would fully agree on a price raising, if the rest of the novels were released print-on-demand only, just for fans. Though if they manage somehow to releases them on shelves, a big raise wouldn't help their cause with new fans all that much. I guess they would realize the raise only after volume 6, but if they pick up #7 first to take a glance and see it's expensive, they'll put it back and pick up a Bleach manga instead.

*bows* Just continue your efforts (if you want to) and let the people of the industry do their work. They can't do anything more than they are right now. Because right now, they can't do a thing, the numbers just don't allow it. Once they consider releasing the rest of the novels will be the time for you to give them all the advice you want. To reach that, the fans who wish to devote their time to spread the word about the novels should do so as much as they can.

[Tasuki]

Isn't there some cost-effective ways to advertise, though? Spreading word about the novels at conventions would seriously be a great way to inform a lot of people at once (both Slayers fans and others) who may have not heard of the Slayers novels being licensed, and it wouldn't cost anything extra right? I haven't really been to any conventions yet but I've seen pictures where Tokyopop has a booth set up to sell its products... If you still do that, what if some of the Slayers novels were shelved there, in a prominent section where a lot of people will see them? It could help just that much more.

I'm in the graphic design business and I understand that design and print costs a lot of money. What if TokyoPop held a contest where fans could design posters or advertisements that TokyoPop could either print out at conventions or include as PDF/JPG/etc in their newsletters? I think that both TokyoPop and fans would win on that one. I for one know that I'd love to sit down and design some kind of advertisement for the series if I knew that it'd be used to get more people interested in the series. ^_^

Minerva -- Is there anything I can do to help out with Slayers Challenge? I figure you already have enough staff, but I co-own Mazoku.org (http://mazoku.org/) and I'd be happy to add graphic links to your site on our main page (which seems to be having some problems at the moment, most likely due to our recent server move... *sigh* ...but i'm sure it'll be fixed soon enough). I would have linked to you sooner but I wasn't aware that Slayers Challenge existed until a month or two ago, just as you had posted about the novels not being cancelled. ^^ I'd also be happy to provide links to SC on my shrine/fanlistings; they get quite a few hits every day, especially from people joining the Xelloss fanlisting. ^^ Anything I can do, let me know. I'd be happy to put extra effort into the cause (after all, I was going to create my own little site on M.org that'd have a similar purpose as SC... that's how I found out about your site). XD

Kara -- It really does make me happy to know that there's staff at Tokyopop that really does care about the series it obtains, as well as its fanbase. It's comforting to know that you're trying to do as much as you can and I thank you for it. ^_^

[Klawzie]

Slayers novels being licensed, and it wouldn't cost anything extra right? I haven't really been to any conventions yet but I've seen pictures where Tokyopop has a booth set up to sell its products... If you still do that, what if some of the Slayers novels were shelved there, in a prominent section where a lot of people will see them?

The only problem is - Tokyopop booths are very popular. They get busy enough that you can literally find times where you stand in line to have one of the TP people run and find what you're looking for. So during peak times, there's no browsing, there is, "Do you have RSOM 5?" (Guy: *runs off to look, shouldering past the few fans who DID manage to get into the booth to browse and other TP staff. runs back* Nope, sorry, they're out!")

My point being - anywhere that would really draw attention would also take up space needed for browsing customers. :D It's been awhile since my last con (SDCC baby!), maybe their booth is set up differently than the last few times I saw it. :D

Not saying something else couldn't be done, of course! Maybe they can find a cutout of Lina and the gang to stand up near their booth out of major traffic areas...

Why do I have the sudden overwhelming feeling this would make a great The Apprentice task?

[sailortitan]

Well, I hope you're all happy :-P Today I was working at the bookstore when I saw Slayers 2,4,5, and 6 ont he shelf. I paused for a moment and took the plunge--yes, I bought all those four volumes, *and* I ordered 1 and 3. I plan on reading them when 1 comes in and I've finished The Count of Monte Cristo.

So you guys sold at least one person :-)

[Minerva]

Always good to know.

[tsukasa]

I've seen the movies. How are the Mangas? How many are there?

[Alphonse Elric]

the movie was good and the anime's are awsome but i don't know how many manga's there are...

[Veroniku]

So you guys sold at least one person :-)
Awesome! *big group hug* I promise you won't regret it! ^^ They're great reads!

I've seen the movies. How are the Mangas? How many are there?
Ok, off the top of my head:
15 novels in Japan, only 6 released in US (and another series of novels "Special" with Nagah but I dunno a thing about them...)
3 anime seasons (The Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try)
A motion picture
4 movies
2 OAVs (with Nagah, no Gourry)
A lot of random manga... There's the Medieval Mayhem one... "Super Explosive Demon Story"... and Slayers Premium (please skip that one). There must be other ones but those are the only ones I bought.

[AstroNerdBoy]

Awesome! *big group hug* I promise you won't regret it! ^^ They're great reads!


Ok, off the top of my head:
15 novels in Japan, only 6 released in US (and another series of novels "Special" with Nagah but I dunno a thing about them...)

There are four spinoff character novels -- "Naga's Adventure," (also part of the "Slayers Special" novels) "Amelia's Travel Sketch," "Zelgadiss' Story under the Hazy Moon," and "The Thing He Sees Beyond the Point of His Sword" (Gourry story).

There are 23 (counting "Naga's Adventure") of the Slayers Special novels. There are four "Slayers Delicious" novels.

There may be more than this, but that's all I'm aware of at present. The fifteen novels mentioned above are the ones that feature Gourry and Lina. Amelia and Zelgadis leave after volume 8.

[Tasuki]

A lot of random manga... There's the Medieval Mayhem one... "Super Explosive Demon Story"... and Slayers Premium (please skip that one). There must be other ones but those are the only ones I bought.

The Medieval Mayhem graphic novel is just a collection of six chapters featuring Lina and Gourry; there's only one volume.

"Super Explosive Demon Story" has eight volumes although only the first seven have been released here in North America; the eighth one has been [temporarily?] cancelled by CPM when they had to lay off a lot of employees and make a lot of cutbacks to their company. It retells the story that takes place in the first 8 novels and the Slayers and Slayers NEXT anime.

Recently, a new manga series was being published in Japan called "Knight of the Aqualord." It wrapped up at the beginning of 2006 and consists of six graphic novels. It's an alternative to the last 7 novels and Slayers TRY, so it's a completely original story. Unforunately, it hasn't been licensed by anyone over here.

The Slayers Premium manga is one volume long and retells the Slayers Premium movie. It was licensed and released over here.

There's also the Slayers Special manga, which is four volumes long and features adventures of Lina and Naga. All four volumes have been released here.

I think that's all of the manga. :3

[Veroniku]

Just a random post to give some Slayers news, if anyone is interested. ^^

They re-released the first Slayers DVD boxset in Japan. (Or at least will; to be released in May). CDJapan link (http://www.cdjapan.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BCBA-2479)

Description: "10 anniversary box set from the legendary anime series "Slayers"! Set includes all 26 episodes on seven discs plus bonus CD with the completely new drama "Kaette Kita Slayers Ex." Features 32-page all-color booklet and box with inner-jacket design by Naomi Miyata."

7 discs! My official american boxset has 4. ^^;; Ahh well, I'll do my best to get my hands on it once I'm in Japan. I wanna hear that dorama. o.o; And the color booklet sounds nice. ^^

So yeah, seems the Slayers anime isn't dead yet in Japan, ne? Or are they just trying to make money with anniversary releases, Gainax/Disney style?

Oh and thanks for all the great info guys, sorry I didn't reply earlier. @.@

[Minerva]

I don't think they'd re-release a special edition DVD with more discs if there was absolutely no market and no money to be made. That's an enormous leap to take if there's nothing showing the market is still active. I know they're still making all kinds of trinkets, because, well, I have them. Also Slayers doujin is still fairly popular. And while doujin isn't manga, that's a fan demand. I think it's mostly ignorance that the stuff is out there. I will say, advertising is key, because I somehow...don't think something like that is gonna get repackaged over there nix advertising.

On the topic of ads: Tokyopop's site itself advertises, I've never seen ads for slayers up there. I don't think that costs you anything, does it? It may be a bad assumption, but you're putting up ads for your own products as far as I can see.

Animeondvd and other boards that would sell and that tokyopop execs attend--does anyone know how much their banner space costs? I'm trying to think of a cheap advertising alternative that, really, can apply to any of tokyopop's products.

[Klawzie]

I've seen ads for the Slayers novels on TP.com. :3 In the Novels section! I immediately thought, "Heh! Good call!"

[Minerva]

You mean "Featured Product", yes? To get to that you click Books > Novel and then you see featured product. I was more talking about the random ads that bombard us with product features when we're on the site, forums, etc. I see the same ads over and over. Personally, if I see Loveless one more time, I'm going to go insane. XD

[lightwolve]

First of all, I also signed up just to post on this thread. I bought all of the Slayer books and I am also a great fan. I'm a newer fan and I discovered the series through Netflix, which I saw the series in. After seeing the series I started looking around for the Manga and Novels. I have gone to four different stores and in all of them I have seen what appears to be random parts of the series. I do own all of the novels now and one of the Super-Explosive Demon Story mangas. I guess you could say I'm a *newer* fan. I myself have been trying to encourage the people I know to read and watch this series and my books/dvds (yes I bought all of the DVDs too) are getting a lot of action. I think that there is a possibilty for a new fanbase for a younger generation. I do believe that word of mouth in itself is a great advertising. Talking to people and getting people to know about it is a good idea. My manga experiance started with Fruits Basket and now all of my friends read that now. Hopefully I can get them to become Slayers fans too.

I did not know the novels were suffering and was wondering whether the 7 novel was coming out. If the series DOES come back on TV I know a new fanbase will erupt because everyone that I know who has seen Slayers loves it. I really do hope in the future that this series can continue because, as others have said, the sixth book stops at a random point(it feels this way) and I want to know what happens next. Having and seeing the DVDs is not a replacement for reading the rest of the books, though, in a way, it is the only way people can actually see a decent ending to the series. My hopes are with continuing the series, and I will keep an eye and work for the cause.

[pacman]

Hi. I'm new here, and I just want to say that I hope the Slayers novels will go on. I have volumes 1-4 and planning to get 5 and 6. I hope the rest of the series get relese.

[Minerva]

Well, there we go, Challenge dropped away for a bit because we were low on new ideas but we're going to reformat and get back together soon.

I'm getting a job so I can balance out my financial situation [like normal people] AND make money to get to Otakon this year to work SC out of there if possible, I'm going to see what the rules are on flyers etc. Also even if I'm not there, Irk's going to be, so at least one if not both of the campaign heads will be there. Maybe anyone else heading to Ota can form a big Slayers group and we can take a giant picture together. =D;

[pacman]

I just read Slayers volume 5. Good read. I hope I can get the 6 one soon. I hope you relese more! (volumes 7-15)

[Veroniku]

*nods* Hope they do, too. ^^

I'm going to Otakon and was planning to somehow spread the word about Slayers novels. Will prolly bring my copies of the novels along with me and will randomly let people take a look when in the Dealer's Room line. XD Was thinking about lil' business cards too. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to cosplay any Slayers characters; my Shuichi cosplay isn't even done yet!

[.Sage the neko]

I could Cosplay Gourry ^^;; (I have some what of his frame, I'd just have to work out, to get the muscle ^^;; )

The books roxerd my boxxers (Aka, kicked ass!)

[pacman]

*nods* Hope they do, too. ^^

Indeed. I read the summarys for the novels that Tokyopop did not release, and they sound good. I hope they do release all of the series. And hopefully the Slayers Specials to. But I can worry about that later, I just want the main series to be completed.

Hey, I will even pay more if they have to raise the price. (Like form $7.99 to $9.99 or more.) But it will be worth it IMO.

I know there are fans who waited a long time for the novels to come out in English! Come on Tokyopop! Give Slayers another chance! I mean, Slayers is worth it IMO.

[Minerva]

While the SC site needs an update we still have flyers involving the novels. www.mazoku.com/~szurane/challenge , under how you can help. They're printable on MOST printers, and we have both color and black and white versions. The art on it, while portraying Slayers, is original art, so we can't get slammed for that. If Otakon would allow flyers, I highly suggest people who want to get the word out distribute those. I don't know the rules regarding that. It's kind of ambiguous by the site.

[Blu_Moon]

I'm personally sending a message to Tokyopop, on my behalf, not necessarily the whole of SC: It'll take 230 dollars to get to Otakon and back, and 50 to get in, if only to publicise that I feel Slayers has been done wrong in being cancelled. This is all money that could have been channeled into your products, which I refuse to buy any of until it Slayers is re-released. And I'm not the only one who's made such a statement.


Okay, look. Once the books make a certain number of sales, we get the green light to go ahead and try and license more. We're hoping sales will at least reach a point where we can offer on the last two of the books in the current story arc. So we're looking into things (as always.)

But I have to be honest now, your almost constant pushing and pushing (and your tone as quoted above) is coming off as rude, and it's making me less and less interested in your cause. Ease up. It's being looked into. Numbers research takes time. The numbers make the call--it's a purely objective and business-driven decision, as I told you in the beginning--so no matter how many times you post here, or send letters, or email the Editors, there's nothing more we can do for you. We've championed Slayers again and again in meetings, Sales and Marketing are well aware of how Slayers fans feel, and once book sales meets its magic number, we can at least try and finish out the arc. (I know we'll never do all 15 volumes unless Slayers gets back on TV and the fandom swells into a novel-buying frenzy. As it stands, sales were so low we almost didn't cover the cost of printing. A company isn't going to continue to make something that actually LOSES them their investment. That's just the way it is. And before you scream poor advertising, Slayers was advertised on Internet sites and in our books. Advertising takes more money than it does to print a book.) So, please--PLEASE--stop badgering, okay? Links to your threats of boycott and telling TOKYOPOP Editors over and over that you feel we've done you a disservice by having to cancel a series that we ourselves enjoy and wanted to see more of isn't productive.

If you would like to go to a convention, please go. If you want to make flyers to alert fans that books are available, that's sweet and awesome and just might do wonders for sales. (Again, TOKYOPOP is already aware of all this, you don't have to get our attention--we don't need any more mail about this. If you want to get fellow otaku interested in Slayers novels, awesome, but sending us pictures and stuff isn't going to help, b/c again, it's all about sales numbers.) If you want to make a flyer that criticizes TOKYOPOP left and right for only being able to afford to do 6 volumes of a series (that we actually all like, even) that makes me a sad panda, but it's, as you point out, your money that you could be spending on fun things.

In my own life, I always try to be gracious, understanding, and patient. (It doesn't always work out that way. ^_^) But as an Editor representing my company, I try even more so to be polite and to respect dissention. But I don't think it would cast my company in a negative light if I draw a line. And I'm drawing one now. Discussion, debate, constructive criticism, etc.--all good things. Badgering, blaming, and vilifying us is not cool. (If you want to do it on your own site, fine; I should have known better than to follow a link, shouldn't I? Never leads to a warm fuzzy feeling.)

But while here on TOKYOPOP's space, why not use this thread to talk about elements of the books you love so much, instead of using it as a stick to poke the Editors? We've done all we can for you, now I'm telling you to stop poking us please.

Thank you.

[pacman]

Okay, look. Once the books make a certain number of sales, we get the green light to go ahead and try and license more. We're hoping sales will at least reach a point where we can offer on the last two of the books in the current story arc. So we're looking into things (as always.)
I think that's cool that you guys are at least considering finishing up the first part of the Slayers novels. So, at least Slayers won't end on a cliffhanger. I hope that sales are good that you would be able to do it.

But I have to be honest now, your almost constant pushing and pushing (and your tone as quoted above) is coming off as rude, and it's making me less and less interested in your cause. Ease up. It's being looked into. Numbers research takes time. The numbers make the call--it's a purely objective and business-driven decision, as I told you in the beginning--so no matter how many times you post here, or send letters, or email the Editors, there's nothing more we can do for you. We've championed Slayers again and again in meetings, Sales and Marketing are well aware of how Slayers fans feel, and once book sales meets its magic number, we can at least try and finish out the arc. (I know we'll never do all 15 volumes unless Slayers gets back on TV and the fandom swells into a novel-buying frenzy. As it stands, sales were so low we almost didn't cover the cost of printing. A company isn't going to continue to make something that actually LOSES them their investment. That's just the way it is. And before you scream poor advertising, Slayers was advertised on Internet sites and in our books. Advertising takes more money than it does to print a book.) So, please--PLEASE--stop badgering, okay? Links to your threats of boycott and telling TOKYOPOP Editors over and over that you feel we've done you a disservice by having to cancel a series that we ourselves enjoy and wanted to see more of isn't productive.
Well, I guess some fans are just mad at this. Some fans must have waited a long time to finally read the novels in English, only to find out that the rest of the series may not come out.

I wish that all 15 Slayers novels would be release someday, and I hope to see that happen.

I got volumes 1-6 of Tokyopop's release and if you go on, I will buy them and support you.

But while here on TOKYOPOP's space, why not use this thread to talk about elements of the books you love so much, instead of using it as a stick to poke the Editors? We've done all we can for you, now I'm telling you to stop poking us please.
Like I said, I hope sales go up. And I'll support Tokyopop.

I hope that something good will come in the future. I would also like to thank you for looking at this thread to see what the fans have to say.

[Blu_Moon]

Thanks for understanding! We share the same hope!

[Minerva]

It's true. 230 dollars to travel, 50 to get in, and whatever else to get the word out. What am I going to do, just be nice and buy things I'm not half as interested in while my main interest has been severed?

The numbers research bothers me. Call it pushy. But you're asking for people to keep buying copies of the same book while there's no future reading FOR the books. I might buy five or six copies to spread the word. But then I'd just have five or six copies of a half finished series, and I somehow don't think as many people are going to be devoting themselves to something that's unfinished, and I'm getting dodgy answers to. And now I can't even tell marketing, during numbers research, where my money is going.

Call me pushy. But when FIRST we were told Slayers wasn't canceled period, then SECONDLY we were told that Slayers was canceled, but is going to be put out, and then THIRDLY I get told that it's still canceled. All from Tokyopop.

...I get kind of annoyed.

I'm devoting time and effort to this campaign, and while you keep saying you're not some fly-by-night translator, which I already know, neither is the campaign. But I don't appreciate it being tugged all over, told it wasn't canceled/was but won't be/is, but you'll think about it, maybe.

That IS money that would be going to Tokyopop. I've heard other people say the same thing, they're not buying until Tokyopop goes back to Slayers.

Really, without SC, my only reason to go to Otakon is to see a few friends in person. And, while I appreciate those friends dearly, I can't afford this kind of expense.

I want to know how a book is expected to have an increase of sales, without further publishing, without advertisement and with it being said that we aren't your advertising force. I mean, you said it too. There's only so much we -can- do. Slayers is aded in the novel section, and while that's great, I'm seeing that you have to follow a very specific path just to get there. Meanwhile, there's a variety of things in the same genre being advertised on the ads on the forums, the front page, on rotation. Some things I know I'll never read, because Slayers was the start of the real rise in that in anime. I got -no- real response on if it would cost anything to advertise on your own site, and it's a valid question. If a book's struggling, why not advertise it, too? I've never seen it outside of a poster when you click, click, click through to a certain area and get a small blurb.

If you want to see me pushy, I'll make a lot of straightforward questions like this, now. This is me being pushy, as opposed to giving your marketing department the kind of data they would use in numbers research, or free advertising suggestions.

All I've been saying is: I'm not buying things from Tokyopop until/if Slayers returns. I'm devoting a large amount of money to show I feel this series has been wronged, and that would be money all going into Tokyopop. And I feel the advertisement could be done, within ones' own site since it's not been answered, still.

Is that being pushy? Maybe. But we got TP's attention to begin with by being a little pushy and sending in letters to show that we did want our books. If I sat in the background and just waited, TP would -not- understand that they -are- losing money. Sometimes you need to be loud to be heard.

I'm sort of affronted by the fact that you say a basic statement of "I will use this large amount of money to promote you republishing, as opposed to buying any more of your stuff, until you do" is pushy, when TP as a whole should have expected some heavy backlash when canceling a series that's waited almost as long as some of its' current fans -lifespans- to get translated. It's not fair to us, because that's being pushy and trying to get me to back down, too.

I'm not changing the statement, because it's true. I'm not going to buy anything from TP unless they begin re-releasing Slayers, because it was Slayers that got me to start buying from TP to begin with, and without Slayers I lose my interest in supporting TP. I believe that's fair enough. It's pushy to tell someone they can't make that statement.

I'm pushing about this because I don't think it's fair to a lot of people, I'm pushing because I think it was prematurely severed, and I'm pushing because I -won't- buy anymore from TP without Slayers and that's just that. TP's marketing, I might say, would find it very worthwhile to know that someone just diverted 280$ against them, as opposed to into their products where it would have gone.

So before you say I'm pushing with that statement, please think about where it's coming from.

I appreciated TP's efforts in translating. I did not appreciate getting the run around on three different stories of Slayers' fate, I did not appreciate getting brushed aside because I'm a mere fan and not part of a corporation, and that's what's happening now, because, I cannot make a statement of where my money will and will not go, without being pushy. And I cannot make suggestions on advertising on one's own site, without being pushy. I even -asked- if it would cost them anything, thus making or breaking the cost efficiency, and I got no answer.

That gives me a very, very bad opinion of either TP, or their spokesperson.

I've tried to be nice, but when you come out and say I'm being pushy for outright telling your marketing department where I'm putting my money, the nice ends. Especially when there's supposed to be numbers research going on right now.

[Blu_Moon]

Minerva, that is enough. That is absolutely enough. I will not accept this behavior on my novels forum--it's like watching a child throw a tantrum. The situation changed for the Editors too--Editors do not make the call on what continues or gets stopped--the numbers do. I've said that again and again and again.

No one asked you (or anyone) to buy more than 1 copy of a book. I said it'd be sweet if you spread the word to your friends and fellow fans to buy books, maybe give some as gifts, but I've never asked anyone to go out and buy multiple copies for themselves.

Furthermore, as it's been stated all over this forum, the standard industry practice is to license things in threes. We licensed the first three Slayers novels. They sold OK. We loved the story, we licensed the next three. Those sold so bad we almost couldn't cover the cost of printing. (Novels really begin to die off after the third volume. Sometimes well known fantasy stuff can go up to 5. Really unique stuff, like a Harry Potter or something, might make it to 7, but it's hard to maintain interest without the property also being on TV/ in the movies.) Marketing and Sales made the call--all funding for Slayers stopped. While I went around on LJ communities and yahoogroups and promoted it under my own accounts in my very limited free time, and I made sure Slayers novels were advertised in the back of all the other novels under my name, that was about all I could do.

TOKYOPOP is not EVER going to tell outsiders about any sort of numbers--print runs, cost of printing, cost of website, number of sales, whatever. That is privileged information, I don't even have access to all of it, and if it got around, competitors could sink us. Telling us you could spent $200 some odd dollars on our titles is not numbers research. On every book is a scan triangle or barcode. Every time anyone makes a purchase in a US bookstore, that code is scanned. It goes into a large publishing database, like BookScan, and it is stored. Several months must go by, to see if that book is reported damaged, or stolen, disfigured, or returned. All those cut into net sales. And since nothing is scanned for online orders, that research takes even longer to pour in. We can guestimate, but it takes time to get actual numbers, and Slayers numbers are low enough that guestimating doesn't prove to Sales that it's a safe bet to print again. And that's what we pay the people in Sales to do--to keep us from printing books that will drive us under.

So, the Editors discussed Slayers with Sales, back and forth, there were meetings. We got told no. We got told yes. We got told to hold off. Our website said that there were 15 novels of the Slayers series. And that is true. There are 15 novels in existence. When we started publishing Slayers (long before I was hired), it was our hope--our expectation--that it was a big enough property that people would be all over it and we'd not only do all 15 volumes, but we'd have multiple reprints. Could you please show me exactly where it said that TOKYOPOP would absolutely beyond all doubt publish all 15? Because that's something I can at least take to Sales and Marketing and show them. But all I saw was mention that there were 15 books in existence. We don't have the rights to 7-15 (yet?) so if another company wants to publish them, they could. No one is touching this property b/c it is old and sales tanked and anyone in the industry that has access to BookScan (they all do) can see that. They know better.

Now, because we love Slayers and because you guys (a small minority to be sure, but still, important) were so passionate about it, I've been able to get this topic back into discussions again, and in a few more weeks, to try and offer on volumes 7 and 8 to at least complete the story arc. But this sense of entitlement--and the belief that if you just keep badgering us we can wave a magic wand and give you what you want--shows a complete lack of understanding of how publishing works. If you want to boycott, be my guest. (But if lots of people follow suit, that means less sales for other books, so don't be surprised if other series you like mysteriously don't get finished.)

You know, I feel like you're approaching this from a negative angle. It's like you're saying 1. TOKYOPOP mishandled something we love. 2. We must band together against TOKYOPOP through boycotts and letters and forums and flyers. 3. We must demand (without behaving outright insane) that TOKYOPOP give us what we want, regardless of if it hurts TOKYOPOP. We shall win this war!

And this shows a fundamental difference in our line of thinking. Of all the novels TOKYOPOP has done, I think Slayers got the best translation, rewrite, design (available at the time.) It's one of the few series that hasn't had mistakes or consistency issues. The only Manga Novel that got more advertisement was .hack, and that's a huge property. Like, six times bigger than Slayers, so of course bookstores and ad buyers were all in favor of spotlighting something that hot--it's gonna make them money.

So maybe rather than seeing TOKYOPOP as The Enemy that must be shown the light and brought to justice, you could look at this situation and say 1. TOKYOPOP brought Slayers to us when no one else touched the books for years. 2. We must band together and get the word out, organize our fandom, build a cohesive fanbase. 3. We must hope that either sales are good enough that TOKYOPOP can continue without losing their shirts, or some other publisher with money to burn can pick up the rest of the volumes. Because that's a productive, positive, non-blaming way of acting in favor of Slayers novels. Casting TOKYOPOP as the bad guy and fans as the good guys and saying that the fans must keep pushing the bad guys to do the right thing isn't doing anything to help your case--it's just making the Editor bonkers. Everyone is way too busy to pay much heed to Slayer's Challenge--but *I* did, and therefore the only one getting pushed is me.

There is only so much I can do, there is only so much you can do. You have done MORE than enough. And no one asked you to do it. So I really applaud your drive. But now that drive is driving me insane. You need to let Sales do their job, crunch some numbers, see. Let me do my job, and at least champion volumes 7 and 8. But I give you my word--if "the nice ends" you will lose my support, and I'm the only one at TOKYOPOP being vocal about Slayers now.

I've got 4 books on my desk due to the printer. They've all got serious issues. I've got data coding and logging for Library of Congress. I've got a million meetings about trying to launch original fiction and boys love fiction and young adult fiction. I've got submissions to go through. I've got conference calls with translators and rewriters and consultants. I've got licensor requests. Book cover design meetings. Format meetings. Copy edits waiting. Blue lines to check. Contracts to get out. Invoices to push through. And, oh yeah, I need to edit. I'm busy working on new titles that will hopefully bring in money. I've HEARD you. I know what you want. I am in agreement. There is no need to keep pushing at TOKYOPOP. If you absolutely feel you must do something for Slayers, then promote the title to fellow fans and friends by word of mouth. Do what I can't--meet people, talk about what you share in common, spread the good word.

But stop poking me. You already won me over, I've wanted to make you happy since the beginning. Now you're starting to really chafe. All I'm asking for is that you go about your life, doing the things you enjoy, (preferably without bad mouthing TOKYOPOP, but it’s your money/ paper/ site) and please wait and let me try and get volumes 7 and 8. If you can't show me that small courtesy, then that's it. Volume 6 is where TOKYOPOP's relationship with Slayers ends, and you can try and badger other companies to pick it up, but I sincerely doubt they will, unless it gets back on TV and new blood pumps into the fandom.

I'd really like it if you'd use TOKYOPOP's forum to discuss the details in the novels--what characters you like, what elements of writing style you enjoyed, how they could be better, what hooked you on them in the first place, etc.--because that's constructive and gets people interested. In the mean time, I'm asking you to stop pushing me, and let me do things the industry's way. Now, does that sound like a fair compromise?

[Veroniku]

Well I personally think this thread has reached its limits, maybe it could be considered to close it?

'Cause, well, there's nothing else to add to the discussion. It is totally naive to think that boycutting anything would HELP. Try boycutting Microsoft and see what they say? They are on a much larger scale, but every business is the same; numbers mean everything. So what if you want rollercoasters to be the default design of the new Windows OS?! They won't do it unless it's profitable for them, even if you threaten them! XD

Really, I don't understand your logic my dear (and never really did ^^; ). How is making TOKYOPOP your enemy gonna help ANYONE? o.O; Maybe you lived in yaoiland too long, and you think angst only leads to smex/a happy ending?

Kara explained everything really technically and consistently. Any, let's say, reasonable person, would've understood what she said. But instead you got offensed. I don't understand you. Really, I want the novels to come out just as much as you, maybe even more, since I really wanna know about Xellas and stuff... >.> I'm a nerd. But still, I keep my smarts!

I'd like to appologise to Kara for being away and not keeping my promise; she had to come out and say things straight, and it sounds like she's really stressed... ;_; だいじょぶ？

Really, nothing good will come out of this thread, the way it's going. I agree with everything Kara said about discussing the STORY ITSELF, instead of making non-constructive comments here. Minerva, you sound like you have become bitter about this whole story. You should consider taking a break, taking a step back, and calming yourself. Maybe you'd reasonably understand everything that was explained to you.

I am going to Otakon. To OtakuThon in Montréal, too. And I even have friends going to Anime North, and Anime-Expo. I can do all the advertisement that you had in mind. I'll have my friend do artwork herself, I'll have Kara look over my text, I'll publish everything in a real publishing business, with my own money. I will approach random people with a smile (I'm good for that, I love meeting people), will nicely tell them about the novels, will ask them to check them out.

How would blaming TOKYOPOP help, really? I won't get into your game. I will use my intelligence and kindness, and do whatever I feel like, whenever I feel like, for my own happiness, and for my fellow friends from the fandom.

So you don't have to go to Otakon if you don't want to, is what I'm saying. If you're going to b-tch and moan about doing something, don't do it. It means you don't wanna do it.

And if anyone asks, that was butch... Yes yes... XD PLEASE don't get offensed and attack me too! I'm just trying to emphasise on reason, here. PLEASE.

I'd like to give a nice warm hug to Kara, and tell her to not stress over this anymore. We love you! ^__^ Please don't take all this too much to heart! Please continue your wonderful work with a smile! Please remember only the nice comments all the fans sent you! がんばってね！から好きだ！ Anyone reasonable understands what you're going through! ^_^

[PeterAhlstrom]

Yup. This thread is over. Thanks to all those who participated respectfully and who understood all the practical considerations.