Another day, another post about Tokyopop. Reading Dirk Deppey’s overview of the “website exclusive” blogswarm:

The majority of Direct-Market retailers don’t care because the majority of Direct-Market retailers don’t sell the stuff to begin with. One has to tread carefully around retailers who do stock non-superhero comics in quantity when making arguments like this, of course, but the fact remains that such retailers aren’t by and of themselves a big enough segment of the manga pie to be courted with the same courteousness and consideration as, say, Barnes and Nobles’ book buyer. And make no mistake: If these books were selling well at major chain bookstores, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now. If Tokyopop thought about the Direct Market at all, their concerns were likely as not squashed the first time someone in the accounting department asked, “Direct what?“

And the argument, expressed by multiple retailers, that Tokyopop has fiendishly used them as a place to develop fanbases for titles before pulling them to reap the poor, downtrodden comics-shop owner’s hard work and leave nothing behind simply doesn’t hold water on the face of it. It’s not like we’re talking about Fruits Basket, here. I have no doubt that Christopher Butcher has managed to make the thoroughly absorbing thriller Dragon Head into The Beguiling’s bestselling manga title, but how many stores have a retailer as knowledgable, passionate and persuasive as Butcher working for them, pointing customers toward the quality titles and steering them carefully around gratuitous crap like DearS? All things considered, you wouldn’t have a difficult time persuading me that Dragon Head is losing money under the current system, and shuffling the deck therefore seems somewhat reasonable, at least on the face of it.

I agree with Deppey that this was likely what went through the minds behind this decision — that’s what frustrates me and reminds me of the big two. A lot of what Marvel and DC choices that frustrate me seem to picked the option that will move the needle the most, even if that’s bad in the long term. For example, promotion budgets tend to focus on titles that will sell well anyway because money spent towards bumping a title that sells 100,000 copies by 10% has a better payoff than spending the same funds towards getting a 10% bump on a title that would sell 20,000 copies on its own. The side effect of this is that the title that doesn’t get much marketing is seen as a sure-fire cancellation, which causes sales numbers that justify a swift cancellation and leaves comic readers even more jaded the next time a title with limited appeal and minimal marketing appears. Eventually, only established franchises can succeed and investment analysts are sounding alarms that you haven’t succeeded in developing a new property in decades.

Similarly, for Tokyopop, the best bang for their buck probably does lie in deserting the Direct Market retailers who might’ve supported the website exclusive titles… in the short term, at least. Long term, they’ve courted plenty of ill will with retailers and readers feeling distrustful of the publisher at a time when there are plenty of alternative options (Tokyopop’s competition).

It’s frustrating that Tokyopop showed so much vision when they became big, the steps they took that helped manga boom in sales the way they did was very smartly done. Since then, however, they’ve made infuriating mistakes like flooding titles on the market, letting the debate over OEL manga overshadow their OEL titles and a website revamp that initially made it easier to find fanart than Tokyopop’s product. Add the online exclusives and the digest size, $9.99 price point, unflipped layouts and “100% Authentic Manga” sound more like pleasant accidents than vision.

I agree that the online exclusives make it look like Tokyopop is facing some major financial pressure, but some anecdotes that have come up in the current blogswarm leave me wondering how much savings there could be found by adapting their operations — if popular and current titles are out of print, for example, shouldn’t there be a priority to find the fund for another printing, even if it means delaying an upcoming release? Could sales on the smaller titles be increased with better communication (like writing solicitation copy for Previews), marketing initiatives that don’t rely on creating a new tech toy for Tokyopop (that’s untested in its effectiveness) or even publishing fewer titles that get more attention from marketing?

Of course, it’s all easy to point out Tokyopop’s mistakes from a distance when one has no financial state in the company. Still, Tokyopop frustrates me as a customer because they seem to be making the kinds of mistakes I hoped were the realm of DC and Marvel… headaches I’d like to think I leave behind when I purchase manga.

Dear SFist Jon,

Please tell me you weren’t making it up when you said:

So this week, Time Magazine has a big feature on our very own Congressperson (Nancy Pelosi). Wonkette already summed up the gist of the article, but they did miss the fun fact that she likes to watch MTV late at night when she can’t sleep. That would explain the PelosiInDaHouze” who always posts on the Television Without Pity “Laguna Beach” boards.

Because that would so rule. If you have to, go ahead and make up something about not making it up. I’ll maintain the illusion by staying away from the Laguna Beach boards (wait… boards, plural? Does that mean Laguna Beach is getting recapped?)

Dear Nancy Pelosi,

Please assign an aide to watch Laguna Beach, sign up to TWOP as “PelosiInDaHouze” and post regularly. It’d be like the time Bill Clinton played the sax, updated for the digital age.

Two programs from UK production company Shed Productions are being developed for stateside audiences with ABC looking to develop soaper Footballers’ Wives and fx network adapting the women-in-prison drama, Bad Girls.

Wives‘ creators Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus, as well as Bad Girls co-creator Eileen Gallagher, will be involved in the FW adaptation.

At the least, I’d say the American producers know the right things to say about the show:

“(Co-producer Bert Salke) was a religious fan of the show on BBC America, and I quickly got up to speed on it,” (Chris) Brancato told Daily Variety. “From moment one, we understood that at the core of the show, it’s aspirational. It’s about what happens when, overnight, regular people get the American dream.”

Salke said the show will try to tap into the nation’s current cultural obsession with disposable celebs and overnight sensations created by the blogosphere and viral videos.

“The zeitgeist, as I sit here now surfing Paris Hilton and TMZ.com, is that we’re in that post-Warholian era where everyone can be a celebrity,” he said.

They seem to get what the show is about, though we’ll have to wait and see if the show’s complelling mix of trashy sensationalism and jaded, Fay Weldon-esque feminism survives the translation.

There’s one bit I don’t like, though:

Current plans call for the U.S. take to start out with the same three core couples seen in season one of “Wives,” which means the devious Tanya and the tragic Chardonnay will make the jump across the pond.

That also means the human equivalent of Abien will make the jump — the boring Donna and Ian Walmsey. I do find it worrisome that Salke and Brancato don’t realize thatFootballers Wives doesn’t get really compelling until Donna and Ian are written out of the show in season two. (Or maybe I just missed all the good parts from season one because the Walmseys made me so drowsy.)

Not much is said about fx’s Bad Girls, though my initial reaction is that it seems like a good fit for the network which is trying to add some female voices that can share space with shows like The Shield and Rescue Me.

Supplemental tags: Bad Girls

• Have questions about the Hero Registration Act? Here’s a helpful guide.

• Mental note, never, ever consider subscribing to a Hearst magazine.

• Oh, my. It really does look like this season of Dancing with the Stars will be incredibly, delightfully silly.

• I agree that typosquatters is a really great term, I think I’ll be using it myself in the future

• Have you seen the hottest new game show yet? (via)

It’s not uncommon to find used magazines in the breakroom at work, as it’s pretty common to find that someone left their copy of Us or Entertainment Weekly for others to read after they’re done.

However, today, there was a copy of Heat on the table, “The Official Big Brother Mag”. No, not the Big Brother with Julie Chen, the one with Davina McCall.

No one knows who might’ve left such a magazine, which is becoming one of those nagging questions because I can’t imagine anyone besides myself who would have the slightest bit of interest in such a magazine (and as annoying as the magazine gets, I do find this glimpse into British pop culture fascinating, especially, sadly, the TV grid — I never imagined Countdown as a Channel 4 program… which is a very strange thing to be surprised by).

I just wanted to put together a few recent statements and see how the look all juxtaposed and all…

Ragnell reacts to Harlan Ellison groping Connie Willis at the Hugo Awards:

And he naturally has me thinking about comics. When the stories about female professionals and the behavior they face at cons get out — hell, when stuff like Miller’s ASBAR SCRIPT gets out — and we see the harassment and unprofessionalism and general disregard for women behind the often defended as harmless surface material, what do you think we think?

Joe Quesada on the low number of female creators working on full time assignments for Marvel:

What I can tell you is that is that when I look at the pitches and art samples that we get, 99.9% of those pitches and samples come from males. I can’t control that, that’s just the law of averages, that’s who wants to submit.

But, let me also add, that just because there is a lack of female writers doesn’t mean that we’re going to hand out a charity gig to a female just because of her gender. That to me defeats the purpose. As a father of an only female child I would want all doors open within whatever field my daughter decides to one day choose. But I would also want her to walk through those doors on her own merits, not on the charity of others or to fill some quota, and I suspect that when she’s old enough to understand that, she’ll feel the same.

Gail Simone’s characterization of Marvel:

I think it’s more likely that aspiring female writers know that Marvel isn’t their best shot.

I like Marvel. I have a lot of friends at Marvel. But there is definitely a Howard Stern/partytime/fratboy/strip club element.

Again, I like Marvel. But when I was there, it was INEVITABLE that every female who left or was let go would be referred to as a ‘crazy bitch’ at some point. I don’t blame any one person for it, but it is something that could bite them in the ass if they’re not careful.

And on the flipside, big kudos to editors like Mike Marts who could NOT have been more gracious and welcoming. And Joe Quesada has been nothing but nice to me as well. It’s not the individuals, it’s just sort of an institutionalized faux ‘badboys’ environment, to my mind.

As a final cavaet, let me add that it’s been some years since I was there and it all may have changed since then.

One point being made in defense of Tokyopop deciding to sell some titles exclusively through their website praises the publisher for finding a way to continue publishing low-selling titles that would otherwise have to be cancelled. That may, indeed, be worth praising, but doesn’t Tokyopop have at least one title that struggling but beloved, namely the Kindaichi Case Files? I swear I recall running into fans of KCF fretting that Tokyopop may not publish any more volumes of the series (after volume 14 comes out in November — six months after the pervious volume – and no further plans for the series are mentioned). I’d guess that Tokyopop could win some begrudging support for the website-only sales if a silver lining (like the continuation of KCF) were a part of the deal.

Meanwhile, John Jakala notes a hurdle Tokyopop’s web-only sales will need to address:

How will existing readers of an existing series like Dragon Head know that they won’t be able to buy subsequent volumes from their preferred vendor? I’m sure Tokyopop will have some sort of blurb or ad in the back of the books, but I’m wondering how effective that will be. Many times I skip those pages because I figure they’re nothing but annoying ads. So if a customer is simply used to stopping in at his local bookstore every couple months and scanning the shelves for his favorite manga series, what then? Say he’s fairly motivated and even goes to the customer service counter to inquire about the series’ status. Will the bookstores know that these titles are only available through Tokyopop’s website? Even if they do know that, will they want to send customers to a competitor’s site? Will bookstores be able to special order the books directly through Tokyopop?

When you roll out an initiative that requires customers to change their routine, the toughest part (even tougher than getting customers to change how they get your product) is awareness. If your customers don’t realize that they have to change their habits, you’ve lost their business. Unfortunately, John notices that Tokyopop hasn’t even taken some key steps to getting this message out:

Tokyopop’s new site continues to frustrate me the more I attempt to navigate it. For example, the page for Dragon Head doesn’t even have any info to indicate that the series will only be available through Tokyopop’s site starting with volume six. The pages for other online-only series similarly lack such info. Sure, there are “BUY NOW” links for online-only volumes, but volumes available in bookstores have the same link, so there’s no distinction to let customers know they’d better pre-order the “exclusive” books if they want them.

I’m starting to have flashbacks to “Manga After Hours”. This is starting to feel similarly well-planned.

I was going to wrap my reaction to Tokyopop’s recent announcement that their WOM success, Dragon Head, exclusively available via their website (as well as other titles) into another post about how I’m trying to wean myself off of periodical comics in favor of book-format comics, but I’m struggling along with that one.

The short version is that buying staple-bound comics through the direct market has long been a hassle and, the recent growth of comics in bookstores has made buying comics easier — for certain formats and publishers. Buying periodical comics is still the same hassle, but buying manga digests, collected editions and original graphic novels has become much easier, making the paperback format much more attractive. I’m having a hard time dropping the monthlies I currently follow, but the temptation to pick up new monthly series, no matter how intriguing, has become pretty slight and the number of staple-bound comics I buy shrinks as cancellations happen.

Unfortunately, Dragon Head has now become as inconvenient a title to try to follow as Testament or Mary Jane. I’m glad I never got around to picking up the first volume. I just don’t buy manga online, anymore. Since I’m behind in my reading, manga’s an impulse buy. When I go to an online store, I stop and think about the stack of unread that awaits me at home and guilt trip myself out of the purchase, something that doesn’t happen as often in a bookstore.

Dragon Head looked like it could have been a compelling cerebral thriller along the lines of Death Note or Monster, but Del Rey’s ES also looked like a title with plenty of potential to push those buttons. I think once I get my reading stack down to the point when I would have picked up the first Dragon Head volume, I’ll grab a copy of ES instead.

There’s one bit from that Mike Kiley interview that’s been bugging me:

the launch of our new site and the size of the new audience and the way people are interacting with our site, we really believe there is an ability to put things in front of those people in a more creative, featured way to draw attention to books that haven’t been getting as much exposure as they should through the normal channels of distribution.

As someone who’s hoped to see Tokyopop revisit titles that didn’t find the audience it deserved and was disappointed that “Manga After Dark” never happened, I feel skeptical that Tokyopop will be able to make a “really special” title successful by taking it out of stores. Maybe this will be the time they get it right, but I don’t really get the feeling that Tokyopop’s marketing philosophy has discovered much more than selling what’s already popular.

Supplemental tags: Dragon Head

While some Project Runway fans feel a missing spark this season, the bidding over this season’s outfits has been pretty heated. Last week, Angela’s Audrey Hepburn-inspired dress pulled a top bid of $1,455 and this week Laura’s recycled paper dress drew a top bid of $1,705. It’ll be interesting to see if the top bid for “Everyday Woman” reaches similar heights.
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Over at Blogging Project Runway, a comment thread asking visitors to post their thoughts on the current Project Runway season plenty of Runway fans are expressing disappointment in the current season, with a handful of mentions of shark jumping.

Meanwhile, the show is continuing to draw huge audiences:

[August 23]’s episode was the #1 cable program on Wednesdays for the fifth week in a row among P18-49 (1.3 million) and all key women demos W18-34 (896,000), W18-49 (1.6 million) and W25-54 (1.5 million).

Last nights airing was the highest number ever for “Project Runway” in P25-54 with 2.1 million viewers, topping the previous record held by the season two finale.

The installment brought in a 3.2 HH rating with 3.3 million total viewers, 1.3 million P18-34 and 2.2 million P18-49. Compared to last weeks airing, “Project Runway” increased 11% among total viewers, 9% among P18-34, 9% among P18-49 and 11% among P25-54.

“Project Runway” beat out both broadcast and cable competition in the major markets of Seattle (7.8), Austin (6.8), San Francisco (6.6), and Boston (6.2), making it the #1 show in cable households in its time slot

Trying to look at this with my most cynical goggles, these are solid summertime numbers, especially in the Runway’s late time slot. An audience that size would be a hit on The CW in the fall. (Pulling numbers from a random week in September 2005, that 3.2 HH hits the same level as shows like Smallville, Top Model, Supernatural and 7th Heaven (but not Gilmore Girls).

Lastly, the Onion AV Club, also laments a lackluster season, nicely voicing a lot of the frustrations I’m feeling and hearing from other Runway fans, noting that what makes Jeffrey so infuriating is that he’s yet to show us work that justifies the ego and trash talking.