With 47 million copies sold in France in 2021, twice as many as in 2020, it is impossible to deny the explosion of manga in France.
But not all publishers benefit from this craze in the same way.
Indeed, half of the sales of these Japanese comics last year were concentrated on only 17 series.
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A handful of publishers share the largest share of the pie: the historic Kana (
Naruto
), Panini (
Demon Slayer
), Glénat (
One Piece
) and Pika (
Attack on Titan
), and those that have flourished in the 2000s like Ki-oon (
My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen
), Kurokawa (
Spy x Family)
and Kazé, which became Crunchyroll (
Kaiju n°8
).
Read alsoHave you succumbed to the manga craze?
In this context, how do the smallest publishers manage to find a place in the sun?
Le Lézard noir, Noeve Grafx, Akata, Mangetsu, naBan and Shiba, crowned with several successes in bookstores, revealed
their recipes to
Le Figaro .
Take care of the book object... and maintain an affordable price
"The first thing on which we wanted to mark our difference is the confection",
explains Bertrand Brillois, editorial manager of Noeve Grafx.
Launched in November 2020, this manga label completes the offer of Noeve, a publisher specializing in art and photography books.
Embossing, debossing, hot stamping, selective varnish, swelling varnish, lamination with iridescence or rubbery side... Noeve Grafx offers an impressive diversity of techniques which aim to
"turn manga into a beautiful book".
The case of
Veil
is quite emblematic: large format in full color, embossed cover with golden title, five different papers... Moreover, the texture of the jacket of
Don't Call It Mystery
imitates the hair of its hero and that from
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
resembles reptile skin.
"We try to improve, in consultation with the rights holder or the author, everything that can be improved
", summarizes Bertrand Brillois.
The copious collector's edition of
Steam Reverie in Amber
, for example, is unpublished in Japan.
Steam Reverie in Amber
Collector's Edition.
Noeve Grafx
Despite everything, the price of Noeve manga remains reasonable, starting at 7.95 euros, which is the case for its three best-selling titles of 2021,
Rent-a-Girlfriend, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid
and
Stop heating me Nagatoro
(between 30 and 50,000 copies sold).
Bertrand Brillois simply explains that he chose a
"lower margin"
than the competition, while remaining profitable.
Mangetsu side
Mangetsu also pays particular attention to the production of its manga, in particular its very elaborate covers with selective varnish, all at an attractive price (24.90 euros for the complete hardcover of 752 pages of
Tomie
).
The simpler design of its flagship
Ao Ashi
series allows the price to drop to 6.90 euros.
Build and retain community
What would a publisher be without its readers?
Not much!
Very close to his community, Mangetsu understood this well.
Launched in March 2021, this label recently joined the Hachette group along with its parent company Bragelonne.
In terms of number of monthly releases, financial resources and staff, the functioning of Mangetsu remains for the moment comparable to that of an independent structure.
Every month, at the full moon (
mangetsu
in Japanese), the collection director Sullivan Rouaud invites his readers to meet on YouTube to present the latest releases, discuss sales figures and announce an upcoming novelty.
"Tsukimi", a live broadcast on Twitch in the company of a guest, completes the monthly device.
The audiences for these videos remain modest (between 1,000 and 11,000 views per video on YouTube) but target the most engaged booksellers and readers.
Excerpt from Mangetsu's 9th “Tsukimi” show, with Sullivan Rouaud (left) and the artist TiersMonde.
YouTube screenshot
Mangetsu is particularly attentive to feedback from its readers.
“ Tomie
's first edition
had small errors with the paper being too thin.
We quickly corrected the situation, ”
explains its collection director.
This manga is close to 40,000 sales today.
Côté Noeve Grafx: collectible cards
Noeve offers trading cards inside each manga, made by Cartamundi (
Magic: The Gathering)
.
There is even a 30 to 60 chance of finding a card hand-signed by the mangaka.
Side Shiba: full of goodies
The small Belgian publisher Shiba takes particular care with its goodies: vial of phosphorescent stones for
Colorless
(
"it intrigues people who say to themselves 'bug, they give bath salts'"
, jokes Laurent Schelkens, the editorial director), bookmarks , self-adhesive tattoos, mini-tote bags, mouse pads or double boards for their 3rd manga
Zingnize
.
Assume a clear and alternative editorial line
To sum up Akata's editorial line, Bruno Pham mentions three axes:
“feminine manga”
,
“social manga”
and crazy (
“I like to describe the WTF?! collection as an
icy fluid
from manga”
).
The first two axes, which often overlap, give Akata a marked identity with many works dealing with social violence and discriminatory issues (rape and harassment in
En proie au silence,
deafness in
A Sign of Affection
, transidentity in
Boys Run The Riot
...).
"You have to be able to take it on because it can be very polarizing,"
says the editorial manager.
We get criticized a lot for that because supposedly we change the subject of the works, that we politicize them… We also have homophobic comments on our editorial line with calls for harassment.
Akane Torikai is one of Akata's leading authors.
His latest title,
Saturn Return,
is in the running for the title of best Asian comic of the year awarded by the ACBD.
Akata
Akata is undoubtedly the publisher most attached to shôjo, that is to say to manga intended for a female audience, generally written by women.
“I will always claim the importance of the shoujo,
insists Bruno Pham.
If we think in terms of international comics, there is no other country than Japan that has given so many places to women as authors.
However, shôjo has a reputation for selling poorly...
“It's a discourse maintained by the media and certain publishers, and it tires me.
If we couldn't sell shoujo, we would have shut down a long time ago."
We want to decipher contemporary Japanese society, to show a real Japan far from postcards
Stéphane Duval (The Black Lizard)
Initially focused on horror with authors such as Suehiro Maruo, the editorial line of Le Lézard noir took a turn in 2009 with
Le Vagabond de Tokyo, "social chronicle and marker of what was to become of the catalog",
explains its director of the Stéphane Duval publication
.
This desire to
"decipher contemporary Japanese society, to show a real Japan far from postcards"
is found in the work of Shinzo Keigo (
Mauvaise Herbe
) and Minetarô Mochizuki (
Chiisakobe
).
Regularly selected in Angoulême, Le Lézard offers a catalog that is sometimes demanding but also very accessible manga, such as its bestseller
La Cantine demidi
(150,000 copies sold since 2017) and children's books.
“When you're a small publisher, you shouldn't try to place yourself at the level of the big ones, that makes no sense. The best way [to get by] is to find a hard core of readers who will be interested in your titles through your choices, and that these are relevant to the “color” of the catalog”
, believes Christophe Geldron, editorial manager of naBan, which has notably succeeded in uniting around the science fiction titles
Destination Terra
(12,000 sales) and
Millenium Darling,
currently well received.
IMHO side: spookiness and oddities
IMHO has introduced several cult authors in France: Suehiro Maruo (
La Jeune fille aux camélias
), Hideshi Hino (
L'Enfant insecticide
), Atsushi Kaneko (
Bambi
), Junko Mizuna (
Cinderalla
) and of course Shintaro Kago (
Carnets de massacre
) .
Cornélius, Isan and Black Box, heritage specialists
In 2005, Cornélius unsheathed
Prince Norman
by Osuma Tezuka and has since taken over the editing of two monuments of the heritage manga: Shigeru Mizuki (
NonNonBâ
) and Yoshiharu Tsuge (
Les Fleurs rouges
).
Created in 2011, Isan Manga focuses exclusively on heritage, with cult works such as
Cobra
by Buichi Terasawa,
Kamen Rider
by Shotarô Ishinomori and
Cutie Honey
by Gô Nagai.
Black Box first specialized in Japanese animation before publishing heritage manga from 2013. Its catalog notably includes Gô Nagai (
Devilman
,
The Immodest School, Mazinger Z
), Hideki Arai (
Irene
) and Toshio Maeda (
Urotsukidoji, The Blue Girl
).
Have flair and control costs
A success in Japan will not necessarily be a success here.
It is therefore necessary to have a flair to unearth the rare pearl... and not necessarily to take into account the presuppositions.
"Sports and samurai manga are not supposed to work in France"
, recalls Sullivan Rouaud.
Mangetsu has however chosen to publish a football manga (
Ao Ashi
) and several titles rooted in the Edo period including
Chiruran
and
Butterfly Beast,
“two enormous reliefs”
because they have become
“his two best middle-sellers”
.
With 25,000 and 4,000 sales respectively,
Old Boy
and
Colorless
are naBan and Shiba's two biggest hits.
naBan / Shiba
"Being a publisher means being a good manager, putting the cursor at the right level in terms of objectives,"
says Bruno Pham of Akata.
A book sold in 3,000 copies but well controlled can be more profitable than a book sold in 10,000 for which we had double the objective.
The editorial manager of Akata is still betting on a minimum print run of 3,500 copies in order to keep it available in the catalog,
“even if it takes ten years to run out”.
Some unethical publishers who don't care about losing money on certain projects
Bruno Pham (Akata)
The explosion in sales in 2020 and 2021 has nevertheless had the effect of increasing the price of licenses that French publishers pay to Japanese rights holders, to the point of complicating the work of independents.
Stéphane Duval of the Black Lizard thus recounts having made
“an unreasonable offer”
to land the last Shinzo Keigo,
Hirayasumi.
On the other hand, he was unable to obtain Akiko Higashimura's new series,
Gourmet Detective,
picked up by Delcourt-Tonkam
.
Without pointing the finger at a particular house, Bruno Pham denounces the practices of
“certain unethical publishers who don't care about losing money on certain projects”
and simply wish to
“stifle competition”.
An opinion shared by several of his colleagues.