Cross Infinite World announced today a new partnership with independent audiobook publisher Podium Audio, allowing them to produce, sell, and distribute audiobooks of select CIW light novel titles. To kick off the partnership, Kiri Komori and Yamigo’s Reincarnated as The Last of My Kind and Kei Misawa and Poporucha’s Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance! will be the first two audiobook titles. The first volume for Last of My Kind is scheduled for September 14 while its second volume is scheduled for November 16. Reset! is scheduled to launch October 12.
At TheOASG we talked to Lead Translator and President of Cross Infinite World, Charis Messier, about the shoujo and josei company getting into audiobooks. The portion you’ll read below is actually part of a longer conversation with Charis that gets into how the company has been operating during COVID-19, the changes since she first started CIW, and a lot more. Expect the full interview to go up sometime later this month.
TheOASG: So on August 17, Cross Infinite World announced the move into audiobooks. Can you share your initial lineup of light novels that’ll be in audiobook format?
Charis Messier: We’re starting with three series. The first two are Reincarnated as The Last of My Kind and Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!. The third we will be announcing a little later.
What made these three titles the best to launch with?
They are all series that appeal to wide audiences and have been best sellers for us.
Who will be doing the voices for the audiobooks?
Cassandra Morris (Leafa in Sword Art Online, Totooria “Totori” Helmold in Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, Sothis in Fire Emblem: Three Houses) and Graham Halstead (Tomohiro Nagatsuka in A Silent Voice, Albert Pitt in Aria The Animation) have been cast to narrate Reincarnated as the Last of my Kind. Sura Siu has been cast to narrate Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!.
How long has the company been planning to jump into this space, and what should we know about this new endeavor?
We’ve considered audiobooks from the beginning, but didn’t want to venture into them too soon. We’re working with some great talent at Podium Audio, so everyone can look forward to really high quality audiobooks of their favorite series!
What’s surprised you the most throughout the audiobook production process?
We’ve partnered with Podium Audio for the production of the audiobooks and we were surprised by how smooth the overall process has been. It was definitely fun creating audio clips of our own on how to pronounce some of the more Japanese sounding terms in the books for the narrators to hear and practice.
While audiobooks have long been a thing, at least for light novels it wasn’t terribly consistent across the board. Now all of a sudden we got Yen Press launching Yen Audio, One Peace Books with Shield Hero, and now your company jumping in. Is this just the natural next step as light novels continue to grow in the market?
Audiobooks have started to get more popular for light novels in Japan lately as well, so it’s definitely the natural next step as they grow in popularity in the English market as well. There is a demand for it! Also, audiobook sales in general have boomed during the last year, making it an even more appealing market to tap into.
Is this going to be a test run or do you see Cross Infinite World doing more audiobooks over the next couple years?
This is a test run for us right now, but we hope it does well enough to bring over even more series!