It’s a little hard to believe J-Novel Club hasn’t even celebrated its second birthday. But with all their major announcements at Anime Expo and Otakuthon these past few weeks, it’s almost been like a birthday party for the fans. If you’ve missed it, here’s a chance to catch up, and is it time for you to join?
#1: More licenses
This is the most obvious way to make a splash: have new titles! So far, in this past month, 11 new series have been picked up, a significant number for a small publisher. This list includes Amagi Brilliant Park, Kokoro Connect, and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen. Plus, J-Novel Club promises more to come in 2018.
i represent the greedy LN fun :p , are you now going to say see you in 2019 for more license ?? ( btw, really i'm grateful to a… — Oh no, still plenty more for 2018. https://t.co/5DTxpoP1Ml
— J-Novel Club (@jnovelclub) August 7, 2018
It’s also nice that not every title is a currently running one. Kokoro Connect finished in 2013 for instance. However, there is always room for concern for a title like this, that its moment has passed since its anime and manga adaptations finished years ago. Still, completed series have their own advantages like being able to have a stable release schedule. Either way, more titles is always exciting.
#2: Manga
Most of the manga publishers have been at least dabbling in light novels, but J-Novel Club is going the other direction starting in the fall. It just makes sense to try to appeal to both mainly manga and mainly light novel readers. Having the same person adapt both will keep the consistency. Hopefully in the future, J-Novel Club can license and release both manga and light novel versions at the same time so that one doesn’t get too far ahead of the over.
#3: New partnerships
J-Novel Club has announced they’ve teamed up with Kadokawa and Hayakawa Publishing, and they are also releasing series from Ichijinsha for the first time. This opens up a large catalog for them to tap and a venue outside of the Kadokawa co-owned Yen Press (Yen On).
#4: Female-oriented works
Light novels don’t always have clear demographics like manga do, as many of them were originally serialized on online sites. And J-Club Novel has licensed some series starring female protagonists like Walking My Second Path in Life.
J-Novel Club announced they've licensed Walking My Second Path in Life. It's their first LN title they've licensed with a female lead. pic.twitter.com/fuQ3yeKeBx
— TheOASG (@TheOASG) October 11, 2017
Male- or gender-neutral stories outsell female-oriented ones, but it’s still nice to have variety, as only two of their series are classified as romances. New titles All Routes Lead to Doom! My Next Life as a Villainess and Apparently it’s My Fault that my Husband’s Head Turned into that of a Beast help add more variety to J-Novel Club’s catalog, as they are from Ichijinsha’s Bunko Iris label which is aimed at females.
#5 Print versions
In January 2017, J-Novel Club teamed up with Seven Seas to release select titles in physical format, and more were added later. J-Novel Club now is going to release print versions themselves starting with In Another World with My Smartphone followed by How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord.
The press release says that this will be “distributed everywhere books are sold”, so it’s great the series won’t be exclusive or otherwise have limited availability. Other series will be released physically, but when, how many, and how much is still unknown. The downside is that some people (like me) will play the waiting game in hopes that a series will go to print, but that happened anyway with the Seven Seas partnership (who may be starting to heavily push their own light novel line with series like Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation).
#6 App changes
The app version of the service is going to get a major update with features like search, night mode, ebooks list, and more. Search in particular is something I think should have been included right from the start. Regardless, fans should be getting a more user-friendly experience when reading on their Android or iOS devices.
Final Comments
All in all, summer has been exciting for J-Novel Club fans. With all these titles and options, the $4.95 a month or less looks better and better. However, remember that only one series a month is fully available, so if there’s a new title you’re interested in, you might want to wait until the catch-up title is one you’re interested in.
I also hope that J-Novel Club’s print line isn’t too limited. In Another World with My Smartphone is a top seller for the service, but I hope that isn’t used as a baseline for what goes to print. In particular, J-Novel Club could find a niche with their female demographic series, as really no company has any light novels targeting girls available on shelves at Barnes & Noble and other places. But it could be just my selfish wish hoping this would happen…