We recently had a chat with the folks at Digital Manga Publishing to get a feel for how the past year has been for the publisher with the variety of titles they offer and the numerous avenues fans can get a hold of them.

FandomPost: DMI seems to have their hands in a lot of different things these days. You publish manga under multiple imprints and lead group tours to Japan. Could you tell us more about your various manga imprints?

DMI:
DMP PLATINUM- our classic line.
DMP – this is our mainstream, shojo &shonen line.
JUNE (pronounced joo-nay) MANGA – this is our yaoi line.
801MEDIA – this is our more smutty yaoi line.
PROJECT-H BOOKS – our hentai books galore!

FansomPost: Could you tell us more about your push to publish Osamu Tezuka and Tatsuo Yoshida titles through your DMP Platinum imprint and Kickstarter efforts?

DMI: Kickstarter has been a great way to measure demand and fan support. Tezuka Productions loved the idea and we are planning to do more in 2014. In 2012 – 2013, we ran 3 kickstarter campaigns and all of them were funded successfully. We recently licensed 251 titles from Tezuka and we are currently vetting contents to see which one we want to go for DMP Platinum.

FandomPost: Did you have a sleeper hit this year in any of your various imprints, something that surprised you by selling better than expected?

DMI: Not exactly a “sleeper” but a best seller is THE HENTAI PRINCE AND THE STONEY CAT. We knew this was going to be big, but not this big. We went into second printing and possibly for a third printing. Oh- and we just licensed v2 and v3. V2 is slated for June 2014. V3 is slated for October 2014.

FandomPost: Could you name some of your best selling books or series?

DMI: From DMP- hands down, VAMPIRE HUNDER D, our flagship series. From June – THE TYRANT FALLS IN LOVE and FINDER SERIES.

FandomPost: Do you see a correlation between better sales for series that have a related anime release?

DMI: Oh, absolutely. No doubt.

FandomPost: (if relevant for DMI based on previous question) Is there a stronger correlation when the anime is currently being released?

DMI: Yes. THE HENTAI PRINCE AND THE STONEY CAT.

FandomPost: US manga publishers are releasing e-books through various systems and it can get confusing for fans. Could you tell us how fans can get electronic copies of your books?

DMI: WWW.EMANGA.COM

FandomPost: According to a recent Publisher’s Weekly report, e-book sales growth slowed in the first half of 2013 compared to 2012 for mainstream literature. Have you also seen that slowing for your e-book sales or do you see them still gaining ground on your paper book sales?

DMI: We’ve never seen any drastic ups or downs. We distribute our ebooks (and print books too), to just about every (stores and) platforms. And because we offer so many genres and categories, we don’t usually see a sudden dip in sales. It’s always steady. I guess we are always out there capturing many genres of fans in different avenues. I think it’s a great thing.

FandomPost: Do you think the generally younger age and maybe higher electronic devices usage of manga readers have helped propel e-book sales in the niche market for manga and comics?

DMI: Yes- we’ve seen continued e-book sales growth. But nothing age specific. Like I mentioned in the previous question,- because we capture all kinds of audience in so many different avenues, we have younger age group to older age group. It’s hard to say but ebook sales are definitely growing exponentially.

FandomPost: Your personal preference, e-book or paper book and does it differ between novels and manga?

DMI: I’m all about “books.” I’ll take books in any forms, shapes and sizes. Digital or print.

FandomPost: It’s hard to pick a favorite, but if you were a fan, what is the one book from DMI that you would say is your favorite?

DMI: I don’t play that game. I like all of them.

FandomPost: Would you like to share with us all your Twitter and Tumblr handles so fans can follow all that DMI has to offer?

DMI: Yap. We are big on social networking.
TWITTER @Digitalmanga
FACEBOOK facebook.com/DigitalMangaInc
TUMBLR digitalmanga.tumblr.com/

FandomPost: Thank you so much for your time and especially your presence on social media. FandomPost and many of our readers look forward to your continued success in 2014.

It was my pleasure! Thanks.

Yoko