Jump to content

J-Novel Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kpossibles (talk | contribs) at 01:47, 14 December 2019 (Added Kickstarter and ANYC announcements to History). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

J-Novel Club
File:JNC Logo.png
StatusActive
Founded2016
FounderSam Pinansky
DistributionWorldwide
Official websitej-novel.club

J-Novel Club is a digital publishing company specializing in publication of Japanese light novels in English. They stream light novels in weekly installments before publishing the finalized e-books. Since its initial launch, J-Novel Club has licensed 23 light novels, some completed, some still ongoing, and have published more than 40 e-books.[1] They have licensed titles from the Japanese publishers Hobby Japan, Overlap, Kodansha, PHP Institute and Earth Star Entertainment.

History

After coming to the conclusion that "there was a whole universe of content out there in Japan that's hardly available in the west at all",[2] Pinansky began working on the business model for J-Novel Club in 2015 and "took inspiration from what the fans had started to do on their own, as well as the more traditional models for book publishing".[3] J-Novel Club's overall purpose was "to create and grow a worldwide market for Japanese light novels translated into English."[4] The original name for the project was 'K-Novel' because kei is Japanese for light (as in the K from K-On), but before launch the K was changed to J (for Japanese) to avoid confusion with Korean novels and 'club' was added when it was noticed that the .club top-level domain name was available.[5]

J-Novel Club was founded in 2016 by Sam Pinansky and announced they would release light novels in weekly installments for their members before releasing the finalized books on e-book format. They launched with the titles Occultic;Nine, Brave Chronicle: The Ruinmaker, My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World and My Little Sister Can Read Kanji.[6] Shortly after they announced 2 more light novels - Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse.[7] On January 19, 2017 J-Novel Club announced they would be collaborating with manga and light novel localization company Seven Seas Entertainment who would start publishing print editions of 2 of J-Novel Club's light novels - Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Occultic;Nine.[8] On July 3, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they would be publishing print editions of 2 more J-Novel Club light novels - Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest and Clockwork Planet.[9]

On October 7, 2019, J-Novel Club launched their first Kickstarter project for Invaders of the Rokujouma!? print edition and successfully funded it with over $100,000 over its initial goal.[10][11] At their Anime NYC panel on November 16, 2019, they announced a new Heart label that focused on shojo titles and also announced print editions of popular series in 2020 for Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! and My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! novels.[12]

Reception

At the time of its launch in October 2016, Michael wrote for Taykobon that "I have already sampled the iOS app, and I could definitely feel the appeal of a service that offers weekly updates to licensed translations...There's a palpable excitement in the fandom already at the prospect of a light novel streaming service, and hopefully J-Novel Club will be able to capitalize on it."

As part of a launch title review of J-Novel club, Demelza Ward commented for TanukiBridge that: "The actual translations sometimes have a typo or two, but these are being fixed as the team are alerted and the service is not advertised as translations being flawless; they’ll be checked over again before being released as an ebook...when all’s said and done Crunchyroll are not flawless with their releases either, so I certainly don’t fault J-Novel for a couple of errors....I’ve enjoyed my time with J-Novel Club so far. I think it’s lacking that must-read title for a lot of light novel fans, but having Occultic;Nine is a step in the right direction and for the £4.07 my membership cost I’m very happy to support the company’s efforts in bringing more light novels to the west. It’s cheap, easy to use and most importantly has ambition. Just avoid Brave Chronicle and a good time reading light novels is ensured!"[13]

Shortly after its launch Mike Ferreira wrote for the Anime Herald about J-Novel Club's "unique approach to light novel publishing" and its "Netflix approach to pop literature", commenting that its "two-pronged model is certain to raise a few eyebrows". Ferreira went on to comment that "there's a certain excitement to being able to read and discuss chapters as they're ready, instead of waiting for the big collected volume to drop" and that "J-Novel Club is clearly pulling no stops in its efforts to become the king of the western light novel world...With luck and patience, they should be able to carve that niche they seek while giving the light novel its own form of western renaissance."[14]

Titles

Further information: List of J-Novel Club titles

References

  1. ^ "J-Novel Club". j-novel.club. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  2. ^ "FEATURE: Found in Translation - An Exclusive Interview with J-Novel Club". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  3. ^ "An Interview with Sam Pinansky, Founder and President of New Light Novel Streaming Service J-Novel Club". Taykobon. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  4. ^ "Saturday AM #58". sellfy.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  5. ^ "I'm Sam Pinansky (aka Quarkboy), founder and President of J-Novel Club! Ask Me Anything! • r/LightNovels". reddit. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  6. ^ "J-Novel Club Publisher Launches to Release Light Novels in English Digitally". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  7. ^ "J-Novel Club Licenses Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse Light Novels". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  8. ^ "Seven Seas Collaborates with J-Novel Club to Bring Light Novels to Print | Seven Seas Entertainment". Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  9. ^ "Seven Seas Licenses Made in Abyss, Nameless Asterism, Soul Liquid Chambers, Getter Robo Devolution Manga (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  10. ^ Mateo, Alex (2019-09-16). "J-Novel Club to Launch Kickstarter for Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Light Novels' Physical Release". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  11. ^ "Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Print Edition". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-12-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ Sherman, Jennifer (2019-11-16). "J-Novel Club Licenses 13 Light Novel Series, Reveals Print Editions for Sexiled, My Next Life as a Villainess". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  13. ^ "J-Novel Club Series Preview Guide". Tanuki Bridge. 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  14. ^ "(Exclusive) J-Novel Club: The Netflix Approach To Pop Literature". Anime Herald. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=J-Novel_Club&oldid=930664649"