One of the side points in all of the recent talk about yaoi was the timidity of the bulk of titles currently in translation. Where’s all the really sexy stuff?
At the recent Otakon, Digital Manga Publishing, often cited as one of the leading purveyors of the starry-eyed and tepid, gave hope to fans itching for something a little more hardcore. Kai-Ming Cha shared some new details on DMP’s 801 Media imprint in this week’s Publishers Weekly Comics Week (in the paragraph next to a picture of the coolest cosplayers I’ve ever seen):
“801 Media titles will be available only at online retailers, independent bookstores and comics shops. ‘You won’t find [801 Media books] in Borders or Barnes & Noble,’ said Rachel Livingston of DMP’s PR department. Livingston explained that while 801 Media is working with distributors, the books will not have a wide level of distribution because of their explicit content. She added that fans will be able to special order the books through Walden or retail chain stores. ‘We’re letting retailers know we’re not giving them inappropriate material while giving readers what they want and supporting online retailers,’ Livingston said.”
That’s a very interesting approach, and it neatly and preemptively skirts some potential problems. It doesn’t sound like anyone’s going to accidentally stumble across an 801 book. And DMP has done surprisingly well in the Direct Market, just judging by sources like the top 50 manga lists from Comic Book Resources. Every time DMP has new Juné books for readers, you can bet they’ll show up in the top 50 or even crack the top 100 graphic novels roster.
I’m also fascinated (and just a little horrified) by DMP’s other initiative:
“DMP also announced a bishonen (boys’ love) tour organized through Pop Japan, a travel agency owned by DMP that does tours to Japan for American otaku. The junket includes a shopping trip to Tokyo’s Otome Road for boys’ love merchandise and paraphernalia, and will feature a female take on maid cafes, which cater to men—there will be afternoon tea at a ‘butler cafe,’ where attractive young men dressed in traditional butler uniforms wait on the patrons.”
Now that, Tokyopop, is a publisher embracing the manga lifestyle, or at least a niche of it. Will DMP end up marketing a “Fangirls Gone Wild” video produced during the tour?