There’s been a lot of talk of how digital distribution is the future of manga in recent weeks. Tokyopop certainly believe going digital is unavoidable and essential to their future success. Publisher Yen Press seem to share that sentiment as well.
Earlier this week, Yen Press co-founder Kurt Hassler announced that the company’s Yen Plus magazine would be ending its print run with the July 2010 issue. Going forward, Yen Plus will be distributed digitally in a standalone browser app, eventually accompanied by some content changes that the increased flexibility from going digital will allow.
Following the announcement, Japanese pop-culture site Animevice got in touch with Mr. Hassler and got him to share a few interesting tidbits on the future of the anthology.
“We can offer more content to a wider audience more efficiently at a significant savings to the reader,” Hassler replied, speaking to the content changes currently being planned for. “The trade off is that we’re losing that tactile experience of holding the printed magazine in your hand — but as the material will ultimately be collected in the trade editions of the books, it’s really just delayed gratification.”
Of course, going digital also involves switching to what is essential a rental-based subscription model. Details on how long readers will have access to their digital copies of Yen Plus have yet to be revealed, and, along with subscription incentives, are information Yen Press will announce later.
