Let’s start with a quick overview of 2024. How did Yen Press do – were sales up or down? How does that fit with longer-term trends?
On the manga side of the business, we were slightly below prior year, but still virtually flat. This ties into a longer-term trend of finding what the new normal is. It’s been said many times before, but the unprecedented sales seen in 2021 and 2022 were an anomaly, and compared to that, 2023 and 2024 were stabilizing years. I predict that this stabilization will continue into 2025 to a level that is still a cut above what any of us could have dreamed of in the 2010s.
In the same way that Solo Leveling defined our year on the manhwa/webcomic side, Delicious in Dungeon defined our year on the manga side. In large part thanks to the popular anime that aired on Netflix, we saw this beloved series that we’ve published since 2017 become our best-selling manga of the year (see “Fastest-Growing Series”). In addition to becoming beloved by so many new fans, it looks as though the critics came to love Delicious in Dungeon as well. The series won the Best Continuing Series Award at the inaugural American Manga Awards and also won a Harvey Award for Best Manga.
Have sales in bookstores and comic stores moved the same amounts over the past two years?
As mentioned earlier, we saw our manga sales take a slight dip last year, making us virtually flat with 2023. This trend represents the performance that we saw with bookstores as well—largely flat with prior year.
Sales with comic stores likely dropped due to the well-documented distribution issues that have impacted many. With that said, I do want to acknowledge that both Diamond and Diamond UK have been great partners to Yen Press for many years. We’re wishing the best for everyone involved and hope for a great resolution in the coming months.
From Yen Press, the series we’ve seen perform the best are a handful of unique works that put brilliant spins on popular genres, such as fantasy, romance, and horror. Our trifecta of top manga series includes the previously mentioned Delicious in Dungeon and The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All as well as our top debut of 2022, The Summer Hikaru Died. The art and story of all three works stand out from the series that typically dominate the lists of the most popular manga and anime. For example, Delicious in Dungeon is one of today’s most popular fantasy manga, but part of its appeal are the slice-of-life elements that come from creator Ryoko Kui’s earlier days of crafting literary short stories.
Right now, I can’t say that there is any category that is showing clear signs of decline. We’re simply at a time in which a wider array of series are becoming more popular.
I wouldn’t say that Yen Press has shown any shifts in acquisition strategy. For quite some time now, we’ve prided ourselves on publishing an eclectic mix of series, ranging from action fantasy series to literary hidden gems. It’s quite satisfying to see that many of those hidden gems are now becoming today’s best-sellers!
Delicious in Dungeon fans—prepare to feast! Despite the series wrapping up its serialization last year with Volume 14, we have a couple of new releases this year for fans to enjoy. The first title is Doodles by Ryoko Kui: Daydream Hourreleasing in May 2025 (see “Yen Press Licenses Art Book by ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ Creator”). This is a wonderful full color collection of Ryoko Kui’s illustrations, many of which show her beloved Delicious in Dungeon cast like they’ve never been seen before.
Our other Delicious in Dungeon release is Delicious in Dungeon World Guide Adventurer’s Bible, Complete Edition. Before Delicious in Dungeon became everyone’s favorite new anime, we released a full color guide to the world of the manga, which included several illustrations and detailed information on all the characters and monsters. This new and improved version features 70 pages of additional content, making this edition releasing in July 2025 a must have for both fans of the manga and anime.
There are a few series that saw a push in their book sales from the popularity of their anime adaptation, such as Chained Soldier, but I will say that fewer series are seeing boosts from their anime adaptations compared to the past. I remember a day when nearly every anime would boost the sales of their corresponding manga. Today, there’s so much anime coming out that it is very hard for many shows to stand out, making it harder for them to promote the manga series that they came from.
With that said, anime is still a big factor for manga popularity, if not the biggest. While I just acknowledged that anime boosting individual series are fewer and farther between, when it happens, it happens big. Look no further than Delicious in Dungeon and Solo Leveling, our two breakout series from last year and both reaching a level that can be defined as “company changing.”
If a given series has a light novel and a manga, it is generally the case that the light novel is the source material. As such, we typically see more popularity with the light novel compared to the manga that is considered an adaptation. There are a few times in which the manga adaptation will be quite popular, which is what was seen with our series The Eminence in Shadow, but this is particularly rare.
Like manga, light novels generally rely on the popularity of their anime to reach higher levels success. One of our runaway hits of 2023 was My Happy Marriage, a light novel series from our Yen On line that received an anime adaptation on Netflix. In the months following the anime’s debut, My Happy Marriage shot up the sales rankings.
I notice that some of your paperback manga is priced at $13.00 per volume and some at $15.00. How do you determine the price?
Generally, the manga published with a 5” x 7.5” trim size are priced at $13.00 and the ones published with a 5.75” x 8.25” trim size are priced at $15.00. In terms of the decision behind which titles get what trim size, it largely depends on the property and the decision is made by our Editorial Team.
There’s a lot of change and uncertainty right now around tariffs and supply chains. What is Yen doing to adjust? How will it affect your catalog? Will you let some older titles go out of print?
I think a lot of that is to be determined. We’re eagerly checking the news as much as anyone else. For now, we’re cautiously proceeding with the plans that we set last year and will tackle any challenges as they come.
The direction of proceeding as normal also applies to our backlist. It is our intention to keep as many of our beloved titles in stock as much as possible.
At the recent ComicsPRO Annual Meeting, we made sure that all the retailers we spoke to left keeping in mind two series—The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All and The Summer Hikaru Died. In the weeks since ComicsPRO, we’ve only seen The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t a Guy at All increase in sales. It has become a series that must be included in every manga section.
I’m going to boldly predict that the success that we saw last year with Delicious in Dungeon will be replicated with The Summer Hikaru Died. There are similar factors to consider—both series were already popular before the anime aired and both have their anime adaptations streaming on Netflix, still the most dominant platform in the streaming world. What gives The Summer Hikaru Died a unique edge is that it is a work of horror, and at this point, it is clear to comics retailers how big horror has become. The summer of 2025 is set to be the summer of Hikaru.
What plans does Yen have for 2025?
We plan to continue following through on our mission statement of making this world a better and more vibrant place by filling it with more art and storytelling.
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