So last week Zac over at ANN invited me to participate in their latest ANNCast.  It was a lot of fun and covered a wide range of topics, from scanlation to SPICE & WOLF.  My sincerest thanks to Zac and Justin for having me on the show, and if you’re curious to give it a listen and find out some of the latest happenings at Yen Press, you can check it out here:

Okay, St. Patty’s Day is still a ways off, but today’s YOUR lucky day because we’ve got a fresh new Yen Plus just for you! You already know the DWMA duo on the Japanese side, but who’s that dancing beauty on side A?! You’ll just have to read this month’s Time and Again to find out! Also, due to the release of Nightschool 3 this coming month, Svet’s taking a break from Alex and company. Instead, she’s put together a special bonus comic about how she spent that break…in JAPAN! I’m very jealous, and you will be too! A shame she didn’t meet our own Otaku Pimp there…That would have been quite the story to tell……

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this month’s mag. If you’re “lucky,” you’ve already snagged a copy, but if not, you’ll definitely want to get it soon! Trust me, all this comic goodness is much better than any green alcoholic beverage…

If you have any specific questions about your subscription to YEN PLUS, please direct them to subscription services at 1-800-876-7598.

With February upon us, we thought the time had come to share with readers some of the great new properties in Yen’s 2010 lineup that hadn’t yet been disclosed.

First up is one that should come as no surprise to existing fans of Yen’s list but that we are certain will make a lot of readers happy: THE MELANCHOLY OF SUZUMIYA-HARUHI-CHAN! The first volume of the highly anticipated yon koma featuring all new adventures from Haruhi and the rest of the S.O.S. Brigade will debut in October 2010 to the cheers of Haruhi fans everywhere! Yen is absolutely thrilled to be adding this series to its already prodigious lineup of yon koma.

And speaking of yon koma, we’re going to keep bringing you the hottest properties in November 2010 with the launch of kakifly’s K-ON! The four girls who make up their high school music club have set Japan on fire, and their fame is only going to grow when they take the stage for the first time in the states this fall!

For those who’d rather turn off the music for a while and curl up with a great book, then we’ve got just the book for you when the first installment of Mizuki Nomura’s BUNGAKU SHOUJO novel series reaches a bookstore near you in July 2010. BOOK GIRL AND THE SUICIDAL MIME is the story of Konoha Inoue, a gifted writer who’s lost his passion, who’s inducted into his school’s literature club by it’s only other member, the beautiful Touko Amano – a book goblin who literally devours the printed word! Trust us, you’ll want to eat this one up!

And the segues just keep coming! We’re going from eating books to just…eating! Yoshinaga Fumi fans are in for a rare delicacy in November 2010 when Yen publishes NOT LOVE BUT DELICIOUS FOODS, a manga chronicling Y-Naga’s love of food and eateries in Japan. There are some hardcore Yoshinaga Fumi fans on staff at Yen Press, and they are salivating in anticipation of this book’s release!

Last but certainly not least is picture book in comics form that will appeal to the child in all of us. What do you get when you take seven adorably diminutive bears and mash them up with some of the world’s most famous fairy tales? You get Émile Bravo’s brilliant and hilarious GOLDILOCKS AND THE SEVEN SQUAT BEARS! Readers young and old alike will delight in the misadventures of these dwarf bruins as they attempt to rid their home of the giant lady who’s fallen asleep in their beds. Expect to see lots of cameo appearances by some of your favorite fairy tale figures from your youth!

That’s it for now. We have more great stuff in the works, but we hope that these new books will tide you over until then!

We’re itching to give out some free stuff again, so it’s time for another Yen Press giveaway via Twitter! And in the spirit of democracy, once again we’ve decided to let you pick the prize from our fabulous choices below:

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Check out Yen Press’s Twitter page by clicking the link to your right. Remember, you do have to FOLLOW yenpress if you want to be eligible. Otherwise, we can’t contact you when you’ve won a prize! Check back here tomorrow to see what prize has won, and stay tuned to Twitter for details on how to enter!

Flowers? They’ll be wilted in a week.
Chocolates? Delicious, but they just never seem to last.
YEN PLUS? Now that’s a gift your significant other will truly be grateful for!
Yes, it’s February, a time for hearts and roses and all your favorite series in your favorite magazine. Two lovely ladies (Jack Frost’s Helmina and Nabari no Ou’s Raimei) grace this month’s YEN PLUS, an issue packed with dramatic revelations and a whole lotta fun. In the spirit of love~ I thought we’d include a poll this month so you can tell us what your top three faves are in YEN PLUS:

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What will the results be? Who knows? Thank you for reading! We hope you continue to enjoy YEN PLUS!

If you have any specific questions about your subscription to YEN PLUS, please direct them to subscription services at 1-800-876-7598.

We’ve been keeping Bella all to ourselves since the announcement of the Twilight graphic novel adaptation last summer, but Yen Press is now proud to present artist Young Kim’s stunning cover for the first volume!

In stores March 16, 2010

CLICK HERE to visit Entertainment Weekly for an exclusive first look and interview with author Stephenie Meyer!
CLICK HERE to visit the official Twilight Saga website!

For those of you who may not have seen them, About.com is hosting a series of polls for your favorite manga series of 2009, and Yen has a lot of titles in the running.  Here’s a list of the categories and the Yen nominees:

Best New International Manga (Maximum Ride, Nightschool, and Toxic Planet)

Best New Korean Manhwa (13th Boy, Jack Frost, Pig Bride, Raiders, Sarasah, and Time and Again)

Best New Comedy Manga (GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class)

Best New Shonen Manga (Cirque du Freak, Hero Tales, Nabari no Ou, Pandora Hearts, Soul Eater)

So why not click through and cast your vote for your favorite Yen series?

“In many ways the work of a critic is easy.  We risk little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement.  We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read.

“But, the bitter truth we critics face is that, in the grand scheme of things… the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” — Anton Ego, The Grim Eater (Ratatouille © 2007 Disney/Pixar)

As the year draws to a close, manga reviewers the web over are compiling their annual “Best of/Worst of” lists.  Like every other manga publisher out there, we review these lists with a mixture of hopefulness and trepidation.  When we see our titles gracing the “Best of” categories, we cheer and eagerly send the news along to the creators of the work in question so they can share our glee.  When our titles have the misfortune of appearing in the “Worst of” categories, we’re gloomy and silently take our lumps – warranted or unwarranted as they may be from our perspective.  We welcome feedback on our titles, the good and the bad, which is why we send out a healthy supply of review copies each month and will continue to do so.  These copies are sent out with no strings attached, no insistence that books be given favorable reviews – just a request that the reviewer give his or her honest opinion of the work in question.

Recently, one of the aforementioned “Worst of” lists appeared at The Manga Critic citing its “2009 Manga Hall of Shame Inductees” which you can find here.  One of Yen’s titles, Pig Bride, appeared on this list, which frankly surprised me.  I’m a huge fan of the series and consider it to be a wonderful title.  It’s actually one of the books that I look most forward to reading when the latest pages cross my desk each month for inclusion in Yen Plus.  One of the most interesting things about the list to me, though, was an invitation from the author of the article which states, “so I encourage you to share…your reactions to this year’s dishonorees.”  Interesting.  It’s not something I’ve ever done before, responding to a review, but as I do have a very different take on the book, why not?  At the very least, it strikes me as an interesting exercise – to review the review!

And you can read my review of the review after the cut…

Read the rest of this entry »

Looks nice, yes? Today’s Twitter giveaway is not only a copy of Black Butler Volume 1, but also a limited edition book cover from our friends at Square Enix. Our edition doesn’t quite fit the Japanese cover, but with some trimming, the leather look does suit it nicely. For those of you who haven’t been minding your Twitter page today, tweet @yenpress with the tag #BlackButler to win today’s drawing! We’ll be randomly picking five winners at five, so there’s still plenty of time to enter! Good luck!

Those of you following us on Twitter may have spotted last week’s ongoing Spice and Wolf novel giveaway, and we’d like to continue giving our loyal readers opportunities to take home free stuff! If you haven’t been following Yen Press on Twitter, well, now’s your chance! Visit our Twitter page here!

Given the season, we figured now was a good time to sprinkle in a few more chances for you to win before we take a break for the holidays. And, we thought, why not let our dear fans pick what they’d like to see raffled off? And so, the first of what I expect to be many Yen Press polls:

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Tomorrow on Twitter, we’ll be telling you how you can win a copy of today’s selection! So follow us now for ongoing news, updates, and your chance to emerge victorious!