Sanada Jiya slowed down and continued, "Even the current situation of the Kadokawa system is not so good, or the entire industry is in dire straits right now. ”

"Is there no way to deal with it?" Shingo Harano frowned and couldn't help but ask.

It turns out that Shinichiro Inoue, the executive chairman of Kadokawa, made it clear in the "New Literature Manifesto" published in 2015 when Kadokawabooks was first published that "new literature" is created by users on the Internet, published on the Internet, and published as books or e-books.

The juxtaposition of e-books with traditional publishing shows Kadokawa's determination to develop e-books.

From the distribution of publishing house resources and the reaction of creators in the market, we can see that this change has indeed happened, and the launch of Kadokawa's own online platform カクヨム in February 2016 is clearly part of this strategy.

Judging from the publication data recorded by ラノベのDu, from 2010 to 2017, the number of new issues of major library book series brands has declined, while the number of new issues of single book series has generally increased.

Although the library series still dominates in absolute numbers, it is clear that the development momentum of the single book series is better.

These single-line book series are "light literature" or "new literature". Many readers are most familiar with this kind of work, which should be represented by the works serialized on "Let's Become a Home", which mainly focus on traveling through and being reincarnated into another world.

However, these are actually works published under the three library brands: Dengeki Bunko, Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko, and MF Bunko J.

Do these three brands have any new multimedia online works in the past two years? In the Kadokawa system, most of the works based on the Internet have been classified into the "new literature" system, which has been separated from the light system that has long been mature.

Softbank Creative (which owns GA Bunko), OVERLAP (OVERLAP Bunko), and Housewives Friends (Hero Bunko) are not very obvious because they lack a strong single book product line.

From the circulation in the past two years, it can be seen that Kadokawa's resources have indeed shifted from the light department to the new literature department, emphasizing UGC (UserGenerated Content, the Internet is a typical example), which is already part of the management strategy of the entire Kadokawa Group.

Other publishers are undoubtedly increasing their investment in the single-line category. For example, GANovels is set up under the GA library, PrimeNovels is set up under the hero library, and OVERLAP adds OVERLAPNovels, etc., I believe that soon we will be able to see the multimedia of these works under the single brand.

The Newcomer Award has always been the main means for major publishing houses to obtain new authors and new works, and through bonuses and publishing commitments, it attracts talented people from all over the country to apply.

The number of applicants also reflects the influence of the publishing house and the recognition of the publisher by the creators. But as the popularity of "Let's Be Home" publications continues to rise, it is clear that publishers have adjusted their focus.

One of the most extreme examples is the Heroes Library, which is owned by the Housewives Friends Society, which publishes works such as "Knight Magic" and "Another World Cafeteria". The Housewives Friends Club previously focused on practical books, and it was not until 2012 that it officially entered the light market and created the Hero Library.

From 2012 to 2017, such a "newcomer" to the market, relying on the only editor (and one of his assistants) to work nearly 20 hours a day to dig up authors and works in "Let's Be Home"[9], made Hero Library stand on the light market. Now, Hero Library is already a slightly famous library brand with more than 80 works, two works animated, and a little famous.

The animation of Kadokawa's 2013 and 2014 works "Recorded Horizon" and "Inferior Student of Magic High School" apparently completely ignited the creators' enthusiasm for "family lineage" and gave them a glimpse of the future of the Internet. The former is rare.

It can be animated on a national TV station like NHK Education Channel, and it is broadcast at a popular time slot such as 5:30 p.m., which has an extraordinary impact; The latter is the first "family" work to be published on the light faucet brand Dengeki Bunko.

The number of entries for several major light newcomer awards from 2010 to 2017. The Dengeki Library is undoubtedly the leader in the industry, and the number of applicants is far greater than that of other libraries.

However, in 2015, when the number of entries for the Bunko Newcomer Award was declining, the number of applications for the Internet Newcomer Award hosted by the two companies, "GATE Self-Defense Force" and "Let's Be Home", was still rising.

In particular, the number of entries in 2014 surpassed that of Dengeki Bunko, and in 2017, the number of entries exceeded the 10,000 mark, so it's no wonder that they boasted that they were the "Island Nation's Largest Award" at the "Becoming a Family" contest, and in 2017, the number of entries exceeded the 10,000 mark.

Now, as part of the group's strategy, even Dengeki Bunko has begun to seek to develop a single product line in conjunction with Kadokawa's own online platform.

The market research company ORICON works with book sellers across the island country to provide ORICON with data on the point-of-sale system.

ORICON cooperates with a total of 3,994 book business units, including large Internet sales channels such as Amazon, Honto, and Rakuten Books in the island countries.

However, it is important to note that eBooks are not included in this process, as eBooks do not go through the POS system.

In the "ORICON Entertainment Market Book (ORICONエンタメ・マーケット白書)", which is published every year, ORICON collects statistics on the changes in the light publishing market.

According to ORICON statistics, the sales of both the library version are declining every year, while the sales of the single edition are rising. This is basically in line with the change in the business strategy of the publishing house mentioned above, and also with the change in the number of circulations.

However, in 2016, the situation changed abruptly, and the sales growth of single books stopped, and in 2017, the sales amount of single books and single books fell sharply, and the annual growth rate of more than 30% of single books suddenly became -10%.

Kodansha and Shueisha, which lack powerful works and are dominated by bunkomoto, saw the largest declines, at more than 30%. followed by the giant KADOKAWA and the main online publishing アルファポリス, which fell by more than 15%.

If you just look at this number, it will indeed make people wonder if there is something big wrong with the light market, and it is going to be finished.

However, if we look at the monthly publication reports published by the National Publishers Association and the Institute of Publishing Science in the island nation, we find that the sales amount of Bunko Honkau from 2011 to 2016 was actually about the same as the figure of ORICON, but the figure for 2017 was more than 2 billion yen.

As a direct result, the figure of the "Publishing Monthly" in 2017 fell by only 5.9% compared to 2016, which is relatively flat, far less terrifying than 14.76%.

The figures for Publishing Monthly are derived from the major publishing and distribution companies, and are calculated based on the amount of books shipped to bookstores by the distribution companies minus the amount returned by the bookstores, excluding internet sales channels such as Amazon, an island nation.

So in terms of the degree of completeness of the data, the data from ORICON seems to be more convincing, but in fact, the data from 2011 to 2016 is not much different, and the huge difference in the numbers in 2017 caused by the Internet channel itself is still very unusual. I didn't have the "ORICON Entertainment Market Book" to get started, and I couldn't know the specific sales situation of Amazon in the island country, so I had to cut my love for the time being.

All in all, the decline in the sales of the library book did occur, and it is also consistent with the significant decrease in the number of publishers and the number of applicants for the library book newcomer award.

Next, let's take a look at the situation of the single book. Although the National Publishers Association did not include single books in the scope of light statistics[17], it mentioned in the "Publishing Monthly" that the market for single books is rising, and if single books are included, then the overall market for light books is still rising. This is the exact opposite of the ORICON figures.

Unfortunately, the Monthly Publishing Report does not provide data for individual editions, so we can only look at it from the publisher. Although Shogakukan and Shueisha are not listed companies, we have no way of knowing how they operate, but Kadokawa and アルファポリス are both listed, and we can try to get a glimpse of them from their financial reports.

Judging from the "2017 Annual Settlement of Kadokawa Multiplay Country Co., Ltd.", the sales of Kadokawa Multiplay Country from 2016 to 2017 did decline.

According to the author's estimates, sales in 2016 were about 8.239 billion yen, and in 2017 they were 7.398 billion yen, and the revenue of publishing houses is usually about 60% to 70% of actual sales (depending on the size of the bookstore, the type of books, etc., not counting returns, etc.) [18,19], which is in the same order of magnitude as the data of ORICON, which should be used as a reference.

Based on this calculation, Kadokawa Tokoku's sales of paper light fell by about 10% in 2017, which is less than the 15.88% of ORICON statistics.

Kadokawa Multiplay Country has its own online mall (KADOKAWASTORE), and it also cooperates with the online malls of the two major publishing and distribution companies in the island country, Shima Country Publishing & Sales Co., Ltd. and Tosho Co., Ltd., but these channels are not connected to ORICON, which may be one of the reasons for the difference.

THIS ALSO SUGGESTS THAT KADOKAWA'S LIGHT SALES MAY NOT BE AS BAD AS ORICON'S DATA SUGGESTS, AND THE CONTINUED INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF NEW SINGLE-BOOK TITLES ALSO SUPPORTS THIS IDEA TO A CERTAIN EXTENT.

It is also worth noting that the sales of KADOKAWA e-books have increased significantly compared to 2015, and they have been slowly increasing in 2016 and 2017, and the number of e-books has skyrocketed, and it is expected that there will be even better numbers in 2018.

Although the scale of Kadokawa is completely different from that of Kadokawa, which is the light market of the island country, the growth momentum is surpassed.

Judging from the financial reports of 2016 and 2017, the sales of アルファポリス have continued to rise, with sales of 1.473 billion yen in 2016 and 1.869 billion yen in 2017.

In addition to the fact that アルファポリス has sales channels outside the scope of ORICON's statistics like Kadokawa, the acceleration of the digitization of アルファポリス publications is obviously one of the main reasons.

There is no loss for publishers to switch from paper books to e-book readers, and it is more natural for e-books to be sold on a platform like アルファポリス, which already values the Internet, but this will be shown as a lost customer in ORICON's POS data.

There is obviously a significant connection between the rapid digitization of the publication and the sharp decline in the sales of アルファポリス in the ORICON statistics.

Whether it is the loss of readers, the change of reading equipment, the change of reading habits, or the internal reasons such as the change of publishing house strategy and the change of creators, the shrinkage of the market is a foregone conclusion.

From Kadokawa's point of view, they wanted to promote the concept of "new literature" and downplay the "light" brand, and "[Kadokawa's] light" can indeed be said to be in decline.

However, from the perspective of the market, it is obviously not so easy to completely abandon the concept of "lightness" that has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is obviously not necessary to educate consumers to replace "light" with "light literature" or "new literature" for publishing houses (other than Kadokawa) and various sales channels.

Therefore, it is inevitable to see that the original library is gradually replaced by the UGC network born on the Internet. Although ORICON's figures indicate that the market is shrinking rapidly, the number of new titles released by major publishers, the amount of sales, and the enthusiasm of creators to join the market show that the market is still alive and well.

However, this vitality is a little unsatisfactory.

After listening to what he said, Shingo Harano fell into deep thought.

If it is according to what he said, then the light industry may have been in decline for a long time.

So what is the way forward for this industry?

It won't be like newspapers being replaced by online information, no, it's very likely!

He suddenly realized that he couldn't always stick to one form and the same, and Shingo Harano seemed to have grasped a little bit of life.

"Wait, Sanada-san, you mean that e-books are becoming more influential than single books now, so why don't we develop our library in this direction?"

Sanada Erya looked at Harano Shingo like a fool, as if he felt that this was a bit impolite, and quickly withdrew his eyes, sighed, and said: "Market competition does not mean that you can win if you have capital, the important thing is strategy and resources, for now..."

"What's wrong?" Seeing that he wanted to speak, Shigo Harano hurriedly asked him.

The expression on Sanada Erya's face was a little exciting, and he suddenly woke up a little, he said so much unconsciously, and almost said the company's internal affairs.

He slapped his head suddenly, has he been under too much pressure recently, even if Shingo Harano is a well-known writer in the library, but he won't tell him so much.

Now the atmosphere within the company is very weird, since a few months ago, not to mention the integration of resources to open up new markets, even the cling itself is a bit precarious......