Hmm, not sure if this is a pardon my dust situation or what, but yeah, pardon the lack of articles from me recently, but work has been work, and I’ve done a terribad job of managing my time. That, and been reading Game of Thrones. Hopefully that time has past though, and I can manage my time better in the next few weeks and into next year.
Now, enough about me! We should get to talking about one of the editors, or more specifically, the Associate Editor of Yen Press, Abigail Blackman. She started at Yen Press in 2008, and has been there ever since, still lettering and editing manga (like Yotsuba and A Bride’s Story, for example)…at home. In Michigan. This was one of the reasons I knew I had to get in touch with her after NYCC since Yen Press is a NYC operation and understand her situation, and get other insight on her job and the manga industry.
So I sent Abigail questions by email last week, and she responded.
Organization ASG: What did you expect you’d be doing growing up as opposed to working for Yen Press?
Abigail Blackman: I entertained mostly art-related careers growing up, but by high school I’d decided that a more practical route would be to embrace my other passion–books–and become an English teacher…until I interned in a middle-school classroom my senior year of high school! I feared that the blank, disinterested stares of my students would burn me out–the same way I feared majoring in art would kill my love of it–so I decided to go forward with an English degree anyway but to focus on publishing instead…
Even after graduating, that my first job ended up being in manga publishing was still a complete surprise!
OASG: You didn’t quite get into manga before working at Yen Press, so when did you know about it and what was your perception of it? What do you believe manga has proven to be for you since?
Abigail: I didn’t read manga, but I was familiar with anime. I grew up with the Kids’ WB fare, but my concept of Japanese anime/manga was transformed by Fullmetal Alchemist and, later, Spirited Away. I love animation, but in the US it’s geared for kids or is strictly for comedy. With FMA, in the first few episodes you have characters dealing with the question of religion and the question of what makes a human human beyond its elemental components, which was something I hadn’t seen before. So I knew anime had more meat to it than I’d given it credit for, and therefore wasn’t surprised by the sheer variety of manga series I worked on when I first came to Yen.
Now that I read comics all the time, I have a more studied appreciation for the pacing of Japanese storytellers and the way art can be used to tell the story as powerfully as words. Especially when you’re looking at the body of manga, where pretty much anything goes, it’s exciting to see the boundaries of storytelling tested, successfully or no, and the way different artists may approach the same topic visually and in narrative.
OASG: When we spoke briefly at NYCC, I was surprised to learn that you were doing your work from home — in Michigan! What happened?
Abigail: I love Yen Press, but after five years New York was starting to wear on me. The general vibe of NY is very competitive, very work-driven; I’m a people-pleaser so the call for long hours and navigating the office environment wasn’t something I minded. But the commute, crowds, pressure, and treeless lifestyle were starting to get to me mentally, and I knew it was time to see if there would be an opportunity to work from home. (This is atypical and not something anyone looking to work in industry can expect, I’m afraid.)
OASG: What’s been the most eye-opening thing you’ve learned about working in the manga industry?
Abigail: On the positive side, coming from knowing nothing about manga, it’s been so much fun seeing the sheer variety of manga available. On the negative side, consumer entitlement is pretty shocking and not something that’s limited to the manga community. The internet has facilitated a lot of wonderful developments in the industry, but it has also created this mindset that entertainment should be free and immediately accessible. Many fans also have extreme reactions to licensing and editorial decisions that can be very upsetting, especially since the publishers’ intention is only ever to produce the best-quality books we can to be enjoyed by as many readers as possible.
OASG: Manga sales have gone up the past 2 years. What do you believe has been the reason why?
Abigail: The book industry in general is up because of economy. The availability of legal digital manga titles has increased drastically in the last couple of years as well. Publishers are also being more careful and choosy about what they publish these days, so I think that results in better sales overall.
It’d be nice to think that piracy has been curbed by proactive takedown notices for licensed series, or that the general fan attitude about scanlations is changing too, but I don’t know…
OASG: What do you believe will be the biggest challenge in releasing light novels in the next few years?
Abigail: Because they’re shelved with manga, that can limit light novels’ exposure to the novel-reading crowd and make them difficult for people to find. Also, people browsing the manga section aren’t looking for a novel, so that may damper the books’ reach to new audiences. Promotion is going to be very important. I would love to see the LNs with mainstream potential to be shelved with the novels, but that’s largely up to the bookstores.
OASG: Will you be working on any upcoming LNs? If so, what do you think the challenge will be in working on it?
Abigail: Paul Starr has been hired to oversee novels, so he’ll be handling all new titles. The biggest challenge in light novels is the amount of text compared to a manga, and that manga is dialogue, which is generally easier to write and edit. The translator for a novel has to be an excellent writer for that reason, and the editor has to be looking out for things that an original novel editor would be–repetitive phrasing, the flow of transitions, etc., on top of natural dialog.
OASG: You’re in a position where you’re an editor and a letterer for Yen Press. What mentality is needed in order to do both properly?
Abigail: When I’m editing, I constantly have both the reader and the original creator in mind. I’m looking at the Japanese and will have read the book three times before it’s printed, so it’s important to come at the book with a fresh set of eyes to make sure that the reader is getting the best experience and the author’s intended meaning is coming across.
It’s similar for lettering. The best lettering complements the art and highlights the dialog where the author intended without being distracting or confusing for the reader.
OASG: What is a typical day for you when working on a manga or doing Yen Press work during the week?
Abigail: Typical…well, my current role is a little different, but when you’re working in the editorial offices, there’s rarely a typical day. Yen is a small outfit, so there are a lot of tasks that crop up in a regular day. Most of the editor’s day is spent in InDesign working on a book at one stage or another. Interspersed with the main editing duties, there are sales materials to write copy for or design, covers at various stages that need reviewing, meetings to attend, files to prep for other departments or vendors, and so on.
OASG: How has editing and lettering for you changed since you started, if any?
Abigail: Well, I’ve certainly gotten more efficient since my days as the intern! Particularly in lettering, it’s learning all the little tricks InDesign and Photoshop have to offer. Also developing an eye for common issues, so when we’re flipping through a book in printer proofs, the problems jump out and are easily fixed.
With editing, I’m more comfortable dealing with tricky translations, and I’ve developed a feel for the level of editing that’s appropriate and become a more attentive reader and writer myself with the little tweaks that help the flow of dialog and the end user experience.
OASG: Name some things someone should not do when it comes to editing/lettering, based on how long you’ve been in this business.
Abigail: I see that the editor has a twofold obligation–to the original creator and to the reader. I think everyone in the process has to be most careful of not imposing his or her own sensibilities onto the material. I and Yen feel very strongly about preserving the meaning and intent of the original and making sure it translates clearly to the reader. It’s so easy for a rewriter to get carried away with his or her own voice, or for a letterer to get too cutesy with the fonts and placing emphasis.
I also think that it’s important for people who want to enter the manga business to remember that it is a business. Everyone who works at Yen loves manga. Our houses are so, so full of manga. But books have to sell to ensure that we can keep making manga, and that sometimes means making careful choices about what to publish and when and in what format.
OASG: With the year winding down, what would you say has been your 10 favorite manga of 2014?
Abigail: I tried to pick series that debuted in 2014, but some of these are just ones I didn’t get around to reading until this year…and some are just my faves: Gangsta, Ajin, Barakamon, Love at Fourteen, Milkyway Hitchhiking, pink, ongoing Natsume’s Book of Friends, and I’ve got Prophecy, All You Need is Kill, and Real 13 on order, which I’m sure will make my list.
OASG: And with 2015 on the horizon, 1) Aside from Emma, what are you looking forward to reading next year 2) How excited are you to get a chance to work on Emma…I assume you’re gonna work on it because you’ve been lettering A Bride’s Story! But ok, just in general how excited are you for Emma to be released again?
Abigail: 1) From Yen, looking forward to the novel releases, Prison School, First Love Monster, and Alice in Murderland. Also Assassination Classroom, Tokyo Ghoul, Dream Fossil, My Neighbor Seki, Inuyashiki, A Silent Voice, and Let’s Dance a Waltz.
……Need a new bookshelf.
2) Suuuper excited about Emma! You come to love every series you work on in some capacity, but it’s especially exciting when it’s a favorite artist or series. It’s also great not just for fans of the series who want a pretty hardcover edition (or who didn’t manage to get a full set before it went out of print), but for all the times I haven’t been able to recommend the series because I knew it was unavailable!
