KADOKAWA acquires J-Novel Club

Japanese media giant KADOKAWA, which has a number of anime, manga and gaming brands under its banner, announced today that it has acquired light-novel distributor J-Novel Club in a bid to strengthen it's e-book division.

J-Novel Club was established in 2016 to provide English-language translations to the latest light-novels as fast as possible. These were then offered via their own online platform and those of other major retailers. Having found a market in North America and beyond, the company has quickly become a favourite for fans across the globe.

From the Press Release:

Sam Pinansky, JNC’s founder and Managing Director (effective today) says:

“Since I founded JNC five years ago, the company has grown from essentially a one-man operation to publishing over 250 titles a year. In order to guarantee our future growth, I needed a strong partner, and I’ve found one in BW as well as KADOKAWA. The possibilities for light novels to spread more and more throughout the world are nearly endless, and I’m sure that with this partnership we will be able to publish more and more of the content from not only our publishing partners we have worked with so far, but even more of the publishers and content creators we haven’t even started with yet! I can’t wait to get started.”

Ichiro Hashiba, Representative Director and President of BW (and Executive Officer of KADOKAWA) says:

“I am extremely happy to have been able to build such a strong partnership with JNC, especially knowing JNC was founded at almost the same time BW launched their BOOK☆WALKER Global service and we have been working together ever since so as to jointly expand the global market for Japanese light novels. Going forward, we would like to contribute to Japanese publishers by way of spreading Japanese light novels to the rest of the world.

Kurt Hassler, Publisher and Managing Director of Yen Press, says:

“When Yen Press launched its light novel imprint, Yen On, in 2014, it represented a monumental shift in the availability and subsequent awareness of light novels among English-speaking audiences. What followed shattered all expectations, and JNC has since become a significant contributor in helping to fuel that expansion. We look forward to seeing how their partnership with BW unfolds and exploring opportunities to further broaden the market.”

You can visit J-Novel Club at https://j-novel.club