We have already tested this theory with scanlations. We’ve released unscanlated titles from unknown mangaka and compared those sales to popular titles from well-known mangaka that WERE scanlated, and you know what we found? The unscanlated titles sold better. We are also not the only publisher who has done this and proven it to be true.
It's great that the Sublime pick up this title. ^^
Because usually this does not happen for all yaoi books.
But the author who is a top yaoi artist is completely forgotten.
Ike Reibun, is the best category A, but her works I have not found anywhere in English. :(
If Sublime would pick up her work, would be guaranteed the popularity. :)
This is from from Sublime a year ago about what they think about scanlations:
Let me also add in here some additional publisher knowledge. When a series is licensed, we know for a fact that the sale of each volume after volume one will sell less; this is called attrition. With each volume released of Love Pistols, sales decreased with each subsequent volume except for one. Do you know which one it was? Volume 7, the only volume in the series that had not been scanlated. In fact, it blew away any prior volumes’ sales numbers, which is completely unheard of. You even said it yourself, “I buy Love Pistols and I have to ask myself if Love Pistol’s was fully scanlated would I buy the digital copy?” This is why scanlations hurt the industry. Not just on digital titles, but on ALL titles, print or digital.
“Unless I've read a scanlation of it (or see it in the library/bookstore) I won't buy it.”
So I’m guessing you’ve never purchased a prose book without sitting down and reading the entire thing for free first, or paid for a meal at a fast food restaurant without eating it first? Yaoi isn’t a right, it’s a privilege, and this kind of thought process is called entitlement. I’m sure you’ve heard the whole “wants” versus “needs” argument before (I’ve definitely heard it from my parents growing up).
Please support us and our legal, creator-approved versions of these titles, and please, when you see such behavior, reach out to these individuals and groups so they understand the damage they are doing to the yaoi industry. It is not our desire to take legal action, but if it continues, it is something we will be forced to do.
https://www.sublimemanga.com/news/252