The Mainstreaming of Haruhi Suzumiya
With the Haruhi manga coming out this week in the US, we can now start looking forward to the English release of the original light novels next. You may remember that when the novels were first announced as licensed, "Little, Brown Books for Young Readers" said they were going to release it in hardcover & paperback formats. But aside from a change in price in the hardcover edition ($16.99 to $14.99), we're now learning of their strategy for these two different formats.
The hardcover version is meant to appeal to those who are already Haruhi fans or just hardcore anime fans in general. The paperback version, however, is meant to appeal to a mainstream, broader new audience. Or more specifically, general tween girls. The mainstream paperback version will also sport an original cover, while only the hardcover version will use the one based on the Japanese version. This news might make one uneasy of what to expect from the translated version, but the fact that they're keeping the term "moe" in the book & not translating it is promising. The otaku hardcover version will have an initial print of 10,000 copies, whereas the mainstream paperback version will have 50,000.
They're also planning a lot of promotional tie-ins as well, with ads in girl magazines, special MySpace & Facebook pages, launch parties that girls can volunteer to host & receive free gifts, & a special new website (which hasn't opened yet). Exciting times for otaku AND tween girls! Who'da thunk it?
Source: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6607239.html