J-Novel Club

J-Novel Club is a digital publishing company specializing in publication of Japanese light novels in English. They stream light novels in weekly installments before publishing the finalized e-books. By 2017, J-Novel Club has licensed 23 light novels, some completed, some still ongoing, and have published more than 40 e-books.[1] They have licensed titles from the Japanese publishers Hobby Japan, Overlap, Kodansha, PHP Institute and Earth Star Entertainment.

J-Novel Club
StatusActive
Founded2016
FounderSam Pinansky
DistributionWorldwide
Official websitej-novel.club

History

After coming to the conclusion that "there was a whole universe of content out there in Japan that's hardly available in the west at all",[2] Pinansky began working on the business model for J-Novel Club in 2015 and "took inspiration from what the fans had started to do on their own, as well as the more traditional models for book publishing".[3] J-Novel Club's overall purpose was "to create and grow a worldwide market for Japanese light novels translated into English."[4] The original name for the project was 'K-Novel' because kei is Japanese for light (as in the K from K-On), but before launch the K was changed to J (for Japanese) to avoid confusion with Korean novels and 'club' was added when it was noticed that the .club top-level domain name was available.[5]

J-Novel Club was founded in 2016 by Sam Pinansky and announced they would release light novels in weekly installments for their members before releasing the finalized books on e-book format. They launched with the titles Occultic;Nine, Brave Chronicle: The Ruinmaker, My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World and My Little Sister Can Read Kanji.[6] Shortly after they announced 2 more light novels - Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse.[7] On January 19, 2017 J-Novel Club announced they would be collaborating with manga and light novel localization company Seven Seas Entertainment who would start publishing print editions of 2 of J-Novel Club's light novels - Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Occultic;Nine.[8] On July 3, 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced they would be publishing print editions of 2 more J-Novel Club light novels - Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest and Clockwork Planet.[9]

On November 20, 2018, J-Novel Club launched an online manga reader and licensed 5 titles for that reader.[10] The 5 manga titles include A Very Fairy Apartment, Seirei Gensouki - Spirit Chronicles, Infinite Dendrogram, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, and Ascendance of a Bookworm

On October 7, 2019, J-Novel Club launched their first Kickstarter project for Invaders of the Rokujouma!? print edition and successfully funded it with over $100,000 over its initial goal.[11][12] At their Anime NYC panel on November 16, 2019, they announced a new Heart label that focused on shojo titles and also announced print editions of popular series in 2020 for Sexiled: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out, So I Teamed Up With a Mythical Sorceress! and My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! novels.[13]

Titles
Main article: List of J-Novel Club titles

Manga titles

References
  1. "J-Novel Club". j-novel.club. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  2. "FEATURE: Found in Translation - An Exclusive Interview with J-Novel Club". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  3. "An Interview with Sam Pinansky, Founder and President of New Light Novel Streaming Service J-Novel Club". Taykobon. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  4. "Saturday AM #58". sellfy.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  5. "I'm Sam Pinansky (aka Quarkboy), founder and President of J-Novel Club! Ask Me Anything! • r/LightNovels". reddit. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  6. "J-Novel Club Publisher Launches to Release Light Novels in English Digitally". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  7. "J-Novel Club Licenses Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse Light Novels". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  8. "Seven Seas Collaborates with J-Novel Club to Bring Light Novels to Print | Seven Seas Entertainment". Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  9. "Seven Seas Licenses Made in Abyss, Nameless Asterism, Soul Liquid Chambers, Getter Robo Devolution Manga (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2017-07-05.
  10. Ressler, Karen (November 20, 2018). "J-Novel Club Launches Online Manga Reader, Licenses 5 Manga Titles". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  11. Mateo, Alex (2019-09-16). "J-Novel Club to Launch Kickstarter for Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Light Novels' Physical Release". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  12. "Invaders of the Rokujouma!? Print Edition". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
  13. Sherman, Jennifer (2019-11-16). "J-Novel Club Licenses 13 Light Novel Series, Reveals Print Editions for Sexiled, My Next Life as a Villainess". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2019-12-13.
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