So I just received my Amazon order of June's (DMP) releases of Seven Days and Caffe Latte Rhapsody, both titles I really like (one of which I typeset in the VnD scanlation group) and I am unimpressed. Let me explain.
My copy of Sugar Milk, purchased last year:
Size: 6''x8.5''
Printing quality: normal
Cover: matte cardstock AND nice matte dust jacket
Price: $12.95 USD
My new copy of Seven Days:
Size: 5.25''x7.25''
printing quality inside: normal
Cover: glossy cardstock
Price: $12.95 USD
Now, I realize that manga is supposed to be a disposable form of entertainment, and I personally have no problem with them producing smaller books, however, I DO have an issue with them shrinking the books, not including dust jackets, and still charging the same price.
As a person working in a literary agency and having talked to various editors at different publishers, I do know that this is a hard time for publishing companies, especially for North American manga ones. I wrote a whole article on it. However, they are building and no one is coming, so they shrink what they are building and charge the same price to see it? It doesn't quite work logically. Considering I typeset one of these titles, I might as well just buy the Japanese version to support the artist and print out my scanlation script :/
Okay, that was cruel, but a more proper strategy would be to cut back a lot--go with shounen-sized volumes and the same cheap covers, and charge less for each book. Ideally, more people will purchase the book if it costs cheap enough that they don't care about the quality. However, I'm assuming June assumes that the people buying will continue buying or stop buying and the people not buying won't start, even if it's cheaper, so charging more per book is the only way to get out of plumetting sales.
Still, wtf, man. Wtf.