J-Novel Club is a publishing company specializing in the translation of Japanese light novels into English.It streams light novels and manga in regular installments before publishing finalized e-books.As of August 2021, J-Novel Club has licensed over 150 light novel and manga series and have published more than 800 e-books.[1] It has licensed titles from many Japanese publishers, including Hobby Japan, Overlap, Kodansha, Drecom, Earth Star Entertainment, Kadokawa Corporation, Micro Magazine, Shufunotomo, and Softbank Creative. It was acquired by Kadokawa Corporation on April 28, 2021.
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] Sam 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."
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.
"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.It 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 two 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 it would be collaborating with manga and light novel localization company Seven Seas Entertainment, who would publish print editions of two of J-Novel Club's light novels: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash and Occultic;Nine.[8] On July 3, 2017, Seven Seas announced they would be publishing print editions of two more J-Novel Club light novels: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest and Clockwork Planet.[9]
On July 5, 2018, J-Novel Club announced it would be printing physical versions of some of its light novel series.[10] After launching its print line with In Another World With My Smartphone, as of August 2021, J-Novel Club has 25 light novel and manga series in print.
On October 7, 2019, J-Novel Club launched a Kickstarter project for Invaders of the Rokujouma!? print edition and successfully funded it with more than $100,000 over its initial goal.[12][13]
On November 16, 2019, J-Novel Club announced the new J-Novel Heart imprint focusing on shojo titles.[14]
On April 2, 2021, the J-Novel Pulp imprint was announced with the titles John Sinclair: Demon Hunter, Jessica Bannister, and Perry Rhodan NEO.[15] This imprint focuses on translating and publishing German-language pulp fiction into English.
On October 15, 2023, J-Novel Club announced that it is launching a subsidiary called "J-Novel Club Nina" for the European market. It will, at first, launch in French and German languages.[19]
On March 6, 2024, J-Novel Club announced that it had signed a print distribution deal with Hachette Book Group and Diamond Book Distributors for North American and international releases respectively.[20]
On October 25, 2024, J-Novel Club announced that it would launch an imprint for boy's love titles called "J-Novel Knight".[21]
