Out of order publishing

For the record, I'd like to thank Yen Press, Tokyopop, ADV, Funimation, Geneon, and Viz for publishing things I can ponder, discuss, and complain about.

Apparently, some "fans" complain that they don't want to buy the same thing more than once.  Putting aside the question of how many versions of Evangelion (or DBZ) they have bought and trusting that their memories are so good that they can't stand the same content even in different forms (manga vs. anime vs. light novel), I would like to muse about this.


I've often wondered why publishers slavishly put things out in order even when the first X volumes are retreading the already released TV or manga series.  Take, for instance, Beck.  The anime was not completely slavish to the manga, but I know that as soon as the anime came out, there was a big market for the manga that picked up the story where the anime left off.  For whatever reason, Tokyopop didn't take advantage of that situation, and now . . .  Other (less law-abiding) citizens probably just read scanlations, even if they had intended to buy the manga because now it isn't available legally and may never be again.

Haruhi would be a great example.  After that first TV series was released with no sequel in sight, and the novels got licensed, I was surprised that the first novel was published first by several months.  I would think more of the fans might have been willing to plunk down cash for volume 2 or even volume 3 of the original novel series because it was stuff they hadn't seen/read yet.  Maybe that's not a good example because I think Haruhi is selling decently (even the manga, which most reviewers aren't too fond of, even though it's the same thing) because, you know, it's Haruhi.

Trinity Blood would be a bad example.  What with the two different series and the different story order and the different everything, this series did have to be published in order, but it's coming out so slowly, I wonder if those who liked the anime when it was broadcast and first sold possess the will-power to be patient.  Then again, maybe illegal light novel translations are scarcer online?  I don't know . . .

Another example that comes to mind is Kieli.  The manga covers the first light novel's contents pretty thoroughly.  Publishing the second light novel first might have been a better idea to keep the buzz and the story going after the Kieli manga made some popular lists.

I do love Kino no Tabi, and by the time the first light novel came out, it had been a long while since I saw the anime.  I didn't mind the retread of the content because that translation was awesome, and the nuances of what can be done in prose vs. what can be done in film made it well worth reading more than once.  Other people were probably just wanting the light novel volumes that picked up where the anime left off (or left out).

Kodocha (where the manga came out way before the [incompletely released] anime) and Kyo Kara Maoh (where the anime was released way before the manga) also come to mind.
It seems to me that in most series--especially an author's first series--the storytelling gets better as the story goes on and the artist/writer gains skill, so it seems to me that publishing later volumes might also help pull in people who might have been turned off by, say, the early (I hope) clunkiness of Spice and Wolf.

It may be that the American publishers/localizers don't get to make these choices.  I've heard some people say that the Japanese companies selling the licenses often have stringent contract requirements that make little sense in the American market.  Maybe this is one of them.  But if companies do have flexibility here, it might behoove them to take advantage of cross-marketing opportunities and give the whiner "fans" less to whine about by providing them with what they claim to want sooner.

Of course, as some have pointed out, some of these "fans" just want any excuse not to actually put their money where their mouths are (be it "bad" covers, "poor" translations, offensive back cover summaries, or whatever they're complaining about these days), so no matter what a publisher does, some fans just won't pay.  But I do like the idea of cutting their feet out from under them whenever possible. 

To be fair, there are fans who genuinely don't like retreading the same territory (though I can think of a lot of reasons why it's worth it to buy the Monster mangaand anime,) who would actually plunk down the money if, say, volume 13 of Beck came out the month after the DVD release ended.  I'd like to give them a chance to do so.

Any insights, knowledge, or arguments for, against, or about these ideas?