Visual Novel Publishers?

[HiddenCreature]

I just made a search online, but surprisingly couldn't find a list of potential publishers. And I didn't see any on this forum either.

I know there are indie game publishers. But are there ones focusing on visual novels only?

[somestrangecircus]

Sekai Project seems like who you're looking for; they've recently begun publishing a pretty nice slew of indie visual novels, including our very own Starlight Vega.

[firecat]

Sekai Project seems like who you're looking for; they've recently begun publishing a pretty nice slew of indie visual novels, including our very own Starlight Vega.

Sekai Project is new and they mostly support kickstarter projects not indie projects like 'one man team', not very helpful in advertising any products since they never tell you how it's possible to get the VN into the reader's hands.

the truth is that there is no publishers willing to spend money on VN that only offer english, you are better off publishing a book in the usa than getting famous for a VN.

[HiddenCreature]

Sekai Project seems like who you're looking for; they've recently begun publishing a pretty nice slew of indie visual novels, including our very own Starlight Vega.

Sekai Project is new and they mostly support kickstarter projects not indie projects like 'one man team', not very helpful in advertising any products since they never tell you how it's possible to get the VN into the reader's hands.

the truth is that there is no publishers willing to spend money on VN that only offer english, you are better off publishing a book in the usa than getting famous for a VN.

I heard about one publisher called Moe Novel that published a game called "If My Heart Had Wings." But their website only shows that one game, so I don't know what else they've done.

They came up in my aforementioned search for publishers, listed in an interview. It basically tied into what you were saying: not many people wanted to take chances on introducing visual novels to western audiences that were only in English.

With that in consideration, I guess it makes sense why I didn't really find any visual novel publishers.

[somestrangecircus]

Sekai Project seems like who you're looking for; they've recently begun publishing a pretty nice slew of indie visual novels, including our very own Starlight Vega.

Sekai Project is new and they mostly support kickstarter projects not indie projects like 'one man team', not very helpful in advertising any products since they never tell you how it's possible to get the VN into the reader's hands.

the truth is that there is no publishers willing to spend money on VN that only offer english, you are better off publishing a book in the usa than getting famous for a VN.

Well, I can't think of a better group than Sekai Project, and they HAVE shown that they are at least occasionally willing to take chances on English VNs. They're pretty new, yeah, but they've worked on such projects as the official translation of School Days and are currently doing big works like Grisaia no Kajitsu and Clannad. No, getting to work with them isn't any guarantee, but if the OP is looking for someone, it could at least be somewhere to start.

[trooper6]

I think people basically tend to self publish.

[somestrangecircus]

Yeah, that's the route I plan on going, at least for now...Still, a publisher isn't necessarily a bad idea.

[papillon]

Sekai Project seems like who you're looking for; they've recently begun publishing a pretty nice slew of indie visual novels, including our very own Starlight Vega.

Sekai Project is new and they mostly support kickstarter projects not indie projects like 'one man team', not very helpful in advertising any products since they never tell you how it's possible to get the VN into the reader's hands.

the truth is that there is no publishers willing to spend money on VN that only offer english, you are better off publishing a book in the usa than getting famous for a VN.

Please don't make sweeping statements about 'the truth' about subjects you don't know much about.

Sekai Project has taken on indie projects. It's also entirely possible to make arrangements with other indie publishers or developers. It really depends on what you are looking for and what kind of game you are making.

To the original poster:

What exactly do you want out of a 'publisher', and what are you bringing to the table? Or is this purely hypothetical?

Moenovel was not a publisher in the sense you're thinking of, it was a project by a japanese company to try and bring some of their works to the west in a mainstream fashion. They are not relevant here.

[HiddenCreature]

Hello papillon,

Funny you posted here. One of my team members was talking about your game today, "Long Live the Queen," and I had a tab open, ready to check it out, lol.

This isn't for me personally. When I made the search and got almost nothing in the results, I was curious. I already know there are plenty of indie game publishers out there. I was just wondering why there weren't too many focusing on visual novels.

[Caveat Lector]

So far, I'd say Sekai Project is probably your best bet if you're looking for a VN publisher. I say this solely because, from what I have been told of it, they are very good at working with indie devs, and they do, in fact, also publish OELVN's. As for anyone else? Unless they have a good reputation with other indie devs, and even if they do, proceed with caution.

[HiddenCreature]

So far, I'd say Sekai Project is probably your best bet if you're looking for a VN publisher. I say this solely because, from what I have been told of it, they are very good at working with indie devs, and they do, in fact, also publish OELVN's. As for anyone else? Unless they have a good reputation with other indie devs, and even if they do, proceed with caution.

Thanks for the advice. I'd might look into them later, see what they're offering.

[truefaiterman]

As far as I've seen Mangagamer and JAST have only published Japanese visual novels, but who knows, you may lose nothing trying to contact them. You may also take a look at Devolver Digital: they are publishing a lot of indie games these years, and one of the last ones was Hatoful Boyfriend.

[papillon]

No, MangaGamer has published non Japanese VNs. They listed games from several people here for a while. More recently they've decided, iirc, to only carry non-Japanese games if they are 18+. Which makes more sense for everyone involved, really - if your game is not 18+ you have many other avenues to sell it on already.

I don't think it's likely that JAST will take on an EVN, but you can always ask. For that matter, you could ask just about anyone, depending on what you wanted from them. I'm pretty sure that for the right project, Jack or I or any number of other producers would be willing to help out. But again, it comes down to being the right game and the right fit for what you want to get in return.

[jack_norton]

Yeah, I'm going to publish later this year a game, a dev friend pitched me and I liked it. It's somewhat risky since has comic art and more adult themes but I like to try
An aspect a few people think about is the existing fan base. Any publisher can get you on Steam. Heck, you can get on Steam YOURSELF if you want: now you "only" need 1-2k votes on Greenlight (when I got in, I needed 10.000+!) so if you have a decent game is not hard to get in. The problem is, that because of this, Steam is supercrowded now so just putting your game there doesn't guarantee any significant sales anymore.

This other dev approached me exactly because of that, he knows I have a big following of people (as Hanako has for sure) who will buy my game directly, adding more revenues that "just putting the game on Steam and forget about it" (which is sadly what most "publishers" will do).

[Raithfyre]

Hey, just wanted to chime in and give my thoughts as a "client" of Sekai Project. In fact, we've (my group, Alienworks, for our game "The Human Reignition Project) received funding from SP to fund the demo of our game, prior to us holding our own crowdfunding campaign to pay for the rest of it. Obviously, I'm gonna be a little bit biased because I'm personally really indebted to them (both monetarily and like, goodwill-wise), but it's kinda clear that a few people here aren't exactly familiar with what a publisher does.

First and foremost, a publisher is a business, not a charity. Someone just giving you money for nothing in return isn't impossible (in fact, there's a very generous user on these forums who does just that), but it's not a common thing. As such, it's expected that projects which can be profitable are more likely to attract attention. One thing that I admire about SP (I'm not really trying to shill for them or anything, but it is sad to see them being misrepresented) is that they actually kinda help out with all types of projects, not just "blockbuster" ones. I'm pretty confident that if the right one-man team showed up, they'd eagerly help out. The same could be said of any good publisher.

I think I'm personally in a bit of an interesting position because I'm also working on Starlight Vega, mentioned in the second post. In that case, it's more about an exposure thing. A publisher is going to have a broader audience as far as social media is concerned, and that really helps to widen a consumer-base, which is especially crucial when you're looking to crowdfund. In the case of Starlight Vega, we're not receiving direct funding so much as we are marketing.

I guess I'm kinda rambling, but ultimately, a publisher isn't going to be making the game for you, they're going to be bringing in the downloads. Expecting something else is silly (of course, extraneous instances apply - I know Papillon has offered to buy completed scripts before, for instance) so it's important to know what you're actually getting into before trying to find one. And I guess that kinda leads me to my last point: it's a big internet out there; don't be afraid to go to someone instead of waiting for them to come to you. Worst that happens is you're turned down. Discrediting a group, or even yourself, is unwise until you know what is and isn't possible.