The Digital Reader

Yen Press announced back in April that their manga anthology Yen Plus would cease being printed with the July issue and would switch to being a digital only magazine.

This is the first that I’ve heard of this magazine, and I find it rather interesting. It was launched in December of 2007 with the first issue hitting the stand in August of 2008.  First, I’m surprised that they started it at all. The odds are against them. And second, they are going to try digital only after less than 2 years in print. I’d say they have a better  shot at succeeding than most magazines.

So they released more details at Comic-Con (it’s going on right now). They announced at their panel that the digital content would be available through a non-Flash browser based platform for a monthly $2.99 subscription (with the first month free). There will be no geographic restrictions.

Avoiding the geographic restrictions was a stroke of genius. Providing readily accessible digital content is going to undercut the pirates.