Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 by Honda

Perhaps the better thing to do would be to consider the series complete with Volume 3 and only seek out Volume 4 if you are interested in the extra materials.

Especially when you consider the £12 price tag, which is quite a lot for only 4 chapters (compared to the 7 we’ve previously had). While I appreciated all of the extra content, I think it would be disappointing for readers who aren’t quite as invested in the series as I am. These include sketches of the series’ cast, short comics posted on Twitter and some chapters from the author’s Pixiv account. Because there is a lack of material to work with, Volume 4 has been filled out with ‘bonus’ content. However, as interesting as these chapters are it’s clear to see that Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san would have been better placed ending with Volume 3. Taiwan has a large appreciation for Japanese media, so the market isn’t all that different to Japan but a lot of thought still has to be put into the books that are brought over and translated. Here Honda-san learns how much effort goes into creating eye-catching banner adverts on the Rakuten Kobo website to get readers interested in reading certain titles.Īfter this Honda-san is sent overseas to learn how the Taiwan book industry works, which is a fascinating story. This focus on e-books eventually leads Honda-san to interview staff at Rakuten Kobo, one of the big e-book platforms in Japan.

Although e-books are a huge part of the publishing market, they’re not something Honda-san had to deal with while working in the bookshop, so this opens up an opportunity to talk about how they differ from publishing and advertising a paperback release. The first tale with this change in direction sees Honda-san visit a former senpai who now works with e-books. If you can’t tell stories from the perspective of the bookstore, perhaps you can instead focus on the publishers’ side of the story. When we left Honda-san at the end of Volume 3, the author was in a pinch, having left their job at the bookstore and therefore lacking in materials for further chapters! Let’s find out how Honda got around that issue.Īs we rejoin our favourite skull-faced bookseller, Honda’s editor has come to the rescue with some fresh ideas for the series. With Volume 4 of Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san in hand, we’re now at the end of the series.

Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san, Vol. 1 by Honda