Out of Print...?

setokaiba

setokaiba

Student Council President
I'm getting conflicting information and the publisher doesn't answer questions about reprints, so I've come here hoping that someone might have an answer.

I put in an order a few weeks ago online at a chain bookstore (has 7 stores in the UK, not huge but not tiny by any means) for a manga they had listed in stock. Some time went by and it wasn't shipped so I sent them an e-mail asking if it would be shipped soon. They got back to me today and told me they'd been in contact with their supplier and that unfortunately it was out of print now. They specifically used the term "out of print" and not out of stock.

However... any other website I visit (Amazon, Waterstones, Rightstuf, Forbidden Planet, Barnes & Noble) tells me that it is only temporarily unavailable and will be back in stock. So, who do I believe? The store that spoke with their supplier and sent me an e-mail or the multiple reliable websites that say it'll come back?
I cannot find it listed anywhere for sale right now so it's looking bleak if they don't reprint it.

For context, the series is Fire in his Fingertips (I'm talking about volume 1 specifically) which is printed by Seven Seas. I've been told Seven Seas is a nightmare with reprints so that doesn't fill me with hope.
What do you guys think? Anyone have any insight or personal experience with this type of situation? Should I pre-order volume 3 even though I can't currently secure 1 or 2 for certain?
 
It’s a tricky one because in this situation I’d usually just trust the store you ordered from, since if they’ve spoken to the distributor then that’s clearly trustworthy information. However, the bigger chains like Amazon could have stock forthcoming that has just been held up somewhere along the line, so there’s nothing to say it isn’t both out of print and temporarily out of stock if there is a last batch to come in.

It could also be that no one truly knows re: the existence of more stock and the ‘temporary out of stock’ is just a generic change to the listings that will later revert to no longer available when enough time passes. Frankly if you really want to collect the series then definitely preorder going forward and see what you can find on the second hand market for vols 1-2. :(
 
Demelza said:
It’s a tricky one because in this situation I’d usually just trust the store you ordered from, since if they’ve spoken to the distributor then that’s clearly trustworthy information. However, the bigger chains like Amazon could have stock forthcoming that has just been held up somewhere along the line, so there’s nothing to say it isn’t both out of print and temporarily out of stock if there is a last batch to come in.

It could also be that no one truly knows re: the existence of more stock and the ‘temporary out of stock’ is just a generic change to the listings that will later revert to no longer available when enough time passes. Frankly if you really want to collect the series then definitely preorder going forward and see what you can find on the second hand market for vols 1-2. :(
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That's some pretty solid advice, thank you! I'm hoping one day to come across this in the secondhand market if they really don't reprint it, but there's only history of a very few being sold on eBay with 0 available in the last month... No other site that I can find has it either :/

Edit: I've pre-ordered volume 3! If nothing else, maybe my order will help them realise there is interest in the series...

Also I have one more question about "out of print", is that always a permanent status or can a series come back into print under the same manufacturer at a later date?
 
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Rightstuf list it as Out of Stock - Expecting More

From my experiance thats a pretty good sign its not OOP and they will be getting stock in over the next few weeks

but I also see its from 2020 so I dont really want to say its 100% sure to happen

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If Rightstuf show as in stock you can order from UP1 for the uk, prices dont include shipping so that adds £3 ish but its cheaper than scalpers

It might also become available in good stores (Blackwells, Amazon) 3 weeks after Rightstuf show as in stock but with how things are atm, I dont want to say it will 100% haplen lol :)
 
setokaiba said:
Also I have one more question about "out of print", is that always a permanent status or can a series come back into print under the same manufacturer at a later date?
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If the distributor is saying it’s out of print then that’s usually permanent since they’d know if the publisher planned to print more. The only way it would be coming back is if it got rereleased in a new form (like an omnibus), but Seven Seas don’t really seem to rerelease their titles.
 
Shadow Cat said:
Rightstuf list it as Out of Stock - Expecting More

From my experiance thats a pretty good sign its not OOP and they will be getting stock in over the next few weeks

but I also see its from 2020 so I dont really want to say its 100% sure to happen

----

If Rightstuf show as in stock you can order from UP1 for the uk, prices dont include shipping so that adds £3 ish but its cheaper than scalpers

It might also become available in good stores (Blackwells, Amazon) 3 weeks after Rightstuf show as in stock but with how things are atm, I dont want to say it will 100% haplen lol :)
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Demelza said:
If the distributor is saying it’s out of print then that’s usually permanent since they’d know if the publisher planned to print more. The only way it would be coming back is if it got rereleased in a new form (like an omnibus), but Seven Seas don’t really seem to rerelease their titles.
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Thank you both so so much for the insight and tips! I'm still learning about these things after jumping back into the manga world during the pandemic (ah, pre-pandemic manga collecting was so different...) so it really does help me out. Hoping I can get my hands on it but I won't get my hopes up TOO high incase I'm disappointed.
 
setokaiba said:
Thank you both so so much for the insight and tips! I'm still learning about these things after jumping back into the manga world during the pandemic (ah, pre-pandemic manga collecting was so different...) so it really does help me out. Hoping I can get my hands on it but I won't get my hopes up TOO high incase I'm disappointed.
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No problem, glad I can be of help!! It's an unfortunately turbulent time to be getting back into the hobby 😅
 
Thinking about this manga not getting printed again kind of hurts, we're really lacking English manga with sexual content for the female demographic, making this one truly special. I choose to believe in my heart that it will see a reprint!
 
Well, it's not entirely related to the reason I made the thread but it's related to out of print volumes and I didn't want to make a new thread.
Does anyone know why sometimes just one or two random volumes will seemingly go out of print for series?
 
Azar said:
Anyone know if Travelling Man is a reliable site? They have a few volumes I've been struggling to find elsewhere.
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I've purchased from them in person. I haven't bought from their site, but there are plenty of YouTube videos you can watch of people doing hauls from orders there and I always hear praise about their packaging etc.
 
Azar said:
Anyone know if Travelling Man is a reliable site? They have a few volumes I've been struggling to find elsewhere.
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I've used their online store a few times (and frequent the in-person one a lot since there is one in my city) and they've always delivered fast and been packaged well, so highly recommended! :)

setokaiba said:
Well, it's not entirely related to the reason I made the thread but it's related to out of print volumes and I didn't want to make a new thread.
Does anyone know why sometimes just one or two random volumes will seemingly go out of print for series?
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Sometimes its because the earlier volumes have actually been reprinted while later ones haven't yet, or maybe because the print run is smaller but people pick up particular volumes to start after watching an anime or similar.
 
Good news!!!
Volume 2 has started showing up everywhere (Amazon, Blackwells, Book Depository so far I have spotted it) and I think that is a really good sign for volume 1 aswell.
I may have gotten overexcited and placed an additional order on top of my existing Amazon one (it was still showing "currently unavailable" on Amazon when it started popping up elsewhere) so there's a possibility I'll end up with two copies. Honestly not even mad about it since it means I can support it more to encourage them to reprint volume 1 and possibly some similar titles, lol. One to read and one to spread the gospel!

Edit: Looks like volume 1 has also been reprinted and is available in the US currently! I'm seeing many new copies available on Amazon US so hopefully they'll make their way over here soon.
 
Got an e-mail from Waterstones to say that volume 1 was available to order from them now. So, sometimes "out of print" doesn't really mean anything... I did send them quite a few passionate friendly requests to re-print it so I like to think I may have had a little hand in bringing it back.
 
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