After some major problems with fulfilling their Kickstarters and even getting their books to retailers, fans started seeing rays of hope with Digital Manga Publishing. Kickstarter backers started receiving updates or even their items. Still, those still have some issues, like fans who bought all of Kimagure Orange Road having to wait until at least November to get their books.
However, the spotlight was back on DMP last week — and not in a good way. Anime News Network published an article showing that the Digital Manga, Inc. business was suspended in California, most likely for not filing a Statement of Information with the Secretary of State. According to the site, businesses are required to file one every year by the end of April. At the time ANN published its article, the most recent Statement of Information was in 2015, with only one other one in 2011. As such, DMI had been suspended starting December 2017.
The first notice about this actually seems to have come from Kickstarter user Jetberry in April. This was posted in the Kodomo no Jikan Kickstarter:
However, DMI is now up-to-date in California. The paperwork was filed on July 23, just one day after the ANN article went up. Coincidence? Maybe, but unlikely in my opinion.
Interestingly enough, the 2015 filing that ANN mentioned is no longer available online. It only shows the original submission in 1996, a report in 2011, and on from July 2018.
So it’s possible that DMI hadn’t skipped sending their Statement of Information in 2016 and 2017. However, those are what I call the “Kickstarter Years” — when the company went on a crowdfunding blitz. Did they not file, as they considered themselves not a “real” business? After all, anyone can start a crowdfunding campaign, even though the money is still considered taxable income.
Still, even though things are improving at DMI, this provides more circumstantial evidence that operations are still flying by the skin of their teeth. Even with Jetberry’s discovery, until it was picked up by a major news organization, DMI probably would have put their filings on the back burner. I’m sure it wouldn’t have affected the Kickstarter fulfillments. What it would have affected is sending books to retailers. After all, Right Stuf still – STILL — hardly has any DMI manga:
But hey, at least Kodomo no Jikan backers are seeing their first signs of progress: a digital version of the first volume due August 10th.
In short, the Kickstarters were almost certainly ways for DMI to get some quick short-term funding. They were hoping to pay off their bills, get books ready and out the door, and use those profits to fulfill the crowdfunding rewards. Robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes.
The real question is how they survive after the end of the year. Are they going to survive solely on eManga for physical sales and digital manga sales elsewhere? After sending backers their rewards, will they have enough to survive 2019, to put on YaoiCon?
Well, not submitting your $25 registration fee for months doesn’t bode well for a business’ organizational skills… At this point, the company is going to need some sort of bailout to survive, and I don’t think eBooks are enough for them to pull through as they are.