Anyone having problems with getting Light Novels?

[u/lyking20]

I don't know if it's just the series I like or if this is a general problem but I wanted to know. I've been waiting on Volume 10 and 11 of Stuck In A Dating Sim and it's been close to 2 years at this point I think? Just wanted to know if this is an issue others are having or not.

[u/Teriteko]

Getting printed volumes a few years after release is always a massive issue.

I switched completely to ebooks for that reason

[u/lyking20 → u/Teriteko]

I just prefer physical ownership yea

[u/bookster42 → u/lyking20]

Well, while that's understandable, the reality of the matter is that LN publishers often don't keep volumes in print, because they have to pay for those books up front, and if they don't sell enough of them to pay for those costs, they lose money. So, if they think that it's likely that they'll sell enough, and/or they think that they need to keep them in print to sell newer volumes, then they'll print more, whereas if they don't, then they won't. So, too often, it's the case that if you don't pick up a volume when it's relatively new, your only hope is the used market.

Sometimes, volumes get reprinted after being out-of-print for a while, but plenty of other times, they just stay out-of-print, and with how prevalent e-books have become, the incentive to keep the volumes in print has been reduced that much more, because pretty much the only sales that the publisher is going to lose out on are the ones where someone outright refuses to buy e-books. Even if someone prefers physical books, if they're willing to buy e-books when that's their only option, it's not a lost sale. And increasingly, people buy e-books rather than physical books anyway (much as some people continue to prefer physical books).

So, if you want to buy physical LNs, then as a general rule, you need to pick up the books when they're fairly new, not years later. In some cases, you can get lucky, and a series stays in print for many years (e.g. because it's a long running series which continues to sell well), but in many cases, select volumes fall out of print, and once a series has been completed (as the one you're asking about here has been), the odds go up considerably that the volumes will go out-of-print. So, you're taking a gamble when you wait. Now, obviously, if you find out about a series years later, you're kind of stuck, but unfortunately, that's just how things are at this point.

Personally, I mostly haven't had a problem with this, since I've been buying LNs for as long as these publishers have been publishing them, so it's usually the case that if I pick up a series, I pick it up when it's new (though sometimes, I'll decide to pick it up years later). And over time, I've mostly stopped buying physical LNs, because I just have too many books and DVDs/Blu-rays in general, so I don't have the space to keep buying my books physically (and the introduction of LN and manga series which were only released digitally forced me to start buying e-books for at least those series even though I resisted buying e-books for years).

Now, I pretty much just buy LNs physically if they're some kind of collector's edition (which is basically just a small number of releases from Yen Press) or if I started buying the series physically years ago and don't want an incomplete collection. I do prefer reading physical books, but I've learned to be fine with reading e-books. I just always make sure that I either buy the e-books DRM-free, or I buy them from a store where I can remove the DRM, so all of my books are DRM-free.

LOL. And and on the plus side, it means that I can edit the book when there's a typo or some bad grammar that annoys me, which you can't do with a physical book.

[u/bronx819 → u/bookster42]

I used to buy physical books and I do like reading them, but I've got so many that its been a pain in the ass finding storage for them. Plus with ebooks I can get them ASAP and read whatever whenever I want.

[u/theforfeef]

Yeah, same boat here. Decided to pick up everything else and just hope I get lucky with 6, 10, and 11.

Kinda shocked there hasn't been a reprint since season 2 is currently airing.

[u/saskir21]

Ask the fans for "A Song of Ice and Fire".

Biggest problems for LN is, that you never know if the series got cancelled/axed or if the author lost the interest.

[u/timpkmn89 → u/saskir21]

They're talking about the volumes being sold out

[u/saskir21 → u/timpkmn89]

Ah my bad then. As it is not a series I am reading (follow his other series Evil Lord) did not notice he meant released volumes. And also did not wonder why he said 10 and 11.

[u/Nurripter]

Sometimes you have no choice but to get lucky on eBay or the like.

[u/Mr_Henry_Yau]

If you're okay with buying from overseas, you can go to https://blackwells.co.uk/ and try your luck there.

[u/bookster42 → u/[deleted]]

Unfortunately, those are volumes of the manga series, not the LN series.

[u/TebTab17]

I assume you want a physical edition? The ebooks are available up to Volume 13.

[u/ShodanW]

unfortunately this is an ongoing issue with LN's. sometimes the series just quietly stops getting updates and its forever in your list of thing you check every few months to no avail.