I get the sense Naver bought Wattpad because the online webserial/ebook market is big, and they aim to combine it with webtoon. Tapas already has a novel section to match their comic section, and I've seen one story get turned into a comic (there might be more, but I'm not too active on platforms these days.) Does this hunch make sense? O.o
Hey Kada! It makes perfect sense! And the articles I've been reading definitely confirm that. The acquisition also plays into the larger trend of what's called Transmedia, where a property exists and evolves throughout many different media, but not necessarily on one set path.
So, a story might start out as an online serial, then get published as a book (traditionally or self-published), then become a graphic novel, then become an anime, then become a live-action movie or TV show, then become a video or mobile game. Or it could work in reverse. The key to Transmedia is that the world is big enough to hold a host of interesting characters that can support a wealth of stories that can be expressed in many different formats.
And as you mentioned, both parties (Naver & Wattpad) want to be in that Transmedia business. Since romance manga has become so popular recently, between that and fantasy and YA, the companies actually compliment each other quite well!
No problem, Abby! I'm so glad you're finding the newsletter helpful! There's so much change going on in both industries, I figure the more we know and share, the better we can navigate that change. :-)
Late but here. As always, extremely insightful and very helpful. Thank you for this, and yes, I'm sharing it everywhere.
You can be as late as you want, my friend, as long as you keep getting value from the newsletter, then I'm happy. And thank you! :-)
I get the sense Naver bought Wattpad because the online webserial/ebook market is big, and they aim to combine it with webtoon. Tapas already has a novel section to match their comic section, and I've seen one story get turned into a comic (there might be more, but I'm not too active on platforms these days.) Does this hunch make sense? O.o
Hey Kada! It makes perfect sense! And the articles I've been reading definitely confirm that. The acquisition also plays into the larger trend of what's called Transmedia, where a property exists and evolves throughout many different media, but not necessarily on one set path.
So, a story might start out as an online serial, then get published as a book (traditionally or self-published), then become a graphic novel, then become an anime, then become a live-action movie or TV show, then become a video or mobile game. Or it could work in reverse. The key to Transmedia is that the world is big enough to hold a host of interesting characters that can support a wealth of stories that can be expressed in many different formats.
And as you mentioned, both parties (Naver & Wattpad) want to be in that Transmedia business. Since romance manga has become so popular recently, between that and fantasy and YA, the companies actually compliment each other quite well!
This is all really interesting. Thanks for the industry news!
No problem, Abby! I'm so glad you're finding the newsletter helpful! There's so much change going on in both industries, I figure the more we know and share, the better we can navigate that change. :-)