As part of our never-ending attempt to keep y'all (and ourselves) informed about BL developments in the U.S., we shipped of a batch of questions to Yen Press regarding their recent announcement of their first BL titles, all three by Lily Hoshino. Little did we expect Co-publishing Director Kurt Hassler himself to answer them! So here you go: the basics of Yen Press' yaoi.

YS: Yen Press has just announced its first boys love titles. Does the company plan to make BL a regular part of its line? How many volumes a year should we expect?

KH: BL being such an important part of the medium to so many fans, we feel it is only natural that we should want to make it a part of our list. We have a number of BL fans on staff, in fact. That said, we really aren't setting an artificial target as to the number of books we intend to put out in a year. It will all be based on the quality of the books we see and have the opportunity to acquire and what we feel the fans will support.

YS: Many other manga companies are doing BL. Does Yen Press have plans to focus on a particular niche within BL? Are you planning to release any mature/hardcore books?

KH: We tend not to try to focus on particular niches but rather look at the market as a whole. Why pigeonhole ourselves? If there's a book we want to publish, we will. As to your second question, all three of the initial titles we have announced will receive a mature rating.

Hit the jump to read the rest!

YS: All three of your licenses so far are by Lily Hoshino and from the Japanese publisher Houbunsha. Is there any particular reason you've selected Hoshino? Have you arranged any particular deal with Houbunsha?

KH: The reason we selected Lily Hoshino's work is simple enough - she's a phenomenal artist and storyteller. The books are all great, and we're proud to be bringing them into the market. As for Houbunsha, they are a fantastic company. We're quite fond of everyone there and are thrilled to be working with them on these projects.

YS: ICv2 reports that your BL books will have a $12.99 retail price. Can you tell us what kinds of features fans will get for their money-- color pages, translation notes, dust jackets, etc?

KH: Fans can expect the same quality and attention to detail they see in the rest of our list reflected in our BL titles. We use a very clean, quality paper stock. We take a meticulous approach to the translation of sound effects while still working to preserve the original art. Color pages and the original presentation of the material will be preserved, and translation notes will be provided as well. Everyone here is a manga fan, and we really pride ourselves on putting out the kinds of books that as fans we would want to see in the market.

YS: Yen has some global manga in its repertoire, specifically Y Square by German-born Judith Park, as well as your acquisition of ICE Kunion's manhwa titles. Do you have any plans to release global boys love manga?

KH: Funny you should mention Y SQUARE as I think it is a book that a lot of BL fans will truly appreciate. There are a couple of nods in there to the BL community as it were...and it's just a hilarious book. So far as releasing BL from countries other than Japan is concerned, we're really open to anything that reflects the artistic and storytelling quality we feel fans should expect. We won't publish just anything for the sake oftrying to stake our claim in a market. We will, however, publish material from anywhere so long as we feel that material has merit.

YS: When might we expect more licensing announcements?

KH: More licensing announcements? I think you can probably expect to hear more about our future plans at the New York Anime Festival in December.

YS: Will you be attending Yaoi Con next year?

KH: Given that LOVE QUEST will be hitting the market just about that time next year, I'd say it's a pretty good bet!