Seven Seas Entertainment announced a new line of Japanese 'light novels' for young adult readers.  Six novel series are scheduled to begin in April 2007.

 

The Light Novel imprint was developed as a way for Seven Seas to bring the Japanese 'light novel' format to North American readers.  A 'light novel' is a short novel for teens and young adults that has some manga style illustrations, comes in a pocket-sized trim size, and has a modest cover price.

 

Light Novel books will have a trim size of approximately 4.1'x 5.9', run 200-300 pages with some illustrations and color inserts, and carry a cover price of $7.95.  They are translations of current Japanese books, and new volumes are planned for quarterly release.

 

We asked Seven Seas about the number of volumes in the various series, and Managing Editor Adam Arnold told us, 'Pita-Ten and Vamp! are both three-volume series, so those are self-contained.  Strawberry Panic is ongoing with two volumes currently out in Japan and more to come.  For Ballad of Shinigami and Kanokon, we currently have the first three novels licensed, and for Gun Princess, we have the first four novels.  We'll be looking into picking up further novels in those series based upon fan response.'