Manga (comic book) downloads have taken off in Japan since the May release of the iPad there. Some non-comic books are doing well too — including one title that seems like a caricature from those 1980s the-Japanese-are-going-to-beat-us business stories:
Sandwiched between two comics at number 38 in the rankings for the most downloaded book for the iPhone at Apple’s App Store in Japan is Japan’s surprise runaway bestseller this year, “What If the Female Manager of a High School Baseball Team Read Drucker’s Management”.
The book is about a high-school girl who applies late management guru Peter Drucker’s philosophy to turn around her school’s baseball team. Decorated with an eye-catching manga-style cover, the girl-power management novel ranks even higher among paid-for iPad applications where it sits at No. 13. About 57,000 copies of the 1.11 million printed were downloaded as e-books since the paperback was published in December 2009, according to Sadaaki Kato, associate editor at Diamond Inc., the book’s publishing house. The digital version became available for the iPhone on April 28 and in June for the iPad. Given the different release dates, Mr. Kato estimates over half of those downloads were made onto the iPhone. Mr. Kato said while the digital book easily clinched the No. 1 spot in the book category for most of May, the company was a little surprised that it gained similar standing when thrown into the wringer with other, cheaper apps like games. The book costs 800 yen, or $9.30, per download.
The Economist reported on the book’s popularity last month.