Shogakukan Planning Simultaneous Multilingual Publishing

Japanese publisher (and joint owner of Viz), Shogakukan, have set up a new "multilingual publishing project unit" unit internally, which will select books to be published simultaneously in multiple languages, according to a Nikkei Shimbun report (via ANN).

The first book as part of this new initiative is Nihon no Mirai ni Tsuite Hanasō (Talk About the Future of Japan), an educational book about business. The Japanese edition will be sold through Japanese bookstores, while the English edition will be sold in North American bookstores and on Apple’s electronic book service.

Additionally, Nikkei reportedly mention that, while Shogakukan have sold rights for manga and other publications to overseas publishers, they will now have more of a hand in every step of the publishing process, from translation to sales.