Judging from the comments and views on the Shin Sekai Yori posts, I figured that a fair amount of you would be interested in an English translation of the novels, so I figured I’d bring to your attention a recent attempt to get an official translation.

The Details:

In early February, North American publisher Vertical Inc. (official website / Wikipedia) expressed interest in releasing a translated version of the Shin Sekai Yori novels. Due to the cost and time requirements for such an undertaking however, they are unwilling to do so unless enough people express interest in its purchase. This has since been specified to be 4500 people from the US, UK, and Canada, who would be willing to purchase (pre-order) the translated novel at a cost of $25.

For people living in other countries, you would likely be able to purchase it AFTER this 4500 people requirement is met and the novel is translated, as Vertical does sell all their translated works on Amazon, which does ship internationally. For now, they seem to be limiting the pre-orders to US/UK/Canada to ensure that they will at least break even on their investment.

Vertical Inc. has stated that it would be “at least $25 in paperback for the whole thing. It is 1000 pages long.”

If You’re Interested:

If you are interested in supporting this endeavor and/or know others that would be, please express interest by going to the original post and liking/noting/following the post. This will require a tumblr account and involves pressing the heart on the top right corner of the page. Once enough people have expressed interest they will contact you for confirmation in regards to a pre-order via your tumblr/tumblr listed email. Twitter/facebook/email are other ways to express interest — you’ll find these on the right side of the main menu bar — though the most effective way will be the tumblr method, as it will give them a solid number from which to base a decision on.

Basically, what you would be doing is saying you would be willing to pay the $25 for a copy of the translated novel. This is to ensure they will break even on their costs before they start work on it.

***At this time, it is unverified if you will need to pay in full from the start, partially, or not. But you should go in presuming you may need to pay in full from the start, as that would theoretically be the only way they know for sure they will break even.

For Future Reference:

If any key developments happen in the coming months, I will likely update this post to include details, so check back every once in a while if you decide to support the translation.