How Women Are Impacting the American Manga Industry

Danica Davidson April 28, 2025

A Publishers Weekly article by Shaenon K. Garrity brings attention to how manga’s large segment of female readers is changing the publishing landscape in America. Many girls who grew up reading manga are now women reading manga, and this is leading to more titles being published here that would have been much harder to license in the past.

According to the article, publishers have noticed that female manga readers tend to look for more mature titles and to check out a variety of genres. And so they’re making sure to license these books.

Boys love is a genre aimed for women that sells especially well. Yen Press’ director of sales and marketing Mark de Vera noted, “BL has one of the most reliable fanbases.” The majority of Yen Press’ BL titles offer “solid” sales.

While boys’ love is doing well, girls’ love is also a growing interest for many female readers. Manga Planet’s managing editor Emma Hanashiro remarked, “In Japan, you now see a lot more indie comics related to yuri at fan events.” (Unfortunately, manga — as well as books — with gay characters are seeing an increase in being banned at the same time.)

Just as publishers are seeing more women reading manga, more women are starting to run publishers that release manga, like Lianne Sentar, at Seven Seas Entertainment or JuYoun Lee at Yen Press. And if kids see their mom reading manga, it might make them interested in reading manga, too.

Manga in Libraries: A Guide for Teen Librarians author Jillian Rudes pointed out, “There’s a lot of intergenerational sharing now because kids’ parents are reading manga and they’re able to share those stories with their families.” She also did a survey of her own on manga readers, and had this takeaway: “Universally, both female and male readers say they feel represented through manga.”

Source: Publishers Weekly

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.