Stock issues
You may have noticed that your favorite manga is hard to find in stores right now and is backordered online; this is still a result of covid. Manga sales have been through the roof this past year (hooray!) but there’s still delays in pretty much every step of the supply chain. This means it may take longer to get the books you want.
Your best shot at getting backordered volumes is to place special orders. Indie bookstores can place orders on backordered titles so you can get a copy as soon as it’s back in print (stores like Barnes and Noble can only order from their own warehouses, so have to wait until they get them back in stock before they can order any). More orders for backordered volumes usually means they get bumped up the print queue.
Preorders are also very helpful, as they give publishers some insight as to how large a print run should even be!
Don’t have any indie near you? Many of them will ship to you! And of course, digital editions aren’t subject to supply chain problems.
All in all, be patient trying to get books for the foreseeable future, and be glad manga sales are doing so well! (as it means more manga!)
