Have you ever wondered how some folks are able to discover new manga licenses that have not yet been announced by the publisher? It actually isn’t hard! It doesn’t take inside knowledge, since even an Average Joe or Jane has resources at their disposal. Listed below are three sites I check regularly.

SimonSays
SimonSays, the website of Simon & Schuster, is the primo source for Viz license scoops. The link above goes straight to a search for Viz titles; if you go through the main SimonSays page, select Browse All Books and scroll all the way down to the heading Other Ways to Browse. Click the “more” button on the list of Imprints and then find Viz Media LLC on the list of publishers.

I sort by descending publication date, so the latest entries are displayed first. And then I pretty much just keep checking, keeping in mind the number of results so I can tell when something has been added. New entries also show their anticipated publication date, so when a whole slew of things for fall 2009 comes in, for example, it should be easy to spot.

RightStuf’s New/Changed Items
Accessible via RightStuf’s front page is a handy link to a list of new/changed items. Not only is this helpful for spotting new additions to the site, but you can also track which items have had price changes or have been removed from the site entirely.

The list doesn’t sort by format, so you might need to scroll past lots of keychains and t-shirts, but eventually you’ll come across a solid chunk of graphic novels when the offerings from a particular publisher have been updated.

Amazon’s Advanced Search Function
Amazon has been known to be wrong before, so consider this perhaps the least reliable sleuthing method. For Viz, you’re better off using SimonSays, since titles hit there before they show up on Amazon. For other publishers, though, it can still be a viable option.

Enter the name of the publisher in the appropriate box, then select your date range. For example, if one searches for TOKYOPOP releases after May 2009, one can discover the release date for the final volume of Fruits Basket, even though it’s not yet listed on the publisher’s site.

And there you have it! If you know of other useful places I have neglected to mention, please share them in the comments.