The Business: Why The Manga Business Works

For those who read my post on Webtoons being a backdoor into the anime industry, there is context to consider and that's how the manga business works. This is from another channel based in Japan, on the occasion of Shonen Jump's big anniversary a few years ago.

Let's take some observations here.

• The magazine is disposable. This is because they use the cheapest paper possible.
• The magazine is a serial fiction publication. Complete chapters are republished as stand-alone volumes later.
• The magazine's weekly popularity poll is real-time A/B testing for the target audience and market, keeping in touch with the wants thereof.
• The magazine has produced more internationally-famous franchises than any other manga magazine in large part due to the power of that poll and the structure pushing competition between the serial teams.
• The company running this magazine has not messed with a successful formula, but instead expanded upon it such that the core is protected while expermimental offshoots try to expand the reach of the magazine. (Must follow-up on that to see how it is now; this was three years ago.)
• Every editorial team understands the business, the medium, and the audience and respects all of it.

I said generally that the Pulp Tradition lived on in Japan. This is proof that it is literally true. This is another example of Japan retaining, to its benefit, a successful business model that Western originators abandoned due to turnover of staff leading to Commie ideologues and the death thereafter of the pulp magazines in the West.

And this is why, to this day, the infrastructure is not rebelled against. It works very well at its intended objective. The pay is terrible, the hours are long, but it is a job and career that you can do and excel at- male and female alike.

And it is very Japanese.

And they like it that way, as they should.

It is no surprise, therefore, that such a powerful cultural force in Japan has eyes mostly for domestic material. We can go that route, but it's going to take a lot of work just to get a pitch, and given the nature of the workflow either you're not doing much writing other than the scripts (which you need to get to your mangaka so he can hit the deadlines; there's a reason manga pacing is what it is). Webtoons, by comparison, allows for far more publishing flexibility which allows a writer to do other things and still get scripts done for his artist.

It's not for the lazy, indolent, or easily-distracted.

Consider your options carefully going forward, especially if you want to expand into foreign markets. Which brings me to my bonus video: #20Books talking Amazon Ads.