Forum - View topicManga Publishing Questions
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Knowing it's impossible to get official numbers out of company people, yet still lusting for the forbidden knowledge, I ask the great minds of ANN to bestow me with answers to the following questions:
First, who are the essential people needed for a US manga publishing company? In other words, what jobs are absolutely necessary for bringing a licensed Japanese manga to an English reading audience? Obviously you need a translator and someone who can negotiate with the Japanese for licenses. A graphic designer so you can add in translation information and such. Someone to edit. But who else is needed? Second, approximately how much on average does it cost to license a manga series? (Or at the very least what is the per volume licensing average?) Does it range in the tens of thousands? The hundreds of thousands? The millions? (I doubt it's this high but I don't know.) Third, is it possible for a company to only license a series and then farm out the work on it? (Like how some anime companies function.) Would this actually be much cheaper than trying to do all the translating, editing, etc. in house? Okay, those are my questions. If any official person from a manga publisher wants to answer them, I will bow to your superior wisdom. Otherwise, I'll take any answers that sound kind of right. 
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I have asked the same questions and actually done SOME research into this area (including TALKING (face to face) with someone who was involved in the process).
The more appropriate question is what are the essential JOBS. Arguably, a single person COULD do the whole thing, but it would take longer and the license negotiation would be more difficult. (easier if you have a staff and can prove solvency) Most of the JOBS needed to be done: -Someone familiar with Japanese business negotiations to negotiate the license -Translator to translate the material to English -Editor to clean up the material and add English text -"Publisher" to prepare the book for printing -Liason to talk to printer and make sure the correct number and style are printed -Sales/Marketing to sell your book to distributors and/or retailers. Those are the "essentials", now like I said, a single person CAN do all those things, and many jobs utilize the same or similar skills, but the more people you have (within reason) the smoother and faster the process. In the end, I'd say 4 people is a good "minimum" if they cover the needed skillsets.
This is the one question I can't answer clearly for a variety of reasons and as much as I KNOW it's not what you want to hear, the answer is "it depends" on a variety of things. Some of the main factors are: -Popularity of the title -Number of people/companies expressing interest -Relationship with the owner -Negotiating ability -Terms of the license As an "esitmate", millions is too high, but other figures are possible depending on the above. It's POSSIBLE you could get a title for under $10k if everything aligned JUST right, but more likely think tens of thousands to POSSIBLY six figures if you're aiming really high. (this number is not "per volume" btw, so volume count would obviously factor in as well)
Anything is possible, altho I don't really see how that would be "cheaper" unless you know one guy who would do all that work "cheaper" than 3-4 guys you'd hire to do it combined. The short answer for labor is, it costs what you can find. It also depends on if you're wanting to only do this for 1-3 books (work that could be done in maybe a couple of months) or create a sustainable publishing business (in which case you need a staff long term). Again, I can't say that info is 100% "accurate" but it's pretty close. |
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Richard J.
Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Ah, thank you HeeroTX for your help! I've been curious about this subject for some time, due to a strange belief that I might actually one day be able to wield some real power in the anime/manga world by running a company. Very informative answers.
Again, thank you for the response. This answers a lot of questions. |
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ShadrachAnki
 Posts: 180 Location: New England |
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That would depend on a number of factors, including the length and popularity of the series as well as the standard negotiation practices of the licensing party. I'm given to understand that at least some series are licensed in chunks, and the revenue from the first volumes is used to purchase later ones. I don't know how prevalent this practice would be, however.
Most of the big manga companies already do farm out the translation work to freelance translators. It's often cheaper overall, and it allows for a larger production volume than having a team of people doing all the translation work. ~Shadrach Anki |
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hagakure|returns
Posts: 407 |
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You also need an account to handle the cash/paycheck.
And you'll probably need an administrator, some IT as well to fix computers etc. These position are critical to any business now a days. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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No problem, like you I was curious about this topic very much and for pretty much the exact same reasons. I'm actually still considering it for one specific title that is pretty short (3 vols) that I don't expect to see licensed here.
As noted by ShadrachAnki, this depends on a host of factors, not the least of which is whether or not the manga itself is "finished". There's a big difference between licensing all of "Angelic Layer" (6 vols) and "all" of "Naruto" (something like 18 vols out here in America, 39 or so in Japan, and more on the way). Naruto isn't the "best" example because of the agreements and structure between Shueisha and Viz, but the point still stands. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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[quote="Richard J."Who are the essential people needed for a US manga publishing company? In other words, what jobs are absolutely necessary for bringing a licensed Japanese manga to an English reading audience? Obviously you need a translator and someone who can negotiate with the Japanese for licenses. A graphic designer so you can add in translation information and such. Someone to edit. But who else is needed?
[/quote] There are two components here. One is 'how many people do I need to run a manga licensing/production business' - and as current experience shows, as few as four or five may be enough. A couple of licensing people, an editor, a translator, a marketing person, and you're good to go. And a lot of stuff can be outsourced. The other factor, though, is 'how many people do I need to run *a business.* And here is where it starts getting complicated. Because you would need, at the minimum, an IT person, an accountant, a human resources specialist, probably a lawyer...plus even something like a secretary or receptionist. It's true that all of those can be outsourced, but your costs will rise accordingly. The companies that are now entering the manga market (like, for example, Yen Press) don't have to worry about any of that, since their corporate parents (in Yen's case, Hachette) cover those things. But for an new independent publisher, those added costs would definitely be a major factor. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I agree with you on the lawyer and accountant (at least services from those at minimum), but speaking AS an IT person, not every business "needs" an IT person, nor does any business under 10 people realistically need a dedicated HR specialist. Sure, both roles are BENEFICIAL, but a small business should be able to deal with those responsibilities themselves or seriously consider their market space. If you're not running some measure of e-commerce or something where you essentially REQUIRE 100% uptime, then a dedicated IT professional is overkill (unless your internal business has horrifically large IT needs). The same is true for HR, if you only have 8-10 people, you're not looking to hire people often, nor do you need to handle their various items as a 40 hr/wk job. (maybe 10 hrs/wk if you're examineing everything weekly, I mean professionals usually get paid only twice a month and benefit items usually only need consideration once a month (if that)) You should have legal counsel (at least as a resource) just to cover your butt, and the same for an accountant (the byzantine tax laws make avoiding that a VERY dicey proposition) but if you're building a startup, you're definitely giving yourself too much overhead and complication with the other two, unless you have serious VC or expect huge numbers very quickly. (and I'd expect neither in a manga publishing startup) |
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