Doujinshi—A Good Way for New Artists to Break into Current

Doujinshi—A Good Way for New Artists to Break into Current Chinese Manga Market
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Sequential Art Department
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Fine Arts in Sequential Art
at
Savannah College of Art and Design
Fei Xu
Savannah, Georgia
© May 2015
Mark Kneece, Committee Chair
David Allan Duncan, Committee Member
John Lowe, Committee Member
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................................ 1
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 8
i)
Origination ........................................................................................................................ 8
ii)
Producing and marketing models of regularly published manga ................................... 14
iii)
Producing and marketing models of doujinshi ............................................................... 19
Comparison between doujinshi and the regularly published manga ......................................... 29
Copyright infringement ............................................................................................................... 32
Doujinshi artists’ thought about the market .............................................................................. 35
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 37
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 58
List of Tables and Figures
Fig. 1. Old Xian. Homme. Digital image. Homme Official Website. 15 June 2010. Web. 20
February 2014. Page 5.
Fig. 2. Old Xian. Sample pages of homme. Digital image. Homme Official Website. 15 June
2010. Web. 20 February 2014. Page 5.
Fig. 3. Old Xian. Untitled. Digital image. Weibo.com. 16 May 2013. Web. 18 May 2015. Page 6.
Fig. 4. Old Xian. Joker Danny Vol. 2. Digital image. Amazon. 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 February
2014. Page 7.
Fig. 5. SASHIMI. SHENG RU XIA HUA VOL. 1. Digital image. YONG LE TONG BAO. 6 July 2010.
Web. 04 March 2014. Page 12.
Fig. 6. A ER. The Recruitment Poster of a Doujinshi Named A Hundred Ways to Cook a Dragon
Tail. Digital image. Weibo.com. 6 June 2014. Web. 18 May 2015. Page 22.
Fig. 7. Iyashii Ningen. SA GEN HI DANI. Digital image. Blog.sina.com.cn. 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 14
February 2014. Page 24.
Fig. 8. Hong Ling. The Cover of Doujinshi Bai Mo Zhi. Digital image. Pandaproject.blogbus.com.
5 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 February 2014. Page 26.
Fig. 9. Hong Shi. Wang To Chao. Digital image. Xiangce.baidu.com. n.d.Web. 09 February 2014.
Page 27.
1
Table 1 The advantages and disadvantages for a new artist to become a doujinshi artist or a
regular serialized manga artist. Page 29.
Table 2 The advantages and disadvantages for an experienced artist to become a doujinshi
artist or a regular serialized manga artist. Page 30.
2
Doujinshi—A Good Way for New Artists to Break into Current Chinese Manga Market
Fei Xu
May 2015
Abstract
This thesis focuses on Chinese doujinshi market and doujinshi creators. The thesis briefly
introduces the background of Chinese manga market and the current doujinshi Market and
then makes comparison between these two markets. The aim of this thesis is to prove that
doujinshi is an effective way for new artists to break into current Chinese manga market.
Furthermore, the thesis discusses the legitimacy problem of producing doujinshi and the future
of doujinshi market.
Keywords: doujinshi, manga, comics, convention, copyright infringement, China
3
Introduction
Doujinshi is the Japanese term for self-published manga, fiction or illustration collections.
Artists from all over the world either create their original stories or recreate stories based on
characters or concepts borrowed from popular works to communicate with other fans, share
their work, entertain and even make profit. In China, doujinshi is also an effective way for new
artists who want to start a manga career to break into the Chinese manga market.
Compared to the mainstream American and Japanese comic and manga markets, the
sanctioned manga market in China is very young, undeveloped, and conservative. The
restrictions of subject matter, the lack of standard employment practices, the low payment, the
extremely high workloads and the underlying social discrimination against comic artists make
the market relatively small and even harder to break into. However, doujinshi, as a unique
method that avoids a lot of obstacles in the mainstream market, brings opportunities to the
new artists and helps them to build a base for their future career.
Old Xian, a former Chinese doujinshi artist has already transformed herself into a rising
manga star famous for her teenage romance and fantasy manga Joker Danny.
4
Fig. 1. Old Xian. Homme, Digital image, Homme Official Website. 15 June. 2010. Web. 20
February. 2014.
Fig. 2. Old Xian. Sample pages of homme. Digital image. Homme Official Website. 15 June. 2010.
Web. 20 February. 2014.
5
In the doujinshi homme (see fig. 1. and fig. 2.), Old Xian observes men in her own way and
expresses her taste in men’s clothing in an exquisite and feminine way with smooth pen strokes
and a lot of details. The non-commercial illustrations she posts online are mostly about
anonymous skinny male characters. She develops a lot of homosexual scenes in her illustrations
(see fig. 3.) that look strange, fancy and funny, helping her gain a large fan base of over 84,000
people on Weibo.com, one of the biggest Chinese social networks.
In 2010, she joined Mosspaca Studio, a Chinese manga artist studio that used to focus on
producing doujinshi and have changed their focus to traditional published serialized manga
recently (“An introduction of Mosspaca Studio”). She became one of the main illustrators in the
studio and started to publish her own series soon after.
Fig. 3. Old Xian. Untitled. Digital image. Weibo.com. 16 May 2013. Web. 18 May 2015.
6
In order to adapt to the mainstream serialized manga market, she had no choice but to cut
off a lot of details in her works to finish the pages by the deadline. The script has to conform to
the publication regulation, which prohibits any topics related to sex, violence and politics. By
abandoning part of her style, Old Xian, the former famous doujinshi artist finds her way to
success in the current Chinese manga market. Her regularly published manga Joker Danny (see
fig. 4.) earned a position of 56 in Amazon’s TOP 100 hot manga list (“Top 100 best sale Chinese
Manga and Illustration collection”).
Old Xian’s journey from amateur artist to the professional manga scene is a strong example
of how doujinshi can lead to a professional comic career. It also illustrates the differences
between the two mediums, and the kinds of restrictions on subject matter that any incoming
artist must be prepared to accept in order to work in mainstream Chinese media.
7
Fig. 4. Old Xian. Joker Danny Vol. 2. Digital image. Amazon.com. 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 February
2014.
Like Old Xian, there are many other manga artists who had produced doujinshi before they
debuted, such as Shi Tu Zi, Xiao Xiao Zuo Wen, Yi Chui Wu Yue and many others. When they
transferred into serialized manga, it was essential for them to give up part of their previous
style and conform to publication regulations.
Why did these artists make the decision to produce doujinshi before debuting as a
serialized manga artist? What are the differences between the market modes of producing
doujinshi and regularly published manga? Is the phenomenon of starting a manga career by
producing doujinshi coincidental or inevitable? To answer these questions, it is necessary to
have an understanding of the history and current state of the serialized manga publishing
market and the doujinshi market in China.
Background
i)
Origination
In 1899 the first Chinese illustrated lithograph The Story of Three Kingdoms was published
by Wenyi Book Company in Shanghai. With the popularization of lithograph technology, more
and more illustrated lithograph story books began publishing, creating the comic book market
in Mainland China. Lianhuanhua, the official Chinese term of sequential illustration collections,
8
was not widely used until the early 1920s (Khaira 11). During the first several decades after the
establishment of the People’s Republic of China, this ‘oldest Chinese comic’ was mostly
considered by the government as a method to spread propaganda as opposed to a form of
artistic expression. Every publication needed to be registered with the government and only the
ones that carry government propaganda would be published (Khaira 14). After the Chinese
economic reform in 1978, the lianhuanhua industry experienced a rapid development. More
and more lianhuanhua artists started to seek inspiration from ancient Chinese fairytales and
folktales, improving the artistic quality of their work and elevating the reader’s tastes to a
higher level (Khaira 18).
The popularization of lianhuanhua made it easier for Chinese readers to accept a similar
kind of sequential art format found in manga. In the 1980s, however, the Chinese sequential art
market experienced a huge crash as a lot of influx of imported Japanese manga spread from
across the East China Sea and quickly saturated the market with its modern characters and
colorful stories (Wu, X. 54). It was also during these ten years that the concept of doujinshi was
seeded in Mainland China. With the gradual liberation of citizen’s thoughts, manga and anime
became more and more popular amongst the younger Chinese generation as a trendy and
rebellious form of counterculture. Facing obsolescence, the Chinese sequential art market had
no choice but to adapt to meet the new demands. In the 1990s the earliest government
approved Chinese manga magazines such as Bei Jing Ka Tong, Shao Nian Man Hua and Dong
Man Shi Dai (Wu, X. 55) began publishing. The Chinese manga market started to take shape.
9
However, the focus of these magazines was to serialize Japanese manga and to report the latest
anime news as opposed to promoting Chinese artists and publications.
To fill the market’s newfound interest in popular Japanese manga characters and to fulfill
the demand for original Chinese manga, a small number of fans started to establish their own
doujinshi clubs. In 1995, the pioneer Manga Tong Ren Zhi club was established, marking the
beginnings of the Chinese doujinshi market (Zhang, F. 85). In the following ten years, the fans
formed an increasing number of clubs and studios. During the first few years, most of the artists
could not afford the cost of large quantity printing. Instead of selling copies of their work,
artists created doujinshi mainly to share with friends who had similar interests. With the
increased availability of printing technology, tablets and digital painting software, the
production efficiency and quality was distinctly improved. However, since doujinshi was only
known by a small group of fans and the self-investment risk was too high, the print production
remained low in quantity.
The Chinese manga magazines remained dormant until 2003 (Wu, X. 55) when the market
was badly hit by the popularization of Internet media and online magazines, the lack of
investment in original Chinese manga and irregularities in copyright trading. In 2005, the
earliest Chinese manga magazines by Chinese artists were born. Under the encouragement and
stimulation of the government, the Chinese manga market has enlarged and grown. Many
young artists started their manga careers and managed to produce work to the best of their
ability, in spite of the low reward and heavy work load. Xia Da, one of the best Shoujo manga
10
artists discusses that time period in one of her interviews, “In those days, I only ate one bowl of
instant noodles a day because of poverty”(Ye). It was the artists’ dreams that enabled them to
survive in those hard days. However, their growth was suppressed because of the limitation on
choosing topics (“The Regulation Policies for Publications”). Since there is no rating system in
China, the only way to prevent children from seeing controversial material is to completely
eliminate it from the market. This means the elimination of violence and sex from manga
publications; therefore, most manga that passes the government audit is either funny stories or
tales about teenage romance. The primary audience targeted by this “sanctioned” manga tends
to be children and teenagers under 15 years old. This demographic does not actually represent
the main consumers of manga as in China most students under 15 have little to no purchasing
power. High school age teenagers, young adults and seniors with more disposable income were
not targeted. Therefore, because of publishing regulations and the nature of consumer demand,
there is a mismatch between the kinds of stories being published in mainstream Chinese manga
and the demographic of readers that have the ability and interest to buy them.
To meet the demand for a variety of more mature stories, the doujinshi market developed
rapidly over a period of ten years. The first Chinese doujinshi Convention, ComiCon, was finally
held in 2007, which marks the beginning of a new era in Chinese doujinshi (Zhang, F. 84). A
revolution started to take place in the market as more and more people became interested in
doujinshi culture. The production quantity had increased substantially to meet the growing
demand, which brought revenue to some of the more successful individuals in the growing
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group of doujinshi artists. At a recent Lin Jie comic and manga convention, it was reported that
sales reached 1-2 copies per minute at some of the more popular doujinshi booths (Zhang, F.
86).
The low cost and the decent profit margin of producing doujinshi greatly encourage the
creators. One doujinshi, Sheng Ru Xia Hua Vol. 1 (see fig. 5.), had four separate printings
(SASHIMI).
Fig. 5. SASHIMI. Sheng Ru Xia Hua Vol. 1. Digital image. YONG LE TONG BAO. 6 July 2010. Web.
04 March 2014.
Sheng Ru Xia Hua is 16.9x23 centimeters, with 129 pages of black and white comics, 3
pages of colored illustrations and glue binding; the printing cost for each copy is 0.09 RMB (0.01
USD) per black and white page and 0.70 RMB (0.11 USD) per colored page with 7.00 RMB (1.13
12
USD) per each binding. The total cost for one copy can be calculated at around 20.00 RMB (3.22
USD) each. Increasing the print quantity reduces the cost per copy. According to the reservation
list of the fourth print on their official information website, there were 473 reservations
(SASHIMI). Assuming that each print run can achieve 500 total reservations, the total print
quantity sold would be around two thousand copies. The price per copy is 85.00 RMB (14.20
USD) giving a net income of around 65.00 RMB (10.80 USD) per copy. Therefore the total net
income for an entire run of books could potentially be nearly 130,000.00 RMB (20,952.53 USD).
The popularity, growing audience and the potential for considerable profit has made the
doujinshi market more and more attractive to new artists and writers.
On the other hand, the regularly published manga market has encountered something of a
bottleneck that discourages creators. According to Book.douban.com, the biggest book
information website in China, as well as the official website of the State Administration of Press,
about three hundred manga books were published from 2006 to 2012, occupying only 0.02% of
the total quantity of Chinese publications during this time. Amongst these manga books,
teenage romance manga holds a highest percentage of 50%, young teenage adventure manga
holds 24% and psychology based manga holds 23%. The rest consist of comedic manga in series
with a lot of single volumes. Only about 10 of all these books would probably cater to the taste
of young adults and senior readers who are more interested in mature stories.
The slow development of the market has led to a lot of negative perceptions. People who
do not know much about sequential art often consider Chinese manga as childish and naïve
13
children’s material. Since manga artists are usually freelancers, they are often viewed as being
unemployed. Not only is it reflected differently in Chinese culture, it is considered even more
socially shameful.These factors lead to a lack of new customers and profit as well as artists
viewing it as a legitimate way of making a living. As a result, the mainstream manga and
comic market in China stagnates. Therefore, it is not wise to step into the industry without
enough preparation.
ii)
Producing and marketing models of regularly published manga
Compared to producing doujinshi, it is very hard for a new artist to start a sanctioned
manga career as the Chinese regularly published manga market is too young and unstable.
Short interviews with three new professional manga artists including, Ai Hao Chui, Ye Lan Su
and Xun reveal the complicated process and difficulties of creating with legitimate manga
publications. According to the interviews, a regular full publishing process can be generally
divided into 7 steps: accumulation preparation, contacting, audition, producing, serializing, and
marketing.
a. Accumulation
The long process of accumulating a fan base is very necessary for manga artists before they
really start to work in the sanctioned manga industry. It is usually during this time that they
practice their skills and begin building a large following, both factors that will directly affect the
14
popularity of their work in the future. According to the interviews, the most common ways of
accumulating a fan base are by web serializing, working in manga studios as assistants,
participating in manga competitions and producing doujinshi books; all of which except the last
method are work heavy with little to no reward. According to Ai Hao Chui, the work pressure of
web serializing and being a manga assistant are almost as high as being a regularly serialized
manga artist. However, the income is much lower, and web serializing manga artists who have
signed contracts with manga websites need to acquire his or her reader’s votes to get extra
salary. On U17.com, one of the biggest Chinese manga serializing website, one vote only
translates to about 0.50 RMB (0.08 USD) and the basic salary is 100.00 RMB per month (16.12
USD). It is very difficult for an unexperienced artist to earn a living wage. For manga assistants,
the income comes from the manga artist. In other words, a manga assistant will never get as
much as a manga artist gets from the publisher, while doing pretty much the same amount of
work. Participating in manga competitions also cannot be considered a job, as the reward is
both low and unreliable. According to Comicfans.net, Jin Long Bei, the most famous competition
gives the wining artist 30,000.00 RMB (4,835.20USD) for the Annual Reward of Chinese manga.
This is not even enough for the annual average rent for houses in big cities such as Beijing and
Shanghai. This causes most artists to abandon this as an option.
b. Contacting
After accumulating a large enough fan base the creators then start to contact the editors.
However the possibility of getting a reply is always low. Editors usually prefer to discover
15
potential big artists on their own initiative. Once the artists get a chance to publish their work in
a sanctioned manga magazine, the pay rate will be discussed firstly. According to the interview,
the pay rate for a new artist is 150.00 RMB (24.18 USD) to 200.00 RMB (32.23 USD) per page,
while the big names get the highest pay rate of 3000.00 RMB (483.52 USD) per page. Usually,
the artists will sign a contract with the publisher to protect the rights and interests of both
sides.
c. Preparation
The preparation part is similar to the way work is prepared for submission in the US. For
sanctioned serialized manga, a folder of the synopsis, character design and the scripts for the
first 3 volumes are essential. This becomes the reference information for the editors to decide
whether to publish the work or not. It may take a few days to a few weeks for the editors to
discuss the potential of the work. For short comic strips, instead of providing pages, a theme
that complies with the publisher’s criteria and the publication regulation is enough for the
discussion.
d. Producing
Artists are usually offered a few weeks to finish their work. The least page quantity is 25
pages per month. The artists are required to show their work to the editors frequently in order
to get instructions for modification. “Actually the conflict between the editors and the artists
remains. Because they have to think about the story from different perspectives,” said Jian Xiao
16
Dong, the champion of Sina Original Blog Comic Competition. (Zhang, X.) The editor’s opinion
always has a great impact on the work especially when the artist is a new comer. Ai Hao Chui,
said that she usually takes the editors advices because she knows that if she does not, her story
might be stopped.
The new creators usually have to finish the script, thumbnails, character designs, roughs,
final inked pages and coloring all by themselves. When the workload is too big, they have to
stay up for a few days to finish the work before the deadline. “One of my male artist friends has
been sent to the hospital twice because of lack of sleep. He was only 28,” said Ai Hao Chui when
she was asked about the workload of producing regularly sanctioned serializing manga during
the interview.
e. Serializing
For some big magazines such as Man You, it is possible for an artist to get extra profit if his
or her work is voted as the top three of all sanctioned serialized work. Some of the work can
even be published as single books. The artists can get a royalty rate of about 8% (Wu, H.).
However, there is also the possibility for a serialized work to get suddenly stopped if the readers
are not satisfactory with it.
f. Audit
Before a single manga book is published, its content must be audited by the government to
get a publication number. It usually takes 1 to 3 months to get the response from the related
17
government department. Any content that is related to violence, sex and politics will not pass
the audit.
g. Marketing
New books are usually promoted on the official website or in the magazine. Some very
famous artists and publishers always participate in conventions to spread information about
their new work. Readers can easily purchase the books from most of the big bookstores and
online shopping websites.
Generally speaking, the regularly published manga market in China is still growing and has
improved a lot during the past a few years. The Japanese manga market is a great source of
inspiration for the Chinese market. A set of industry norms has been formulated after many
years of exploration and practice. As publication quantity increases, the artists are much better
paid. According to the Chinese Manga Artist Rich List announced in 2012, the richest manga
artist Hong Bin Zhou (33) gains a huge royalty of 18,150,000.00 RMB (2,925,296.12 USD) per
year (Wu, H.). Once artists get their work published as single books, the royalty will become
their main source of income.
However, behind the few successful examples, lies the shortcoming of the young Chinese
manga market. According to the “rich list”, it is not hard to find out that all of these artists’ work
is for young teenage readers. In order to pass the audit, manga artists have to tailor their work
18
to interest the young teenage readers but ignore the older potential readers who have better
purchase power. The restrictions on subject matter has greatly stifled the artists’ creativity and
limited the development of the market.
Another rising issue in the industry is the irresponsibility and the lack of honesty of some
publishers. In 2010, six artists including Li Zhao Mu, LONG, Bai Wu, Yao Jia fig, Yan Zi Qing and
Xiao D grouped together to release a public letter denouncing the magazine Xing Le Man for
refusing to pay 38840.00 RMB (6259.97 USD) in wages owed (Li Zhao Mu et al.). Although
artists try to protect their rights, the legal process for doing so is long, inefficient, and usually
more costly than what they are actually owed; very few artists ever take legal action against
publishers.
The Chinese regularly published manga market is too young and unstable. A mature and
better regulated business system is highly needed to protect the artists’ rights and interests.
Under the current state, it is difficult to get work published and make good profit. There are a
lot of problems that need to be solved regarding its development.
iii)
Producing and marketing models of doujinshi
To have a deeper understanding of the Chinese doujinshi market, 66 doujinshi artists were
invited to do a survey. Compared to the marketing models of regularly published Chinese
19
manga, doujinshi has multiple and complicated marketing models. Artists have more freedom
and benefits when producing doujinshi.
As the doujinshi market becomes more and more common, three generally accepted
producing and marketing models have developed: anthology projects, the studio art collections,
and the individual artist collections.
a. Anthologies
The Anthology model has become a very commonly seen model in recent years. The main
purpose of this kind of doujinshi project is usually not only sharing fan-art with friends and
showing respect to popular work, but also making as much profit as possible by selling physical
copies of self-published books. Each of the participants of this kind of project has duty as a
member of a team. Generally speaking, the team is made of organizers, creators, editors and
marketers.
i.
The organizers are both the financiers and the people responsible for coming up with
the theme of the project. They can be either individuals or clubs. Some of them create
work for the project while others are only in charge of organizing and marketing. When
deciding on the topic, the most important things they take into consideration are the
trend in the market and the cost. Since there is no need to worry about governmental
regulations, the themes that are chosen usually contain elements that are restricted by
the state publishing regulation such as violence and sex; in order to attract as many as
20
customers as possible. Sometimes the theme can be completely original without
borrowing any characters or concepts from popular work as long as the artists are
popular enough to ensure the sale volume.
Before the project is activated, it is the organizers’ duty to promote the project via
digital posters and recruit qualified artists on the internet. At least one famous artist will
be invited to ensure the awareness and sales volume of the project. Normally, the
reward each member gets will be negotiated and settled during the recruitment. The
popular artists usually get the highest payment. This is a mutually beneficial model
widely used in this kind of project.
Doujinshi usually involves a recruitment poster (see fig. 6.). The basic information and
the payment of each piece of art work are clearly listed on the poster. Candidates are
welcomed to send emails with their portfolio attached to the organizers to be
evaluated.
21
Fig. 6. A Er. A Recruitment Poster of a doujinshi Named A Hundred Ways to Cook a
Dragon Tail. Digital image. Weibo.com. 6 June 2014. Web. 18 May 2015.
ii.
The second step of producing an Anthology is creating. Creating usually takes the
longest time. The organizers need to work as real editors in a publishing house to ensure
every creator submits high quality work on time. However, unlike with the
governmentally sanctioned manga that maintain rigid deadlines, the creators always get
enough time to finish their work. Since neither the organizers nor the creators are full
time doujinshi artists, the production schedule is usually dependent on their availability.
iii.
Editing is the next step. The editor’s work is relatively easy. Pictures will be sent to them
with the original size and resolution via the internet. Once the editors finish the layout
design, the final booklet document will be sent to the organizers.
22
iv.
The fourth step is printing and promotion. The organizers and the marketers are the
ones who set the price, design the gifts for the buyers, choose the conventions and set
the print quantity according to the online sale volume survey. The organizers will get a
print sample from the printers and modify the work if it is necessary. The cost varies
with projects and print quantity. Colored pages usually cost more than black and white
pages. According to the printing information offered by Man Yi Yin Wu, one of the
biggest doujinshi printing studios, the cost of one 6.93 inch x 9.84 inch black and white
page is 0.50 RMB (0.08 USD) and 3.00 RMB (0.48 USD) for a same-sized colored page
with coated paper. If the print quantity goes higher than 200 copies, the cost per each
page will be reduced.
v.
The last step of producing a doujinshi anthology is selling. The marketers would either
participate in the conventions directly or sell the books online. Each of these two ways
has advantages and disadvantages. Participating in conventions provides good chances
for readers to communicate with the artists face to face. However, the investment will
be increased in order to cover the rent of the booths, the transportation cost and the
wage for the booth keepers. Selling the books online helps in reducing the investment
and it makes it easier for customers to purchase doujinshi from all over the country. But
the customers have to pay for the shipping. To avoid losing any potential customers,
both methods are frequently used.
23
It usually takes two to six months to complete one project and a few days to a few
months to sell out all the copies either in the conventions or via online access. Most of
the doujinshi anthology books can be sold out easily and the profits are usually good
since a lot of famous artists are invited to participate in to ensure the sale volume.
The following picture (see fig. 7.) is the cover page of the doujinshi, SA GEN HI DANI that
was created using the anthology model.
Fig. 7. Iyashii Ningen. SA GEN HI DANI. Digital image. Blog.sina.com.cn. 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 14
February 2014.
Generally speaking, the doujinshi anthology wins the lowest risk and the highest profits but
lacks the fun of producing doujinshi and depends on the famous artists too much. Fa Cai, a
24
doujinshi creator with over three years of experience, said in the interview, “I understand the
artists who produce doujinshi only to make profit. But I think it is more important to enjoy the
process of working together as a team and to share my work.” Some artists share the same
opinion and emphasize that the original motivation of producing doujinshi should be making
friends, sharing works and making progress together rather than making money. However, the
decent profit margin of producing doujinshi anthologies encourages more and more artists to
conform their work to current popular trends.
b. Studio art collections
The second widely used doujinshi marketing model is the studio art collections form, which
is very similar to the anthology form. The only two differences are, first, that all the duties are
shared by members from the same one studio or club and second, that the main purpose of
producing the doujinshi is not making profit but having fun. The taste of the audience and the
trend are no longer the guide for choosing the theme. The team members split the cost and get
almost equal rewards. Most of the team members do not care much about the money, since
their purpose of participation is to enjoy the process of working together and to have fun.
Instead of having someone to manage and organize the project, the artists have the freedom
during the whole producing process. It is also because of this, the working efficiency and quality
cannot be guaranteed which leads to a higher self-investment risk.
25
The studio art collections form keeps the fun of making doujinshi but suffers from a higher
investment risk and lower efficiency and quality. “The quality of the work varies. If the artists
are skilled and talented, it will be a good sale; if unfortunately not, it will be a failure.” said
E_neko, an experienced doujinshi artist who had participated in a lot of projects.
Figure 8 is the cover page of a studio art collection doujinshi named Bai Mo Zhi produced by
Chi Huo Zu, the sub-group of a studio named Wu Xian Er Xue Yuan. The doujinshi book was
available for customers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan; which indirectly indicates
the great success of the project (Hong Ling).
Fig. 8. Hong Ling. The Cover of doujinshi Bai Mo Zhi. Digital image. Pandaproject.blogbus.com. 5
Apr. 2012. Web. 14 February 2014.
26
c. Individual artist collections
This is the easiest and hardest producing and marketing model amongst the three models. It
is easy because the recruiting step is avoided and the creator can make all the decisions in the
whole process. However, the individual artists must finish all the work by themselves and take
the risk of investment alone. These factors make it extremely hard for a beginner to accomplish
a project using this method unless the artist is rich and has a lot of free time. On the contrary,
for the skilled and well-known creators, this method functions well. As their fans are usually
patient enough to wait for no matter how long time and to pay for no matter how much for the
book, the popular artists don’t have to worry about the schedule and the investment risk.
When it comes to the individual artist collections, the burdensome work and the high risk
makes it difficult for inexperienced artist to start, but also allowing complete freedom in the
creative process. Famous artist such as Rei, Shishio and Hong Shi have provided a lot of great
successful examples with amazing profit.
27
Fig. 9. Hong Shi. Wang To Chao. Digital image. Xiangce.baidu.com. n.d.Web. 09 February 2014.
The doujinshi Wang To Chao (see Fig. 9.) is a 36-page colored illustration collection. The cost
per copy was around 25.00 RMB (4.03 USD) and was sold 40.00 RMB (6.45 USD), going through
two print runs. According to the reservation list and the sold out record in five conventions she
posted on Xiangce.baidu.com, the conservative estimate of the total number of sales stands at
1000 copies. The total income can be calculated at 15,000.00 RMB (2417.60 USD). The income
is much better than a lot of new artists. However, for Hong Shi, an artist who has a full time job
at NetEase, Inc., one of the biggest Chinese Internet companies that operate the 163.com, the
enjoyment and sense of fulfillment from the process is more important.
It is impossible to draw conclusions on which one of the models mentioned above is the
best because they each have pros and cons. However, it can be inferred that from a purely
commercial standpoint the doujinshi anthology model would be a wiser choice. It does not
matter if the organizer is capable of creating work, as long as that person is capable of
recruiting a skilled team to produce the doujinshi, is able to self-invest on the project or find
financial supporters, and can organize the entire project well. If these criteria are met, the
project has a high chance of success. For artists and creators that care less about commercial
gain than the enjoyment of the creative process, the studio art collections method appears to
be the better option. For well-known artists, producing and selling doujinshi books individually
is probably one of the best choices.
28
Comparison between doujinshi and regularly published manga
The difference between the life of a professional serialized manga artist and that of a
doujinshi artist becomes most apparent when comparing them in context of the experience
level of the artist. A new artist diving straight into professional manga can expect a far different
lifestyle than new artists trying to start a doujinshi project, and the same is true for an
established artist in either path.
Table 1 The advantages and disadvantages for a new artist to become a doujinshi artist or a
regular serialized manga artist
29
Table 2 The advantages and disadvantages for an experienced artist to become a doujinshi
artist or a regular serialized manga artist
The above charts illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of producing doujnshi and
regularly publishing work as a new artist and an established artist respectively. The words in
green are the advantages while the red words are the disadvantages.
As it is shown above, for new comers, producing doujinshi offers far more advantages than
trying to work from the bottom doing regular serialized manga. Although producing doujinshi is
not a good way to gain profit or get higher social status and the investment is usually high, it is
easier to start with since there is already a big fan base of the original work and the work
30
pressure is relatively low. Furthermore, dojinshi artists have the freedom of time scheduling
which means that they can even keep a regular salaried job when producing doujinshi. The fact
that there is no limitation on the subject matter means that the audience will also be bigger.
The major disadvantage of an unknown artist starting in doujinshi, the issue of legitimacy and
legality, is currently a non-issue thanks to a somewhat apathetic government. When it comes to
unexperienced artist working on serializing manga, the situation is severe. While suffering from
high pressure and low living quality, they also need to worry about the possibility of being fired
if their work failed to satisfy the readers. The only advantage of becoming a serializing manga
artist is that the job is legal and the self-investment is zero.
As an inexperienced artist, it will be much easier to start a manga and comic career as a
doujinshi artist than as a full time serializing manga artist. However, with the growth of the fan
base and the improvement in drawing technique, the disadvantages of being a doujinshi artist
begin to restrict the artists’ development.
As illustrated in the chart above, the developing space for an experienced doujinshi artist is
much smaller than the one for a serialized manga artist. Although the experienced doujinshi
artists get better reward, higher social status and their own fans, they remain underground and
their publication quantity can never be as big as regularly published manga. At this point in an
artist’s career, it can be much more advantageous to sign a contract with a publisher and work
as a serializing artist. While enjoying a high social status, their job will be stable, high paid and
the workloads will be smaller. They may also get some freedom on choosing the topic since they
31
don’t have to worry about the sales volume as much; their already established fan base would
likely buy whatever they produce. Even the doujinshi they did before they signed the contract
will be considered as a record of their development.
For an amateur artist who wants to start a professional career, producing doujinshi is much
more practical and easier. It is a good way to build up a fan base and to practice drawing skill
before step into the professional industry and start to live off their drawings. However, as an
artist develop both their skill set and their readership, it can be more beneficial to move to the
main stream serializing manga.
Copyright infringement
The biggest weakness of producing doujinshi is the issue of copyright infringement. The
legitimacy of producing doujinshi is still a controversial topic. According to the law, there is no
doubt that producing doujinshi is a kind of copyright infringement. However, most of the
copyright owners tend to acquiesce to the doujinshi artists, as the work can be considered as a
kind of promotion of the original work. The only court case involving an original creator and a
doujinshi derivative that was reported was a Japanese artist who was accused of tax evasion
(“Japanese doujinshi artist Shinagawa Kaoruko evaded 65,700,00 Japanese Yen tax”). The total
amount she had evaded was about 65,700,000.00 Japanese Yen, or 642,103.00 USD. In this case
32
she was definitely not accused by the copyright owner but by the government. Since there are
few copyright infringement cases that have ever been reported, it is generally accepted that as
long as the print quantity of a doujinshi is not too big and the income is not huge, its legality or
lack thereof will be overlooked in the Chinese market.
In China, there is no doubt that the government is aware of the existence of the doujinshi
market, because all of the conventions need to get registered with the government. However, it
is hard to know how much the government knows about the doujinshi market and what their
attitude is. Two possible conjectures are, first, that the government does fully understand the
contents, the production methods, the sales models and the income involved in the creation
and sale of doujinshi; and second, that, the government knows the market well but is not
planning to either manage or forbid it. It is also likely that the government does not perceive
the market as any kind of threat to its national security or the safety of their citizens. Since the
doujinshi culture has already become part of a great number of young Chinese’s life, and it is
generally not harmful, the government tends to let it develop rather than to prohibit it.
On the other hand, the Chinese manga and anime industry can be stimulated by the
development of the doujinshi market and the conventions. As professor Fang Zhang, College of
Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University, Chengdu, wrote in his article On the Doujin Event
and Its Commercialization, “The Chinese manga and anime industry can be explored with the
popularity and cohesion of the doujinshi event. The commercialization of the Doujin Event can
33
help restore the human resources of professional artists.” (Zhang, F. 86) Since Chinese
government is trying to support the domestic manga and anime by investing in original projects
towards young children, which may not a wise decision, it is reasonable for the government to
allow the doujinshi market to develop.
However, the risk of being accused of retailing products contains violent and sexual or any
other sensitive topics such as politics and homosexuality remains. In 2011, thirty-two young
authors were arrested for writing homosexuality, violence and sex related fictions and posting
them online for money (Shen). This case highlights the government’s overall attitude towards
work relating violence, sex and homosexuality in Chinese media.
The doujinshi producers who are aware of this problem find their own ways to deal with it.
To avoid being reported to the internet management and get in trouble, the producers come up
with the idea of promoting their project on foreign social networks so that it will be harder to
track them via internet. When selling the doujinshi in conventions, the most well accepted way
is to hide the doujinshi books that are related to the sensitive topics into black plastic bags so
that it is harder to notice the book when the customers pick them up from the booths. Another
way is to open an online store to sell their doujinshi and ship them to the buyers; which is the
most popular way.
According to the survey amongst sixty-six doujinshi artists, only two of them worry about
the legitimacy problems when asked about the future of the doujinshi market. It can be inferred,
that until now, no one has been arrested for producing or selling doujinshi books in China. A
34
possible issue in the future is that the government might collect a certain rate of income tax
from the doujinshi artists. They can either collect it from the artists who rent a booth or from
sales from their online stores. However, as most of the doujinshi books are based on Japanese
manga and anime and the Japanese producers might even do not know that Chinese fans are
making money by borrowing their characters and recreating stories, the doujinshi producers are
not likely to be accused of copyright infringement for the foreseeable future.
Doujinshi artists’ thoughts about the market
Another issue facing Doujin artists, especially those new to the industry, is the lack of
transparency and the potential of dishonest behavior of doujinshi publication organizers and
printers. Of the sixty-six surveyed doujinshi artists, fifty percent were college students; around
forty percent were new employees who just started working day jobs. The remaining artists
were all junior high school and high school students. As a majority of financial transactions
involving doujinshi printing and sales are unregulated or “under the table,” young inexperienced
artists are often the target of scams ranging from the refusal of payment to shoddy printing
practices. Three of the sixty-six surveyed artists mentioned about their unpleasant experience
and emphasized the importance of doing research before starting a doujinshi project. “Artists
need to be more careful and try not to be taken advantage of,” said Tong Zi, one of the artists
surveyed. Although facing these problems, ninety-five percent of the surveyed artists still hold a
35
positive opinion on the future of the market and believe that the market will be more and more
regulated and transparent.
Conclusion
The Chinese manga market is still young and unstable. However, the doujinshi market is
growing rapidly in recent years and is gradually getting more and more regulated. Unlike
serialized manga artists, doujinshi artists enjoy the freedom of choosing their own topics, facing
less pressure, and having a flexible work schedule, and a better fan base of the existing manga
and anime. Although the investment risk is relatively high, the income can be very high if the art
is worth buying. More and more young Chinese artists are starting to participate in doujinshi
events to build fan base and gain experience. Some of them have already become rising
regularly published manga stars.
Although neither path to creating manga for a living is perfect, the best way to start a
career in the field is not to become a serialized manga artist directly, but instead to keep
doujinshi as part time work with the goals of building a fan-base and of honing artistic and
storytelling skills. During this time, the artist’s quality of work will improve, the size of their fan
base will grow, and the regularly published manga market will mature. When these criteria are
fulfilled, to the artist can then make the decision of whether to become a regularly published
serialized manga artist or a full time doujinshi Artist.
36
Appendix
The following twenty pages are selected from my original story D.M.S. The story is about a
boy who can lucid dream, helping a dream agency eliminate nightmares. It will be a 6.93 x 9.84
inches black and white thirty-three-page book with a colored book cover. The estimated
printing cost per each copy will be around 25.00 RMB (4.02 USD) and the price will be around
35RMB (5.63 USD). I am planning to self-publish the book with the individual doujinshi method.
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45
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48
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