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NEWS: Manga Aggregator to Close as OpenManga Plans Launch

They have to start from zero, with zero publisher support, and if the ideia work, they problably goin in.

Now this is the way to do it. I'm not surprised to see 70 artists are interested in the project. It allows them full control of their works and to help establish a fan base in order to provide sources of revenue that's not a dead tree.

70 may seem a small number now, but if this site's successful, that number will explode.

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Now this is the way to do it. I'm not surprised to see 70 artists are interested in the project. It allows them full control of their works and to help establish a fan base in order to provide sources of revenue that's not a dead tree. 70 may seem a small number now, but if this site's successful, that number will explode.

The number of artists they get on board is entirely irrelevant if all they end up with is third-stringer crap. They need to get the core artists on board, the ones currently published in the majors. Without the artists that actually produce quality work they have nothing.

Ohoni wrote:

Quote: Now this is the way to do it. I'm not surprised to see 70 artists are interested in the project. It allows them full control of their works and to help establish a fan base in order to provide sources of revenue that's not a dead tree. 70 may seem a small number now, but if this site's successful, that number will explode. The number of artists they get on board is entirely irrelevant if all they end up with is third-stringer crap. They need to get the core artists on board, the ones currently published in the majors. Without the artists that actually produce quality work they have nothing.

At this time, there is no information as to who was approached or who has agreed to come on board. We don't know, and the Open Manga team isn't saying anything at this time. We will know more in the future, probably when the site opens up while in beta. The artists/authors that were contacted could very well be like someone like Oda, or Tite, or Kishimoto or someone like that. Right now, all we can do is speculate.

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Now this is the way to do it. I'm not surprised to see 70 artists are interested in the project. It allows them full control of their works and to help establish a fan base in order to provide sources of revenue that's not a dead tree. 70 may seem a small number now, but if this site's successful, that number will explode.

The number of artists they get on board is entirely irrelevant if all they end up with is third-stringer crap. They need to get the core artists on board, the ones currently published in the majors. Without the artists that actually produce quality work they have nothing.

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There are series for 700 - 1200 yen or even more.

Tell you what, they're still cheaper than Naruto for us.

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Not only do English publishers have to deal with licensing fees and a niche market

High prices are not a way out of the niche market...

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They are what they have to be in order to make a profit.

Sure they are, but that makes them very unattractive to buy.
And the result of this, thanks to the economy crisis, the few buyers we have get even less.

first there was the dragonball, astroboy, DoA,etc movies, now we have this manga issues. why do i get the feeling that companies are trying to take over Japan

The idea that artists line up in major distribution purely by quality is a massive oversimplification - there are also both bigger and smaller niches and genre that are easier to sell in the US and harder to sell in the US.

I'm just saying, if they don't get Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, Psyren, Negima, Fairy Tail, etc. then there's just no point. There's no need for some online manga distributor that just has fanfics made by also-rans and wannabes.

I'm just saying, if they don't get Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, Psyren, Negima, Fairy Tail, etc. then there's just no point. There's no need for some online manga distributor that just has fanfics made by also-rans and wannabes.

Ohoni wrote:

I'm just saying, if they don't get Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, Psyren, Negima, Fairy Tail, etc. then there's just no point. There's no need for some online manga distributor that just has fanfics made by also-rans and wannabes.

To read Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, Negima, Fairy Tail, etc I buy the official releases, but to read online, OpenManga is a good idea to try new authors. Free, fresh and legal !!!

from something as simple as translating a chapter and allowing the public to read, it's unbelievable that it has been blown to such proportions. what happened to the good old days where we were able to read manga in peace. T.T

Scanlation is, everyone will agree, a big problem. The comics publishing industry is losing sales even as downloads of scans hits numbers that most comics publishers can only dream about. The comics/manga journalists agree, talking as they do to the publishers and creators - who feel particularly angry in regards to the wholesale refusal of their "fans" to respect their IP rights. And the pundits who discuss the quickly disappearing value of copyright and IP ownership agree.

In order to fix the problem, we have to step back and realize that scanlations are not the "problem" - they were the solution.

I'm speaking here as a fan of manga, comics from Japan. When I started to read manga there were - to be generous - very few titles licensed and translated.

The fans who loved manga saw the problem clearly - there was a lot of cool stuff being drawn in Japan and very little of it was translated into English. So, they formed groups called "circles" - passionate volunteers who pooled skills and resources into scanning in manga and translating them. This way, they could share the series they loved with other people who would never otherwise get a chance to read them. It was (and largely still is) a love for a title that leads a person to scan it - not a desire to harm, but a deep desire to share and expand the audience.

Scanlation was the solution to the problem. It wouldn't hurt anyone - none of those books (or anime series) were ever going to make it over here, so no harm, no foul. At least one person had to buy the book (or VHS tape) in order to render and scan it, so there was at least one additional sale to "pay" for the work. No scanlation circle ever made a cent on their efforts. They gave their love away for free, so they could call it fair use. And they were very specific - if you paid for a version of their scans or subs, you were ripped off and you were committing a copyright violation,

Then the digital revolution really hit and suddenly more series than ever were being scanned and subbed. It isn't hard to get a scanlation - all one needs is a browser and a search engine. What had formerly been distributed to dozens of people was now being distributed to thousands or tens of thousands worldwide. Hits on popular scanlation aggregation websites go into the millions, bringing at least one such site onto Google's list of top-visited sites.

And, in the middle of this, distribution companies started to license more series than ever. But now it was even easier to scan than before - often a scanned raw version is available, so no original copy is bought. Scanlators can put out a whole volume in days in just about any language a group might want. And the more popular, the more ubiquitous the content becomes, its economic value drops ever closer to zero.

What we need now is not a solution to the problem, but a solution to the solution.

The whole reason why scanlations EXIST is because the legit releases are SLOW.

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The idea that artists line up in major distribution purely by quality is a massive oversimplification - there are also both bigger and smaller niches and genre that are easier to sell in the US and harder to sell in the US.

I'm just saying, if they don't get Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Hitman Reborn, Psyren, Negima, Fairy Tail, etc. then there's just no point. There's no need for some online manga distributor that just has fanfics made by also-rans and wannabes.