Forum - View topicINTEREST: Doujinshi Artist Claims Downloads of Work Are 10-Times Higher Than Sales
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Chagen46
 Posts: 4377 |
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Only because a large enough amount of people are stupid enough to pay for porn.
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gerbilx
Posts: 138 |
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Don't quite get the customs issues some people are talking about. I've brought tons of doujins through customs. Just declare them as books. It's not a big deal.
I do feel for the authors, though. Feel like everyone harping against the evils of capitalism have no real respect for money or what it means to be rewarded for hard work... |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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So, as a shameless piracy supporter, I'm allowed to call BS on them, right? I understand Juno06's various points, but honestly, this part:
It's good to know you do it for the sake of art and love of fandom 
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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If people didn't pay for it, you wouldn't get your precious shotacon works. I'm glad when artists sell out completely at Comiket, it means they are relieved of their limited number of physical product; so what would it matter if the rest of world gets to see it for free? Have these artists been seeing few domestic sales; as a point of interest, we get most raws from Share, meaning "it came from Japan!" Often, Chinese and other international scanners don't always provide a raw when they do their scanlations, I've done that several times. Then it's of no interest to the Japanese as they can't read anything but Japanese, but it also causes problems when other internationals do want the raw for their own purposes... Scanlation can be kind of tricky, and there's obviously no avenue for legal means to get them licensed and translated when they're mostly IP-infringing derivative works to begin with. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14766 |
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Most people don't pay for pr0n though, e.g. they wouldn't get it if they have to pay for it, i.e. not lost sales.
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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That's also to do with how difficult it is to get doujinshi if you're not Japanese. Importing can be a bitch and it easily doubles, or more, the price of the book you're trying to get. In any case, they're limited quantity items, so after they've sold out, there can be no lost sales. If they're not selling out, it's not because of the internet.
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1176 |
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This is one of those things that has no easy answers - sucks that they have no control over their work, but it involves IP infringement anyway, but it's a form which has been silently condoned over there for decades regardless of anything over here, but it's still lame to blame people who want it when it sells out of its limited copies anyway, but that still doesn't necessarily mean they're not losing money which makes it possible to do this work in the first place, but it would help if they made it easier to buy digitally, but the problems with selling it online are various and often involves things they can't help, but if that's so and I literally have no option but digital how am I hurting them, but it sucks they have no control over their work, etc.
Even so, I have to admit it is a little annoying seeing people take it as an opportunity to assert their moral authority, whether because "lol only scum pay for porn anyway" or "they don't deserve the money anyway because it's fan fiction" (as if doujinshi hasn't been the norm over there for decades). |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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You could have said, that from time to time a doujinshi comes out that isn't hentai and you would have been right on the mark. 
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grgspunk
Posts: 136 |
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Cry me a river. Unless we start seeing sites like Toranoana, Amazon.co.jp and other doujin retail sites start accepting international orders (including for hentai titles), don't expect me to have any sympathy. Besides, Comiket needs more doujin artists that publish works because they actually enjoy the hobby of creating fanworks rather than seeking popularity or profit. Why else do you think there's been a major upsurge in Kancolle works? Last edited by grgspunk on Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Cptn_Taylor
Posts: 925 |
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Just declare them as books ? Ha ha ha ha ha. Better hope customs never inspects your package because if they do, looking at child/child like characters having sex is not going to fly. And can get you into real trouble. Doujinshi is only safe in Japan. Importing into countries that have "legislation" against child porn (wether real or in the form of comics) is a big no no. Hell even crossing borders with the original doujin can get you into trouble. |
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grgspunk
Posts: 136 |
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Not everyone lives in Canada, you know. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2387 |
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But that's the thing. Most doujin artists are most definitely NOT in it for profit. However, the "hobby" or whatever you call it takes a LOT of work and you need a LOT of money to keep it up. It's not about profit. It's about making the money you spent on it and maybe getting a little more so you can possibly start a career with it. And life isn't cheap, for sure, even with doujin work profits. Things are getting more expensive, yet the price of doujinshi has not risen because it's not an actual market, but a fan-controlled industry limited to specific places. So it's been harder and harder for tables to keep going every year. Trust me. I'm an artist. It's not cheap to be an artist and it most certainly is discouraging to think that your hard work and passion, derivative or not, is only driving you into a hole. Or that some of those extra download numbers could actually be someone who stayed away from Comiket and, subsequently, your table, just so they could download it for free later. Thus, all those fans who say things like, "Because it's popular!" or "You should be glad that people support it!" sound like they're just making excuses to not help pay for the artist's livelihood, or not help reward them for their efforts. They may not be in it FOR the profit, but they're most definitely in it with the hopes that the profit will exceed the cost or at least help them continue. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14766 |
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Same with cosplay - some cosplayers are able to turn their hobby into a vocation. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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@Juno016:
Ultimately downloads don't matter though. Only so many people can attend Comiket, but a lot of doujinshi can only be bought there. So this is a case of demand outstripping supply. As long as the artist sells enough of the copies they brought to Comiket then they should be fine and still recoup a decent amount of their costs. The internet is not the market that doujinshi artists sell to, Comiket is, so artists shouldn't care what the internet does so long as they sell enough copies at Comiket. If this bellyacher fellow had boxes and boxes of leftover copies after Comiket, but saw large amounts of downloads, then he might - just might - have something resembling a legitimate grievance. But he didn't say he had lots of unsold copies, did he? No, he did not. I highly doubt he had enough unsold copies to sell to everyone who downloaded his doujinshi. What it sounds to me like is that he is being greedy. He's also being stupid. |
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Banken
Posts: 1280 |
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Only the incredibly talented and beautiful ones... and only if you do consignments and charge out the ass for them and/or get a modeling gig, which pay well but are far and few between. |
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