Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Is The Lifestyle Of A Manga Artist?
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bigivel
 Posts: 536 |
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The 100 dollars they make per page is only for newbies. And a weekly mangaka makes around 68 to 80 pages per month. And so 6.800 to 8.000 dollars per month. That in no way are "living expenses" kind of money. A monthly mangaka doesn't makes 30 pages per month, they make around 40 to 50 pages per month(and certainly receive more money per page), from 4.000 to 5.000 dollars per month. And like I said that is for Noob mangakas, as you get more time and success your pages start to get more valuable and you get paid more. Is believed that the top mangaka earn around 500 dollars per page. Oda yearly earning estimation, by professionals in the business, assumed that he was receiving this 500 dollars. Oda makes between 15 and 17 pages per chapter, average of 16 pages, and so he earns in a month 32.000 dollars. For some people that is their entire annual earnings. Last edited by bigivel on Sat Apr 29, 2017 3:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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bigivel
Posts: 536 |
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This is not true! A mangaka is a contract worker and even after their manga ends, they are still earning money from the company for at least 1 to 2 years before their contracts expire. Don't forget that because mangaka are employees they have to earn a normal salary, and at least in Weekly Shonen Jump, in the end of the year the magazine distribute money, on merit, to their Mangakas. A author without manga still earns this yearly money. Also the Assistants are only payed per hour or day. And they only work around 3 days per week. That is a major reason why some assistants work for more than 1 mangaka and/or have other works to get their money back. This is 12 days per month. If we believe that an Assistant earns 1.500 dollars per month(20 days of work), they earn 900 dollars per month from 1 mangaka. A mangaka that earns 57.000 dollars(that is a big underestimation), can pay for 5 assistants with that money. If he only has 2, he still gets 2.950 dollars for himself. Assuming that he expends 1,500 dollars for Studio rent and materials. He ends up with a monthly salary of 1.450 dollars for himself. |
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Furuzaki
 Posts: 105 |
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They work to much, get paid very little and are prone to illness due to overworking.
And when a mangaka of a good series dies, for me, it feels like someone very close just passed away. I still feel sad that Cocoa Fujiwara (Age: 31) died... |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Also, revenue isn't profit. The $1billion a year is before they pay out expenses, which includes all the employees (as well as other costs of making the things.) |
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svines85
 Posts: 42 |
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A great article, thanks a lot
Hey, what about Suzue Miuchi, right? She's so successful and laid back she doesn't even have to finish her manga 
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2419 Location: Germany |
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@HeeroTX DC Comics = Time Warner, as DC got purchased by them in 1967. That billion is also in revenue, meaning all plus. Production cost and so on would need to have already been factored in, by the word definition alone. They obviously won´t keep all that money, salaries and new productions will be payed from it, but still. Oda deseves more yearly income than what an A-list actor get for 1 starring role alone.
Aka only 50-100 days of work. Especially after over 2 decades (!) of service to SJ. Oda is THE most successful Japanese (comic) artist of all time, even a national figure (!), and the sole creative force behind One Piece. SJ is swindling him with the projected revenue, in the same way Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee and co. we by the Big 2. McFarlane´s current net worth (Spawn film reboot when !?!): http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/producers/todd-mcfarlane-net-worth/ Oda is now THE draw to read the anthology magazine SJ, with all the big (international) hits now on ice. Any sensible man would have pulled an Image Comics on his employers, as that was how McFarlane and co. became millionaires over night. But he is Japanese, so he will never do it... A shame. Image was lastly one of the best things that happened to creator rights in the US comic medium, so it wasn´t all "greed". Artistic integrity was another major factor. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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This has nothing to do with Oda being japanese and everything to do with different business model. In Japan all mangaka (from Oda to the lowliest mangaka that can't even get his work to sell as a compilation) are owners of the intellectual property they create and the company they work for do all the paperwork for them to get royalties associated with them. Not a bad deal for a mangaka unless s/he has already retired. In the USA nowadays warner/disney will hand you a piece of paper to "donate" any new characters you have created in the title you work at, failure to comply means that character is to never appear again. People that worked in a comic will receive revenue from re-prints, but that is the end of it, the really juicy royalties (merchandise, movies, tv series, etc.) will always for the parent company (and they will fight in court for decades if needs be). So "pulling an image" is more attractive in the USA, but you will have to deal with the legalities of your IP yourself and many return to work for marvel/dc because their own works are not popular enough. |
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onyxskies
Posts: 2 |
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The average amounts generally vary depending on how popular an author or material is at the time, but the "going rate" is a $5,000-$10,000 advance with a 5-15% royalty paid after the advance is met ( so 10% of a $25 hardcover would be either off list= $2.25 or net proceeds= $1.25 per book.) Authors also have to pay for their agents (roughly 20%) and advertising. |
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Clarste
Posts: 427 |
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Uh, I have a subscription to a Japanese monthly magazine (Comp Ace) and the average page count per chapter is about 30, with some dipping down to 20 or so. I'm sure it varies from publisher to publisher, but not a single comic in this magazine approaches 50 pages per month, and presumably these people count as real mangaka. So what you're saying clearly isn't universal. In a more general sense, I really do wonder what the life of someone publishing monthly, or less than monthly, is like. Articles like these always focus on the weekly mangaka and how they have no free time, but how different must a monthly mangaka be? Heck, one artist I follow only publishes every other month but she still managed to overwork herself to the point of being hospitalized twice in one year. |
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Souther
 Posts: 602 |
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In general, it's still difficult. In comics, artists have difficulty doing a couple of issues a month (usually 20+ pages), with or without assistants (this isn't including colouring or letters either) and they usually rotate artists for long runs. For mangaka doing monthlies, yeah, usually 30+ pages (can range), they're expected to be mostly in charge of their work story and art-wise, and they continue for years, some have come out saying they're working long hours all the time, 7 days a week, no vacations (one of them being Miura, despite people calling him lazy). Depending on their art style, working methods, etc., some can take quicker or longer, but in general, you're still working hard. Which is why I don't hold it against artists for taking hiatuses so they can actually have a life (they could still even be working on their projects during their hiatuses, collecting material, doing research, etc.,) |
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13552 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Considering the rise of some web manga, do you think that web manga-ka have better working and sleeping conditions compared to the standard print manga-ka?
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Souther
Posts: 602 |
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If they're totally in control of their webcomic, they can work on it on their own pace, so yeah, I'd guess. |
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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With all the news about animators barely making rent, I feel like being a mangaka is almost as rough. I'm shocked how artists doing long-running series like Oda and Miura haven't just burned out from doing this for 20+ years. Then again, when you're doing something you love, it counts for a lot.
Yeah, people shockingly have lives outside of work and the reality is that a lot of mangaka are still doing research and planning things out. I'm noticing that a lot of fans have this kneejerk impulse to call an artist lazy whenever there's an hiatus, Miura and Togashi immediately come to mind. As a World Trigger fan, I'm seeing some fans calling for a statement from Daisuke Ashihara and I think it sounds pretty entitled to demand a response from someone on hiatus for health problems. I'm curious about the work schedule for webcomics/manga. Most webcomics I know publish weekly, which sounds hectic, but most web comics are also shorter than a typical manga chapter. |
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