I keep hearing about how lots of people buy their manga imported in order to help the mangakas. I've also heard how the mangakas don't get any money from their series which have been licensed overseas. I have also seen that most companies, in the US, don't hold copyrights for the English text in their new books, the mangaka does. Lastly, I have also seen that the mangaka alone, not with his/her japanese publishing company, holds the copyright to their series, All Rights Reserved. (except for anime, game, etc. based manga)

My question is, and maybe I'm getting this wrong (the copyright part), are the mangakas truly not getting paid as everyone seems to say?

I would like some evidence for this, please. (laws, quotes by mangakas/publishers, statistics, etc.) Also, if their is another topic like this or any other link, please post it.

Thank you for caring...

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I care waaaaay too much...

Lol, I had no idea people were saying they weren't getting paid even if we buy licensed manga. But I have no doubt that they're continuing to be paid even if their series/merchandise are continuing to be purchased by consumers elsewhere.
And then of course scanlations are threatening the success of manga businesses and their rightful owners... but that's another story. Maybe.

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Well, maybe I misinterpreted some people wrong who said that they were supporting the mangaka by buying it from japan, the original. ...Or something of that sort that made it seem that the American companies were getting all the money, the mangaka, none.

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I care waaaaay too much...

It may be a situation where the mangaka gets a certain set amount when the manga is licensed in English, but then doesn't get additional money for each book sold...maybe...

Or I guess it could be that the English-language companies pay royalties etc. directly to the Japanese companies, and some people are interpreting that as "the mangaka doesn't get paid" even though the Japanese companies almost certainly would pass along some of the profits.

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"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

I have no idea of the details, but it's always better to buy directly from Japan. Then all money goes to the original companies/people, instead of to the American licensors. When you import you are supporting the industry. Buying the domestic version you are supporting the domestic companies. Even if the originals were paid, there's a lot less money to go around because you are "supporting" more people.

This is from a article made by a manga artist so this is the right answer

Articles about Satou Shuuhou, the manga artist of Umizaru and Blackjack ni yoroshiku(seinen manga, which is for young adults and maybe unsuitable for teenagers), where he spoke about his distress with his publishers in his blog.

Subsequently, Satou Shuuhou reveals his income, expenses and some of his struggles as a manga artist. Now, he started to sell his manga online.

Therefore, I am going to list some facts and figures about Satou Shuuhou, and I believe any reader reading this article will have a rough idea of how does a manga artist earn a living, and how much much is he paid.

This may be old news for some people, because Satou Shuuhou posted all these information months ago within this year. However, something strange happened in the Internet, as Wikipedia and many other websites do not contain much about Satou Shuuhou and his manga works at all.

Usually, I am able to pick up information about manga artists and manga through Wikipedia and many other places, but just for Satou Shuuhou and his manga works, it seems like someone deleted much information about him.

So if you happen not to know, this is for you.
How does a manga artist get paid by a publishing company?

In Japan, when one’s manga comic gets serialized, the author is required to produce a chapter of roughly 20 pages weekly to be published in weekly manga comic magazine.

The author is paid per page by the publisher, and Satou Shuuhou revealed that newcomer artists today are paid 1,000 yen per page (~USD$11), while about 10 years ago Umizaru’s serialization paid him 10,000 yen per page(~USD$112), and his recent best-selling manga BlackJack ni Yoroshiku paid him 35,000 yen per page(~USD$391).

A weekly manga comic magazine usually publishes about 50 issues in a year.

So if we work out the math, we will see this:
Newcomer artists: 1,000 yen perpage X 20 pages in a chapter X 50 issues = 1,000,000 yen a year (~USD$11,174)

Umizaru: 10,000 yen per page X 20 pages in a chapter X 50 issues = 10,000,000 yen a year (~USD$111,767)

BlackJack ni Yoroshiku: 35,000 yen per page X 20 X 50 = 35,000,000 yen a year (~USD$391,080)

For the newcomer, it really looks sad. And we haven’t discuss about the expenses to produce the manga comic yet, and also the pay for the assistants.

In addition, if a tankoubon (trade paperback) of the manga comic is released by the publisher, the author gets a standard rate of 10%, which usually does not change even if the sales are good. Poor sales may force the royalty to drop to 8-9%.
Manga artist expenses

This is Satou Shuuhou’s expenses in a nutshell when Uzimaru was serialized.

Costs per month:
Tax: 80,000 yen (~USD$895)
Monthly pay for 3 assistants: 470,000 yen total (~USD$5,257)
Monthly food expenses for the staff: 100,000 yen (~USD$1,118)
Cost of drawing materials and reference materials every month: 100,000 yen(~USD$1,118)
Rent for the studio: 70,000 yen(~USD$782)
Utilities bill and other misc expenses: 50,000 yen(~USD$559)

Satou Shuuhou gets 800,000 yen(~USD$8,946) a month for Uzimaru, so deducting everything he has a deficit of 70,000 yen(~USD$782). He stated that he makes a loss of 200,000 yen(~USD$
2,236) a month if he includes his daily expenses and needs.

Moreover, Satou Shuuhou works 20 hours a day usually.

Satou Shuuhou’s editor told him that once his tankoubon is released, Satou Shuuhou will start to earn back what he lost. However it was revealed that no promises of releasing a tankoubon is made at anytime.

A 500 yen(~USD$5.60) tankoubon will give the author 50 yen(~USD$0.55) in royalties.

This artcle makes no mention of internationally sold book so i would assume it falls under licensing practice which is that the company that buys the license only and does not have to pay further but the artist would still be given a percentage of the money so under that buying from japan could be good or counter-productve for the artist depending on the amount the artist is paid for the license sale or the popularity of the series internationally

Last edited by Syrius at 2:23 am, Aug 25 2010