no, all non jap manga publisher should go bankrupt, and we can live happily

________________
"we are people because of other people"
"I am who I am because of who we all are"

$20 is a lot for a monthly fee. I can watch my anime on CR for only $7 a month so that doesn't seem right. And I'm surprised no one has mentioned OpenManga? I mean sure it's still on the process of being created and if you go on their main website, you won't find anything yet, but if you look through their blog you can read what their plans are for the future site.

First of all I would definitely pay for a legal online reader.

But the pricing seems too high. On the internet you can find a lot of flat-rates that are much cheaper than 20$ and again these are flat-rates, so the number of art (movies, animes, music...) you consume is not restricted. An additional fee for downloading or any additional service would definitely be acceptable. Sure you pay alot more if you buy each manga in book stores but online reading would save companies a loooooooooot of money. There are still ppl preferring real books/mangas but the number of ppl prefering online reading is drasticly increasing thanks to amazon kindle or apple i-pad.

Maybe mangaka could even directly sell their manga on this way easier or even find "cheap" scanlation teams to translate their work. Such a platform would open many possibilities.

Last edited by Serian at 4:56 pm, Jul 20 2010

i agree with this, however, i think it should only be for manga that arent translated to english already...

What about all those of us who don't live in the US? Why would we care?

Just pointing at the fact that not everyone cares about US laws

So I would have to pay to read the crappy English translations?
Why do you think I read scanlations.
If all online readers became a pay service Id either borrow one from a library, download or stop reading manga.
Well I may pay for Dark Horse mangas since they do a good job but everyone else.

I want everyone to know that this not finalized... I threw it together real quick as I was thinking about it. I know I missed a lot of details, but that's why I added that option to the poll. I also asked everyone to throw their ideas out there to possibly make it better. So asking me how I would do something is not really the point of this. I had an idea I wondered if it would work and if not how would you make it work. That's all.

Also it seems that the few people that said it was a bad idea only say that because they don't want to pay for the series. I'll say this now... I thought this idea up as a way to "play nice" with the publishing companies. They get a income from the reader and the community get their manga fix. That's all.

Outside of the USA is a gray area to me. You can do whatever you want. But know that I thought this would be a good way for the people of the community [that care and want to help out the publishers, but can't] to get along with the publishers as well as give possible feedback to them. You want to continue your path of free manga then go ahead, can't stop you.

As I've said before, pricing were some numbers I threw out there. I have no problems lowering them.



This would eventually get really expensive. Let's say that we charged $0.01 per page and you read Naruto.

0.01 x 19 = 0.19
0.19 x 501 = $95.19

so it'll be $95.19 to all the Naruto chapters available. You read those in about a week time [faster reader] and you have to pay nearly $100 in a week, plus if you decide to reread certain parts the price will count that as well, so more for total. Not too mention if you read other manga as well, you have to pay for reading them. That will make the price more.

With the flat rate per month you can all of those chapters for one cheap rate. The easiest and cheapest way to do the pricing is to go monthly.

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We can change the pricing to something like this:

1 manga = $3.00/month
5 manga = $6.00/month
10 manga = $10.00/month
20 manga = $15.00/month

Or we can change the whole set-up to something like:

Basic = $3.00 per month; you get one manga at a time, unlimited views and changes no feedback to publishers.
Advanced = $6.00 per month; you get 5 manga at a time, unlimited views and changes. Plus feedback to publishers.
Gold = $10.00 per month; you get 10 manga at a time, unlimited views and changes. Plus feedback to publishers, suggestion rights to publishers.

I'm sure if this were to come into fruition we can think of better options, but for now...

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Payment options? That's a tricky one... But there are many options that can be done, a small list below:

Credit card
Bank account
Pay as you go Visa Card [they have these... I get them from my Mom every year on my birthday. They're accepted everywhere Visa is accepted and it works like a reloadable gift card]
Gift cards [like the "free" MMO's have to buy the good stuff]
Pay-Pal
Cash/Check [they can mail it in...]

Chances are if they're underage their parents would be the one paying for it. So all they have to do is ask for it either way. Plus it's not like they can't get a bank account... I had one when I was 15 for my paychecks, my 3 year old has an account. You can also get a checking account when you underage, but you have to have parent custodian it for you.

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All in all this just an idea, a rough idea at best. I haven't thought about everything and if I was going to pursue this for real and try to make this a reality then I would have thought about it more. As it stands now I just wanted to see how people would react to something like this.

So far the reaction is positive... with a few sour-pusses in the mix, but forget them. They'll never come around.

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This is my Sig ..............................................................

ah, oops. I didnt do the math although i like the idea of basic/gold/etc. that seems like a fair price.
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but the problem is, my parents(and many others i think) are manga-phobic. They think reading manga makes you stupid. So i think the 'sending money in by mail' would be the best thing to do

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[img][/img] A senpai tried to violate me after hearing about my transfer. BUT I RAPED HIM INSTEAD.

I'm not from the US so this really doesn't affect me i think but i believe the biggest problem with this system is the payment and pricing.
You are right about payment but i still think there would be problems, zombiefetishlove said it: i don't see many parents consenting it and while some younger people might be willing to pay for it... i don't see many joining and paying for something they can get for free.
While the pricing system tries to be fair it will lead to abuses in the process. If i can change manga won't i just keep doing it over and over? Maybe i didn't understand the initial points. Then again restraining the manga to read would also be unfair and my previous point would lead to terrible losses from the company that implements the system. It's extremely complicated, but maybe giving the users complete access would be the best option or paying for manga individually.
Of course it would still be a pain, for example when i have to wait lots of time for releases i want to read other manga while i wait and i believe i'm a faster reader.
I think that because of these reasons (there may be more, but i don't know them) this kind of system would be unfair to both users and company alike.
I don't know the prices in the US but don't the publishers charge a lot of bucks for individual releases? It would undermine the actual publishing of a book, it would save money since it would only be required an official stanlation team but the books would cease to exist because it would be cheaper to put the stuff online.
Anyway i'm rambling, probably not making much sense. But if you could give me some answers to that then i would surely be more enthusiastic about the service you'r suggesting.

Every time I see another one of these post, I'm utterly surprised. Surprised that this discussion still goes on without someone saying: this already exists!!!

Look, Japanese publishers are just old dinosaurs refusing to change. But if you look outside the box, you'll realize that the models which you're suggesting exists and is booming.

Almost all Korean manhwa that are not also released in Japan in print volumes are also released online (This means none of IM Dal Young stuff). There are number of companies that purchase licensing from the publishers and charge people for viewing online. Prices are as follows.
1 volume = $0.10~$0.30 (in us dollars)
some discount with bulk purchases
Some comics like the ones published by KOCN (like everything released by HWANG Sung who has ~200 manhwas under his belt, though not registered here) are typically thinner, thus they're 10cents (minus popular stuff), whereas typical ones you see (like Daiwon) are 30cents per vol.
There's also a one-day unlimited viewing fee of $2. and month at around $10. Each place differs in prices somewhat.
All the time based purchases however doesn't include "premium" toons which usually of higher popularity. So, if you want to read a lot of Zippy Ziggy, you're gonna have to pay 30cents per vol, no matter what.

Yes, this is FREAKING LOT cheaper than what's suggested above. Why? Hmm... Because now they don't have to pay printing presses, logistics, no storage fees, etc. (And now you can see why most authors write in their mangas saying they have no money)

To evolve into survival, some Japanese titles are ones are also changing. Like the Yen press is trying to push out web based viewing as well (Which is one of the big reason for resent push toward illegal scanlation). If the other Jap ones are not gonna change, they're gonna extinct and they'll realize that sooner or later.

So, business wise, it's a perfectly WORKING model. If anyone things it doesn't work, you have been proven WRONG. (Though, I think some ideas suggested around here to make it work are non-viable - like switching cartoons) Only reason you haven't seen a ton of this already is b/c of lack of potential international sales and idiotic japanese dinosaurs refusing and preventing change.

Legally speaking, they cannot use scanlation for any means. To do so, you need to track down each person involved in the scanlation, get them to sign and that's a lot of work. Especially since lot of them can't even be contacted anymore due to aliases and abandoned groups.

And I don't know why people bring up "USA" into this equation... but it has NOTHING to do with it... common, why would it? You can sell things internationally, copyright is an international protection. Nothing stops the border crossing. And the existing legal online viewers also allow international sales.

________________
The Company
[b]Batoto

That sounds about right.

I was going to say that 15 bucks, 10 bucks HECK even 5 bucks is too much for any kind of online content, companies save ridiculous amounts of money with online content, so you SHOULD demand ridiculous prices as well.

Half a dollar per volume is more than acceptable for killer titles like Naruto and One Piece (YUCK), internet is boundless and free, the only way you can actually sell something on it is if the price is minimal.


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I completely agree. I've been pissed off and not buying paper copies for a LONG time. The quality is inferior in scans and translation, and I have no need for a paper copy. Why should I pay so much just because it's not available in any other way? I don't place any value on the printing and storage and shipping and every other crappy cost that's associated with paper.

Seriously, every serious manga/anime fan has thought that an online viewing site would be a very good business model.

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May the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind illegitimate children chase you so far over the hills of Damnation that the Lord himself can't find you with a telescope. - Irish Curse

I'm not your type. I'm not inflatable.

Cry me a river, build me a bridge and get over it.

Everyone is entitled to be stupid but you're abusing the privilege.

Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

Well before thinking about the way to make this work... is anyone thinking What will the copyright holders think about this?

Lets say they let ya show their manga at this site. They will ask for money... and thats where the real price will come cuz u have to add the price to keep the site going + earnings and then u will have a nice price for the service that... Knowing bussiness may change between mangas. As not them all will have tha same lic. price.

Thats just me tho... if that site wants to go ilegaly kind of like narutofan (wuts makes me wonder is that site still open?). It will certainly be cheap. Make it legal and i dont think that will be the case anymore.

Last edited by aagcnet at 6:46 pm, Jul 21 2010

What about a monthly digest? Think like a digital version of Weekly Jump, priced equally competitively.

However, the main problem I see is this - it only takes one person to buy the stuff and then proceed to redistribute it, illegally and infinitely. How do you stop piracy?

I'm not against but need more detail, especially in security.
But the main problem for me is : i already buy manga that are realeased in my country, but when i go to read online or download is almost only for manga not released in my country or those i ll never pay for them.
All in all, i ll probably never pay for that since i can buy them in paper. (yeah i prefer paper version)

But this is a good choice for those living in a country with few to none manga's publishers, so they can have other country mangas without paying a huge shipping.

But the main problem will still be to read non-licenced manga