How much money can a manga author expect to make for a manuscript? Comic Growl (formerly Comic Bushiroad Web) from Bushiroad gives us an insight into their pay scale.
How much money can a manga author make for a manuscript? Comic Growl (formerly Comic Bushiroad Web) from Bushiroad gives us an insight into their pay scale.
Image via Bushiroad’s YouTube Channel
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In an effort to improve its online manga magazine, Bushiroad will change Comic Bushiroad Web to Comic Growl. As part of this rebranding campaign, Burshiroad Works representative director Kyōhei Shinpuku posted a Tweet regarding the name change on December 1. However, in a shocking turn of events, this Tweet also announces salaries for upcoming manga creators at Comic Growl.
コミックグロウルにて『魔法使いの嫁』『ゴーストアンドウィッチ』が連載開始しますが、グロウルってどういう意味?という所や、作家さんからは正直な話、この媒体って原稿料とかどんなもんなの? 」といった疑問があるかなと思いますので以下でお答えしますね。まず名称ですが 「思わず“唸る”ような作…
— シンプク/株式会社ブシロードワークス (@arctic_mint) December 1, 2023
“The Ancient Magus Bride” and “Ghost and Witch” will be serialized on Comic Growl, but what does “Growl” mean? Honestly, I think writers might have questions like’What kind of manuscript fees does this medium have?’, so I’ll answer them below. First of all, the name “Comic Growl”, comes from the words “howl” and “roar” based on the concept of “creating works that make you ‘roar’ naturally. Create works that will ‘roar’ far and wide.’”
Come to think of it, Growl is also the name of a playing technique often heard in funk and jazz music. It’s a method of playing that produces muddy and distorted sounds, but I also think it’s great that it’s a place where such moving sounds can come from.
Additionally, with Comic Growl’s innovation, we’ve adjusted manuscript fees for serialization. Growl starts from 1p 10,000 yen, regardless of whether you have serial publishing experience or not. In the future, more than 10 new series are being prepared and all follow this rule, I hope to be able to launch a preview of the specific content of the new series on December 21. So, That’s all for the report. I’ll do my best, so thank you all for your support!
Shinpuku likening it to jazz is a clever understatement and shows that the publisher wants to create stories that will engage and entertain readers.
However, the pay scale mentioned in the Tweet is much more interesting. Draft salaries are not mentioned often. Although there are cases where publishers disclose their salaries, some information can be gathered through articles and word of mouth. For example, on November 14, Yahoo! Japan News released an article detailing the pay at Weekly Shonen Jump at 18,700 yen (about US $127.44) per page for black-and-white and 28,050 yen (about $191.15) per page for color for upcoming authors. Entertainment trade school Entertainment Media Academy previously released an article in October 2021 claiming manga creators can expect to earn between 4,000 yen (about US$27.26) and 35,000 yen (about US$238.52) per page depending on popularity.
However, Comic Growl has announced that it will pay all newly published authors for their work a flat rate of 10,000 yen (about $68.15 USD) per page regardless of experience. Unfortunately, this Tweet doesn’t mention whether this 10,000 yen price is for black-and-white pages or color pages, or whether the price will later increase for popular titles. In any case, this is good news for upcoming Comic Growl authors, but also a potential loss for popular and established authors like Kore Yamazaki and her The Ancient Magus Bride . Bushiroad is even about to stop publishing the monthly Bushiroad magazine and move some manga to Comic Growl.
Knowing what happens to pre-prints is extremely important for manga authors. Especially new talents can be sought after by many publishers. With Comic Growl making their salaries public, it will hopefully motivate other publishers to do the same. If not, at least Comic Growl’s new talent will know what they’re getting into before signing on.
Source: Kyōhei Shinpuku’s Twitter accountYahoo Japan News, Entertainment Media Academy