My Journey to Publishing a Manga in Japan - Part1

I am an italian student currently studying and working in Japan. In the middle of the studying and working I am also trying to publish a manga. I wasn't able to do it yet but I learned so much by trying that I thought I would share what I know with others that have the same dream. And maybe those people might give me advice as well or talk about their own experience with Japanese Publishers.

So first of all, when did I decide that I wanted to publish a manga? When it became clear to me that I could actually do it .

I used to read manga when I was younger but it never occurred to me to dream of publishing one because I couldn't really draw, I wasn't in Japan, I didn't speak Japanese and I had no idea how the all publishing a manga thing worked.

Years later I decided to move to Japan not to publish manga but to learn Japanese (I studied languages in Italy but my University didn't offer any Japanese language course so after graduation I though I would go there and learn by studying there). In the meanwhile my sister studied at a comic school in Milano (she graduated already but she isn't really a cartoonist since we don't really have comics in Italy -.- she draws books for kids, or advertisements, etc).

When I first went to Japan I had no intention on trying to publish anything but one day I bought a manga magazine from my local bookstore even if at that time I couldn't really understand what was written ._. (the cover was just too cute so I thought I would buy it to show it to my sister (Mea) which of course is always interested in drawing styles). Once home I was leafing through it just to practice my small Japanese when at the end of it I saw what looked like a contest and in the following pages they showed a sample of the manga that won that contest. I couldn't understand what the winning manga talked about but I could see a sample of the drawing and I have to say, it didn't look THAT pretty. It was ok I think and I am pretty sure the story must have been awesome if it won the contest (in fact I learned after how much the story is important). After that I saw the big price that manga won. I am not sure if in Japan that price would be considered a big one but in Italy it sure does! And the first thing I thought was "my sister can draw and there is no contest, no chance of winning anything in my country".  So the idea just came like that : I will try to publish a manga drawn by my sister. But the excitement soon went away -.-. The idea of publishing a manga at that time seemed just... easy. It was like " there is a contest for manga artists" and "I have someone that can draw and a story in mind" , it's done! But when I actually started to do it I realized how many things I didn't know .

That realization came pretty soon. I decided to gather all the instruments to make this manga and I realized I had no idea what they were.

-What is the right paper size?

-Is it ok to ink with a software and not by hand (I think only few people ink by hand in Italy these days.).

-How many pages should I make?

-Is it ok for my manga to talk about anything I want?

And may other questions. The thing is to participate to a Japanese manga contest you need to be able to read the rules, that of course change from contest to contest, so you need to know Japanese. I think this is what stops 90% or more of awesome artists in the world from participating.

I know there is plenty of tutorials and blogs and whatever about making manga but the truth is, none of the ones I found actually showed their manga to real Japanese publishers so basically everyone says his own opinion and at the end there are just so many, and all different. So which one was the right one? I guessed. And I was wrong.

The first manga that I made was just so wrong XD. The publisher I showed it to said the drawing was fine but I got the wrong paper size and the layout had some issues. Also, he gave me a very important advice. The manga I made took place in Japan and he told that it would be really interesting to know about Italy instead. What he meant is that one of the most important thing while making a manga is for it to be as much original as possible and because almost all manga take place in Japan making one that shows a different culture is already a good thing and it is something that Japanese people are most likely not able to do (I mean, how can someone Japanese know how Italian high schools work right?). Also the manga I made was a shoujo one and of course it was long, and full of characters and adventures and whatever. But you know what? When Japanese people publish their first manga most of the time is a 1 chapter story! That means that is something that starts and ends in about 30 pages! So if you are making a manga and want to show it to a Japanese publisher I would hardly recommend you make a very short one, just to show your skills and that you can make a manga basically.

This manga I made was called "Dream Hunters" and you can see a sample of the main character in this journal. I still really like this story and I haven't given up on it yet ^V^. But I put it aside to make shorter stories and try win a manga competition from a Japanese Manga Magazine. Now that I know many things I am even embarrassed that I showed it to the publisher ahah! But I guess it was the only way to learn and understand all my mistakes.

If you want to learn about my second attempt on showing a manga to a Japanese publisher and my thoughts about it stay tuned! Part 2 is coming soon!



Now I would like to share some of my thoughts about this whole publishing a manga in Japan. WHAT I AM ABOUT TO WRITE IS JUST MY OPINION AND IS BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH JAPAN AND JAPANESE PUBLISHER. And I am not stating facts or saying it is like this all the time and for all people. So :

I still have a lot to tell about my experience while trying to publish a manga in Japan but at this point when I ask myself "is it possible?", my answer is "yes, but it is REALLY hard". What I mean is that Japanese publisher are not looking for you XD. My opinion is that they don't really care weather you do it or not. It's not like they wish somebody from other countries would try make one. Also, I think they are not really open to new things. For example Italian, but I guess European, drawing style is usually a little different from Japanese. For example we don't feel like we HAVE to draw huge eyes. If you like them big it's fine but if you just like normal sized eye it's fine too. But in Japan I was told the eyes I draw are not big enough and Japanese girl would get disappointed. Also, usually manga for girls have very soft and open lines so I was told that my lines were not soft enough. And finally, the most important thing, I think the more issues are about the story. To me is just a different perception of life because of a different culture. Sometimes what is considered touching by Japanese people is not for me, and people that share my same culture. Of course, that doesn't happen all the time, and this is just my opinion. I will give you an example. I have seen that many Japanese girls just love stories where somebody has a terminal disease, especially if he/she is part of a couple. To me, that sounds kind of kitch. I mean, unless the people telling that story experienced that thing for real or knows somebody who did to me it's a cheap story. It's just too easy to touch people with a lover that want to live but can't. And it's just ridiculous when the guy with a heart disease finds a brand new heart at the end of the story and then they live happy ever after. Or other times scenes that were exciting for me were not according to Japanese people so they told me my manga lacked of "super exciting" scene when to me there were many. And their suggestion to make my manga more exciting was to change scenes in what I consider awkward and did not want to do.

So I think that Japanese publishers have nothing against foreigner trying to get manga but at the same time my impression as that you are required to make it as a Japanese person would, with a few things from your own culture (such as locations, habits, etc) to make it more original.

I haven't been able to publish a manga in Japan yet and I will try a few more times but if it doesn't work I think I will give up because it's just not worth trying to understand something that goes beyond you understanding XD.

If any of you has questions please post comments and I will do my best to answer. Also, I would like to know your thoughts. For example, what would you think of a manga with a different drawing style? Is it not a manga because it's drawn in a different style? Also, when making your manga do you try to draw scenes as you imagine them or do you usually refer to published Japanese manga you like?

Well, I wish all of you who are trying to get a manga published lack and I hope this journal can help a little !

IMPORTANT : I have been posting this journal around so if you want me to know when you replay you have to replay to the original journal in my page or otherwise I won't know that you replayed and I won't be able to answer your questions.



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