This is not a pub bashing post…if you’re here to see if I’m talking ’bout yur company, stop right now, and leave. I’m posting to talk about a future trend that I see happening now, as someone who’s submitting to companies and trying to get published.
Lynsley Brito and I were talking about how strange [more like how utterly pointless and lame] it is that we’re forced to take Games With Me to Germany for publication first, before an American publisher will consider it.
We’re not making bitter assumptions here; we’ve been told flat out by two different pubs that they’d be more interested in ‘licensing it’ once it’s been printed, than releasing it themselves, as original work. I’m not the contentious wiener everyone likes to think I am—I know the reasons for these modi operandorum. One, is that the market they’ve cultivated with manga is one that suffers from a gratification handicap; Japanese volumes are completed, have been for years, and so licensing them and printing them on schedule is what fans are used to. They expect it, and appreciate it. They don’t want to wait for a year or two between volumes… I understand this as a reason for not cultivating original material based on one creators original idea—that’s why some pubs wont even consider original material. It’s time consuming and then there’s the issue of artist reliability.
Well, times are changing. Blame it on licensing prices or Japanese publishing’s desire to simply cut out the middle-man by setting up their own shop in the West…but more American manga publishers are starting to sniff around for original material.
The biggest obstacle I’m finding as a creator is that these companies tend to want ‘manga’ that’s owned by them, or—‘to license complete work’ that’s been tried and proven by another publisher. The latter is cost affective in a niche market like manga, and I won’t knock it…but the former is enough to make my head explode.
I can’t help but suspect that the reasoning behind a ‘publisher owned’ manga has little to do with ‘harvesting talent’ as it does ‘looking for the next big thing.’ I look around at blogs critical of the corporate comics formula and I see DC/Marvel called out for being ‘corporate jerks’ for engaging in uncool WFH [work for hire] programs that give zero rights to creators and subdues truly original comics, all to profit their publisher name and hinder the original spirit; and yet no one is bothered by this very same trend threatening to develop in American manga publishing. Are they ignoring it on purpose? This very practice of hiring writers and artists on WFH contracts for books that in the end belong solely to the publisher, is the very same thing DC/Marvel have done since Day 1. Can someone tell me where the hidden nobility is in this? If you can, I’d like to hear it?
Yes, I know, print manga is NOT a huge cash-cow; but manga goods and multi-media adaptations—are. WFH in manga looks to become the standard when it comes to original works, and the folks contracting original creators are willing to look at ‘original ideas’, BUT SEEM only willing to dole out ‘creator-participation’ contracts on titles made exclusively for them. I wouldn’t be bothered by such a contract, if they didn’t always tend to leave out, or offer extremely low, ‘Subsidiary’ rights. I know manga publishers in the US realized ages ago that multi-media and merchandising of a title is where the money’s at. Fan goods, animation and films based on original material are the best way to recoup cash on a fictional property—ok, I get it. My problem is that many pubs [not the one you think I'm talking about!] aren’t keen on ‘sharing’ the full potential of these subsidiaries with the creators who created them.
Matt Fraction said something recently that I’ve known all along: A creator-participation deal is not the same thing as being creator-owned.
Sure, you get paid for your artwork and story—and sure, you get a percentage per print-book sold…but what happens when the book transcends print. Are you getting monies from the key chains, bookmarks, posters, postcards? Are you getting paid for when your characters are shucking candy, art supplies, clothing, and book bags? What about if your stories are used to schlep educational materials? What about television? An animation-series bible is sometimes worth $12,000…but if your publisher just sells the ‘manga’ as the bible, and then doles out a ‘subsidiary percentage’ to you of about 10%–where is the other 90% going of that 12k going? Your publisher has zero overhead here—any new development of your project isn’t costing them a thing, because now it’s all up to the production company that bought the bible. 
I’ve been amazed at some of the ‘Subsidiary Rights’ clauses I’ve seen in contract offers. It’s like I’ve no right to earn anything beyond what’s printed, because the publisher took a chance on my title and they’re entitled to the multi-media/merchandise spoils. >_< No way. I know too much about how multi-media works, I know how much money is involved in procuring rights from print, and so NO—I’d never just sign a contract giving me 5-10% on an animation deal–and this kills my chances at scoring a paltry creator-participation contract. 
If the future of US manga publishing is going to be centered on original material, and that said materials ‘multi-media’ potential…who’s making the money here? Well, if you sign a creator-participation deal that excludes or limits what you can make beyond print sales—it won’t be you. The companies that put out this material wont be any different than DC Comics or Marvel… will they?
Hypothetical: Let’s say you make a shonen manga called Mikey the Mongol. Mikey is a hit right out of the gate. You signed a creator-participation contract that gives you a percentage per book sold, on top of a percentage per book sold in foreign markets, and a percentage in subsidiaries like animation, television etc. Now–you’re getting your percentages…so, it’s all good. The company has to use their larger percentage to cover printing and marketing and cons and sales–the manga biz is tuff on everyone, your pub is struggling as much as you. Now here is where things get iffy. Mikey the Mongol makes it to TV, you get your standard percentage as contracted to you by your publisher, BUT the company gets to keep making money off whatever they negotiated on THEIR BEHALF, with the production company. So you signed a contract giving you 15% one any one-time multimedia op, while your pub can negotiate for much higher, since the property value has changed because of it’s hit status. So while you get your $5000 for the Mikey tv license…the company is getting way more than that–and then some. Also, if Mikey becomes a hit on TV, that opens the door for more original Mikey manga. Right? What if you can’t do it anymore? You’ve moved on from Mikey–or, you just can’t draw Mikey because of time constraints or health issues. Oh well–it’s not up to you, because the company has part ownership and it’s in the best interest of the company to keep Mikey going for new readers. Oh, and it’s not really up to you where Mikey goes from where you intended him to go because– Mikey belongs to the company too, and they have the right to hire WFH writers and artists to create more Mikey, without you. BUT HEY, you still get your 10% percent per book sold. Lucky you!
^_^ Not all pubs act like this, but if some of the current standards I see now are given time to thrive in an atmosphere unchecked, it will be. [BTW, strict WFH contracts shouldn’t even have to worry about any of this…you’re creating a property for the company so that ‘the company’ can make money on the story you’re making for them—this is your job and it’s what you’re hired to do.] I’m just saying that, if you sign a creator-participation contract made for your own original idea; read it carefully and negotiate subsidiaries, please. You run the risk of being screwed out of any and all multi-media potential, despite being thrown a bone that entitles you to about 5% of each ‘fan item’ sold.
That’s out of the WAY…
Licenses are different. The pub is paying a lump sum for the license, or they contract you with an up front payment, plus a percentage of per-book sales, and of course—a percentage of merchandising. As for film or animation—if they see the opportunity to adapt your work into these mediums, they’ll still need your say-so, you’ll have to be included in talks with the production company because the title is still yours, it’s not shared. Remember, in licensing, it’s yours before it’s theirs: they’re just paying you for the rights to make money off your work. 
And that, in a nutshell, is what drives Lynsley and I crazy. We have to seek publication in countries where we can get creator-owned contracts…even if we can’t even speak their language. Games With Me will be published in German, and no one we know personally will be able to understand it. 0_0.
