Twitter user @Ogino (荻 野), a part-time manga editor, posted on Jan 4, 2021, that doujinshi (self-created or self-published work) has become more profitable for creators when compared to commercial serialization.

The editor claimed that, for the past few years, he has tried to help writers create an environment where they can earn a living from their doujinshi activities before starting a series so that they can pursue their series with ease.

He revealed creators face a decrease in income when they start a commercial serialization. In his opinion, the creative environment has changed drastically; almost reverse of what it was five years ago.

“For the past few years, I have tried to help writers create an environment where they can earn a living from their doujinshi activities before starting a series, so that they can pursue their series with ease, ” he wrote. “The more you do it, the more profitable you will be in doujinshi activities. To be honest, the situation is reversed, if you start a serialized commercial series, the revenue goes down. What then is really commercial?”

Seiichiro Hayakawa, a scriptwriter for anime and video game productions, agreed with Ogino and pointed out that he is familiar with a story where editors consider serializing works like a side job.

A refined translation of the above tweet would be:

This has been known for a long time. Once an editor said to a manga author, “I want you to take a break from the serialization because the doujin event is coming up,” and the mangaka asked, “Shouldn’t you give priority to the main business?” I have seen such a story that made me realize that serialization is a side job.

More comments followed revealing that doujinshi authors from Comiket used to be offered the same fee as a top-class manga serialization team in the past; even for a shoujo doujinshi manga.

According to Ogino, over the last five years, the services that support the activities of individual artists have been enhanced. In addition to the traditional doujinshi consignment sales such as Toranoana and Melon Books, download sales on FANZA and DLsite are high.

Support sites such as Fantia and pixiv FANBOX are also great platforms for doujinshi. Additionally, as a result of the rise of paid request services such as skeb, the creative environment has changed drastically.

Source: Twitter 1, 2