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Sumito Oowara, the author of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! manga, has taken to X to shed light on the issue of unpaid cover illustrations in the manga industry.
Oowara’s posts revealed that many manga artists, despite the significant work involved, are often expected to create cover illustrations for free.
Sumito Oowara calls out industry practice:
The author debunked the misconception that manga artists willingly draw covers out of passion, explaining that such assumptions misrepresent the reality.
“I draw covers because I’m asked to—of course, that’s the case,” he wrote. “The idea that ‘mangaka voluntarily draw their own covers’ is just a pretense and doesn’t reflect the reality at all.”
Oowara shared a personal account of his experience negotiating with an editor. When he suggested leaving the cover blank if he wasn’t going to be compensated, the editor responded saying, “That would affect sales, so please reconsider.”
This interaction, according to Oowara, highlighted how publishers rely on artists’ unpaid labor while justifying it with market performance concerns.
The manga artist further emphasized that his posts were not just personal complaints but part of a broader effort to bring attention to an industry-wide problem.
“When I say on Twitter that ‘I want to be paid for cover illustrations,’ it’s a message aimed at the entire industry. It’s also about spreading awareness to create change in society,” Oowara stated.
He added that he has actively engaged in direct negotiations with publishers, reporting some progress in these discussions.
Oowara also expressed frustration with individuals in the industry who dismiss the possibility of change, suggesting that such attitudes often come from those who have never made any real effort to address the issue.
In another post, the manga author proposed the idea of forming a manga artist association to better advocate for creators’ rights.
Oowara was probably signaling a push for collective action to address issues like unpaid labor and promote fair compensation within the industry.
In a post that was made on Oct 1, 2024 on X, Oowara had complained that he never got paid for the manga covers he drew, even though he has requesting for payment since the first volume of the manga was published.
“Once again, I am not being paid for the manga cover—zero yen. I’ve been saying, ‘Please pay me,’ ever since my first series when my first volume was published, and it’s been about eight years now, but I still haven’t received anything. I believe this is an issue with the company, not the editorial department. Isn’t this an ‘abuse of superior bargaining position’?“
Other authors also raise concerns:
Since that post, multiple authors have called out the unfair cover art illustration practice in the manga industry, subsequently starting a discourse on social media platforms.
Riho Sachimi, the author of Hanagatari Tenshōin Atsuhime manga, was one of the artists who chimed in on the issue saying that no matter the size of the publisher, doing cover art for free was the norm.
The author pointed out that she too was open to being paid for the cover arts.
“The Issue of Manuscript Fees for Tankobon Covers: Regardless of whether the artist is famous or unknown, or whether the publisher is a large or small company, the basic norm is that there’s no payment. The more conscientious companies that do pay often offer lower royalties in return. When I’m busy, I sometimes reuse magazine color illustrations, but I’ve also created new ones because I wanted to make readers happy. That means all the color illustrations I did around this time were unpaid work. But it’s not too late—I’m still open to being paid!” Sachimi said.
Following the author’s post, George Morikawa, author of Hajime no Ippo, pointed out that manuscript fee usually only covered the fee for the work being published in the magazine, and usually did not include the tankobon volume.
He further went on to say that the cover art and bonus illustrations were voluntary services from the artist and there was no hard and fast rule that they absolutely had to do them.
“Sachimin, excuse me for quoting you.
I wanted to share this since some manga artists might not know.
As a general practice, the term ‘manuscript fee’ used by publishers refers to the fee for magazine publication, which is paid when the work is published in a magazine.
This is considered separate from the publication of a collected volume (tankobon).
Covers and bonus pages are treated as voluntary services by the artist, which is why no compensation is provided.
This is because artists have the option not to create these elements.
Occasionally, the ‘unpaid cover issue’ arises, leading to disagreements between artists and publishers.
At the same time, there are cases where compensation is provided, which complicates the matter.
If a cover illustration is explicitly “requested,” it is only natural to demand payment as compensation for the work.”
This response was not particularly liked by many artists, and fans, as Morikawa is also the executive director of the Japan Cartoonists Association.
This probably prompted Morikawa to say in one of his recent tweets that both sides of the matter regarding unpaid cover art norm should be considered before coming to a conclusion.
On Oct 20, 2024, Virginia Nitohei, the author of Isekai Izakaya “Nobu” said that volume 19 of the manga, which will release on Dec 4, 2024, will not have any bonus features, and probably won’t feature any cover art either.
This was because the promise of the author receiving fee for the same was broken.
“By the way, it has been decided that there will be no bonus content.
This is because the promise to provide a manuscript fee was broken…“
Sumito Oowara started serializing Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! manga in Shogakukan’s seinen manga magazine Monthly Big Comic Spirits since 2016. As of July 2023, eight volumes of the manga have been released.
The series inspired multiple adaptations, including an anime by Science Saru that aired from January to March 2020, followed by a live-action TV series in April 2020 and a film adaptation in September of the same year.
Source: X
