MANGA INSIDER MAYU #10 – ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS! (2024)

Hi everyone!Today I will be answering some questions I got from you guys!Hope this works as a good review for the articles so far!Ever since I started writing this series, I have received so many comments and supportfrom many people. I thank you all, and will keep on doing my best to entertain you!OK, now let’s see what kind of questions we got…

1.Is it possible for someone who doesn’t know how to draw to become an editor? Or someone who has skills in drawing but not really super good at it.. (Prinches Arpilleda) /I want to become an editor of manga, but I don’t know how to draw. Is it possible? (Syahril Khairunnizam)

The answer is YES! Drawing skillsarenot arequirement for an editor. In fact, most of our editors are not confident in their drawing skills either!However, there are severalsituations in which drawing skills can help you.For instance, editors will need to draw a rough layout whenever they have to make an article (read #7 for further details!)

By the way, there is a tradition at Comic ZENONthat all the editors have to draw an illustration of themselves. Introducing you all to the Comic ZENON editorial team!!

2.What are the basic requirements to become an editor? (Prinches Arpilleda) /How do you accept someone to be an editor? What kind of test (if any) he/she had to do in order to be accepted like, does he need to have a technical knowledge in writing/storytelling or something like that? (Ryan Lawlied)

This is actually quite a difficult question, since there is no clear answer. Let’s see what the people in the previous articles said…Chief Editor: Mr. Hanada (#1)

…we editors need to think like an average reader whenever we help a Manga artist to draw some work….Being a person with commonsenseis obviously one aspect of being a good editor… Another thing is to be able to enjoy talking. …And last but not least,an editor needs to be a curious person.

CEO/Former Editor of Weekly Shonen JUMP: Mr. Horie (#2,#5)

“An editor should talk with a lot of people, and improve hiscommunication skills”
“An editor should see as many beautiful things as possible”
“An editor should try writing a business log for at least three years”
“Editors should discuss a lot, and fight a lot, about anything they do at work”
“A chatty person becomes a good editor. …“An editor has to come up with as many ideas as possible, even if all the ideas may be declined by the manga artist. “

Deputy-chief Editor: Mr. Watanabe (#3-4)

…editors need to be good at scheduling and management, and every editor has their own tips to cope with that. …I think that an organized person will do well in this job, …Also, a very important thing is the ability to find people’s virtues.”

Editor: Mr. Tanaka (#6)

“From my experience at my former company, I did have the ability to write articles, take photos, think of layouts, and all those basic skills.…I believe that people who are good at praising people’s work make good editors.…it is also important to be able to manage several tasks at once, since editors need to do several pieces of work at the same time. “

Vice-chief Editor: Mr. Hisanaga(#6)

“There are lots of other things which are more important than drawing. Being able tochoose objectively is one thing. …It is also very important to be able to enjoy this job.…And finally, it is better to have a human loving nature. “

What a load of worthy words!! There’s so much more to learn from them!As for the tests and recruitment process, see #6 of my article, where I introduce three stories about how our editors started working here!The most common way to become an editor is to take Mr. Yokoyama’s way,is by joining the company as a new graduate. Otherwise you can look for the recruitment information like Mr. Tanaka and Mr. Hisanaga. The latter way, however, may require you to have some sort of working experience!

3. What is the chance of a non Japanese applicant getting hired for that post? (Merra Princess Arpilleda) /Would aforeigner be able to work as aneditor in Japan? What would be the requirements be? (XauyChu Wpbc)

Yes, there is a chance for foreign people to work as an editor in Japan! There are some publishers which look for talented foreign artists, like Koudansha. Those companies would also look for foreign editors, so that they can communicate with those foreign artists. Our company, Coamix, is one of those companies too!However, it is not an easy path to take. Those foreign editors are required to speak a high level of Japanese, since the most important thing in editing is communication. If you are not confident speaking Japanese, then the first thing to do is learningit!

4.I would like to know how I can present my drawings to a editors (Alice Roggeri) /Would Japanese or Chinese editors accept projects from astranger? (Anouchka Bretan) /Is it at all possible for an author outside Japan to get serialised in Japan? (Ivan Radev)

The best and fastest way is to win a certain kind of manga award. That is the easiest way to prove you have great manga skills, and most of the time the winner will be given an editor partner to work with! Another way is to bring in yourwork to a publisher which has already published a manga by a foreign manga artist. Make sure to make an appointment before visiting!Unlike being an editor, being a manga artist in Japan doesn’t require being able to speak good Japanese. However, it may be a good idea to learn the culture, so that your work can become more interesting!

5. How does an editor keep the artist’s spirits up? (Ricky Hardjono)

Mochida-san says that the best way to keep the artist’s spirit up is to stimulate them by giving themany kind of information that is needed to make a hit manga. The information could be about anything – the news, a popular story, something he heard in an interview… almost anything!An important job for an editor is to create a good environment for the manga artist to come up with ideas. So, whenever the manga artist loses his way, the editor is there to give opinions based on his own experience. The more experience, the better theopinion! Based on this experience, an editor needs to be able to give an answer,easing the artist’s worries.

6. How long does it take to publish a magazine? How about the process of creating manga? (Kuroi Kai)

The most common style of a publication is either Weekly or Monthly. Of course there are other types like bi-weekly magazines, bi-monthly magazines, and much more…but here I will exclude those examples.A manga for a weekly magazine(e.g. Weekly Shonen JUMP) usually has about 19 pages for one story. For the average manga, the storyboards are made in 2-3 days, and the drawings are done in 3-4 days, which makes almost a week. On the other hand, a manga on a monthly magazine (e.g. Monthly Comic ZENON) has approximately 45 pages in one story. That makes the manga artists work 7 days on the storyboard, and 14-20 days on the drawing.Having worked at both types of magazines, our boss Mochida-san says the key to the success is to be wise in time management. A human body has a limit… so all we can do is to fix the schedule to match our own ability. After all, the manga just has to meet the deadline. In other words, you can start as early as you want, or finish as late as you like,as long asyou don’t miss the deadline!(But now that you have read this series, you may now know that it is better to turn in work earlier… for the sake of the editor’s work!!)

7.How long does it takea mangaka to draw one page and do they use any Computer programs for the manga? (Wsma Saleh)

This depends on who the manga artists is. Simply speaking, a manga artist would be required to finish 3 pages a day, if he is working for a weekly manga magazine. As for the monthly magazine, the requirement would be 1 page a day. But as I said before, you just have to meet the deadline!Every year, more and more artists are using digital technology for drawing manga. At the same time, there are lots of computer programs thatare effective for drawing too. With all that software available, I guess the “best” software is the one thatworks the best for you.

8. Do the editors also have to do promotions for their works? Such as writing an article about it? And what can an editor do to help promote their works tothepublic? (Juliagar Romadhani Nasution)

Yes, they do! The promotion we often do is to write blogs and tweet on twitter (covered in #9), but we also visit book stores and talk with the sellers, and also think of selling plans (see #3 for detail!).Those plans includes thing like visualization projects, holding events, and collaboration with others.Ina future episode I will be asking one of our editors about it, so don’t miss it!!

9.What kind ofarticles do you have in Zenon? Like the ones written by dedicated writers? (Ivan Radev)

Hey, I just realized that I haven’t introduced you to our mangas at all!Here I would like to introduce all the mangas now serialized from Comic ZENON.