Starting as a Manga Editor

Chapter 158: Anticipation and Concern

There’s no denying it.Online serialization really does hold strong appeal for some smaller mangaka.

Although, at present, not many manga artists have serialized their work online...Because online serialization still isn’t mainstream.Even Wenxin Press—Tang Yao’s former employer—launched an online reading platform that’s now half-dead. The only time it ever surged was when Fate/Zero and Human-Head Balloons made their debut.

After all, they never put many resources into supporting their online reading platform. Their main focus has always been on their print magazines.

Without proper backing, both traffic and benefits were mediocre at best.

Top-tier mangaka weren’t interested.

And the smaller ones preferred aiming for print magazines to make a name for themselves.

In the end, only some enthusiasts ended up serializing online.

On the editorial side, Wenxin Press didn’t pay much attention to the website either, so no one scouted the promising, creative works buried there.

Low manuscript fees, lack of attention, and most importantly—zero breakout potential...All these factors combined turned the whole thing into a half-dead mess.

No one wanted to submit to it anymore. In fact,even Shang Tao from Wenxin Press was practically fuming over the state of the website, getting so worked up he was breaking out in stress hives.

But even if he brought it up with Vice President Zhao Fangsheng...Zhao Fangsheng, being upper management, couldn’t change the company’s entire direction either.

After all, not everyone has the guts to abandon the company’s current cash cow in hopes of an uncertain future.

Especially when that future hasn’t taken shape yet.

Mangaka weren’t willing to give up print magazines for online serialization, and publishers also weren’t ready to drop print to push online.

But ANF... was different!

Because they had nothing to lose.

Originally just a video platform focused on anime and gaming, ANF had manga as just one section, built around online serialization from the start.They carried no baggage and not only offered higher manuscript fees than Wenxin Press’s online site, but also only imposed a minimum update length.Most importantly... they had the rising game giant Avalon behind them.

When it came to IP development, that gave them a serious edge. Everyone in the industry had heard of FGO—proof enough.

Not to mention, standout works even had a shot at getting licensed to Avalon’s games, receiving royalties and revenue shares.

That might not apply to most who submit,but it meant there was a chance to make it big.

And even if you ignore that angle,just the manuscript fees and ANF’s recent rise—gathering tons of hardcore anime users—were more than enough to tempt many smaller mangaka!

Of course,this mainly applied to mid- and lower-tier mangaka in the pyramid.

For those at the top, the allure still wasn’t strong enough.They were already raking in royalties, and as for game collabs, their publishers were already working on licensing deals—even if none had panned out yet, they weren’t going to jump to ANF for this alone.

But in any industry, the ones who make up the majority aren’t the elite top—it’s the mid- and lower-tier.

If they got interested,

a lot could change. Still, while smaller mangaka were excited,they also had their concerns...

Everything has two sides.

ANF was a newcomer. They had no legacy—which meant they could offer such generous conditions,but also meant they had no foundation.

They were making a big splash now,but who knew how far their manga section would really go in the end?

What if it was all hype and no substance?

What if no one cared about your work once it was uploaded?

What if ANF’s core users didn’t actually like online manga reading?

What then?

After all, ANF had never done anything like this before.They started as a video platform.

That did make people worry.

If Wenxin Press had pulled something like this,a bunch of mangaka would have jumped on it immediately,because their print magazines were already wildly successful.

That’s what you call legacy.

Sure, their online reading platform turned into trash...

But this is the problem all new players face.

Thankfully though,ANF’s manga section didn’t just have flashy campaigns—it had an actual new series in serialization!

That mysterious Third-Rate Teacher’s—Chainsaw Man.

For reasons unknown, instead of continuing the wildly popular FATE series,he started a completely new story.

And the tone of the story was a total departure from his previous work.

Even if he wasn’t exactly a newbie,this brand-new work could serve as a great test for how well ANF users would receive the manga section.

So quite a few fellow mangaka began watching how Chainsaw Man performed.

Just to see—how far this manga,and ANF’s manga section,could go in the end...

...

At the same time—

“Chainsaw Man? This campaign?”

Rumi sat in her studio, staring at her computer screen, filled with question marks just like the other mangaka.

After a while,she finally reacted. First, she checked out the campaign in the manga section.

Then,she flipped through the chapters of Chainsaw Man that had been released so far, and showed a thoughtful expression.

A world of bizarre devils, a boy at the bottom of society who hunts devils to survive...A protagonist with extremely simple motivations, full of anti-hero traits?

Why was she suddenly drawing something like this?

And wasn’t she making games now? Why the sudden huge push into manga?

Rumi was confused.

She still occasionally kept in touch with Tang Yao...but they mostly talked about FGO.She had really gotten into the game.They never really talked about manga.

Because she herself was a mangaka,she didn’t want to talk manga with Tang Yao.

As for that initial plan to design Heroic Spirits and draw character art for FGO...

Because Rumi got too busy—and spent too much time playing the game—the plan was eventually scrapped.

She felt really guilty about it.

But the pressure from her editor was too much.She had no choice but to focus on her serialization.

And by the time she had free time again,the game’s testing period was already over.

The planned collab event could no longer go live.

She had apologized to Tang Yao many times over it.

Tang Yao didn’t say much about it—since the game had ended up performing better than expected anyway.Even without a bonus collab, it was fine.

But because of this,Rumi didn’t feel comfortable asking Tang Yao to meet in real life.

In the end, the two of them became occasional online acquaintances.

And to be honest,Avalon’s rise afterward had completely blown Rumi’s mind.

It was insane.

...FGO made headlines almost immediately, pulling in over 90 million on launch day.

Then came investment in ANF, this anime/gaming platform, followed by a bunch of events—People all over were saying that both the game and the platform were raking in tons of cash!And Rumi was well aware of what was going on in the publishing world...She heard a lot of execs were so jealous they could barely contain themselves!

And to think Rumi had once asked to invest in Tang Yao, only to get turned down.

Now, seeing how things had turned out,she felt even more embarrassed to reach out.

Not because of jealousy or regret.

Well, maybe a little regret—but not a lot.

Rumi didn’t lack money.What she really worried about was that Tang Yao would misunderstand—and think she only showed up because Avalon was thriving.

Especially considering she hadn’t thought mobile games would succeed in the first place...She felt super awkward about it.

In short,they didn’t chat much anymore.

But now, seeing that Tang Yao was planning to heavily push ANF’s manga sectionand had launched a brand-new series,

she suddenly really wanted to ask what Tang Yao was thinking.

But she had no idea how to bring it up...

So Rumi thought for a moment...grabbed her mouse and opened her messaging software,then searched around until she found a manga chat group.

It was a group she had joined a long, long time ago, before she ever became famous.

Most of the members had changed by now.

And she’d never said a single word in it.

Mostly because, with her current reputation,it was hard to speak up.

The group members had no idea who she really was.

But even though she stayed silent,she still checked in from time to time to see what other mangaka were talking about.

And sure enough, just as she opened the group—

Everyone was talking about ANF’s latest manga events!

[Hey guys, have you heard about the ANF event?][Yeah! Super tempting! The pay per page is crazy! And they only set a minimum update quota! Someone said they tried Wenxin’s online site and the payback rate was way worse than print. Just this week’s page rate equals tons of pocket money!][Exactly! And the scariest part is the later promise—an FGO collab! I spent like 2K on that game myself... if my manga could collab with FGO, how much could I make from that alone?][If you’re tempted, go for it! Print mags have no future!][I want to, but I’m still worried about the site. Print mags might be hard to break into, but at least there’s a steady reader base. As long as your serialization goes well, you can make a living. But ANF... who knows how it’ll go? Wenxin’s online site is a cautionary tale.][True. Let’s wait and see how Chainsaw Man does. If it blows up—I’m in!][Blows up? Not likely... ANF might be an anime site, but their manga reader base probably isn’t as big as Wenxin’s. And Third-Rate Teacher isn’t drawing another FATE series. It’s something totally new.][Yeah, so it really depends on commercial value! Who knows how much a collab with FGO will really earn...][Hey! Talking collab profits already? Isn’t it a bit early?!][What if, though?][...]

The messages kept flooding in.

Rumi couldn’t even keep up anymore.

Clearly, most mangaka were super interested in ANF’s manga section.

But at the same time... they were all a little worried.

Rumi read along for a bit. Once she saw a chance, she finally picked up her phone and sent Tang Yao a message:

"Are you guys really planning to push the manga section this hard lately...?"