Recently, there was an interesting announcement between two companies you might not expect to have a formal partnership.
On April 17th, Kickstarter announced (in English and Japanese) they’ve teamed up with Kodansha to work with Japanese creators. Kickstarter explained:
“Through the partnership, Kickstarter will provide Kodansha’s team with the tools, knowledge, and resources to help creators in Japan bring projects to life on our global platform. With these insights and tools in hand, Kodansha will advise creators on how to effectively tell their stories and find supportive audiences on Kickstarter.”
At first, I thought the goal was to translate manga into English and perhaps other languages. After all, the post included images of English (Kodansha USA) manga versions and the post mentions “the rest of the world”.
I was excited at the thought that digital manga released through Kodansha Advanced Media could get a physical release, or even some Japanese out-of-print titles could get a deluxe release in their homeland and around the world.
However, by the end of the post, my excitement had died down. According to a representative from Kodansha, “Kickstarter will enable us to direct creators who weren’t able to find a place on our publishing platform to a fitting outlet.” While Kickstarter and Kodansha will help those individuals, it sounds like the creators are ultimately going to have to take the lead on any crowdfunding efforts.
Probably the best sort of help they’ll get is English support. That will be nice since Kickstarter is based in the US, but whether Kodansha will provide full dual language support is, of course, yet to be known since there are very little details about what “tools, knowledge, and resources” Kickstarter is giving Kodansha to pass on.
Quite frankly, I find this whole thing a bit bizarre.
Right now, the two big questions are 1) who is participating and 2) what kind of works are involved.
Kodansha is known for manga, but they also publish many other types of books as well. But since the announcement only shows pictures of manga, it would seem manga (and perhaps light novels) would be the priority. Maybe this whole venture is best for writers of children’s books or informative prose, because there are several free or low-cost options for independent manga and light novel creators to get attention already (doujinshi festivals, online publication). Since the announcement clearly states Japanese creators, I doubt this is like TOKYOPOP’s old Rising Stars of Manga competitions or VIZ Media’s upcoming VIZ Originals, where you have English-speaking creators trying to emulate a niche medium. Kodansha and the other publishers also regularly run competitions to find newcomers as well in hopes of finding the next great talent.
But if Kodansha wants to help creators from platforms like Pixiv or Shousetsu ni Narou get their works published, they could already choose to launch their own crowdfunding efforts. It may not bring in the money like an international-friendly campaign, but there is also less to worry about — after all, shipping to another country is expensive, and more backers means more opinions!
Kodansha will likely have some sort of rights or will take a fee for anything released in this partnership. But yet the creators surely won’t have the exposure or promotion they’d normally get through traditional channels. Plus, at the core, we have a major publisher providing some support but yet wants others to actually fund the release. It’s not unheard of, but many people (including myself) are a bit annoyed when large companies use crowdfunding.
I guess Kodansha could be considering Kickstarter for some of their current manga talent to try something new. Perhaps something with graphic depictions of sex or violence, or one that depicts some controversial subject matter. Still, it would seem odd that Kodansha would not serialize works of their current authors in some fashion, but maybe some of their struggling creators or ones who were (or on the verge of) being dropped?
Let’s say a new creator does have a good story to tell. And if the Kickstarter fails? They’ll just give up on it? Kodansha sends them on their way to continue with their day job? Are they free to pursue work with another company, or will their works get tied up with rights like the TOKYOPOP controversy?
I am also curious as to how often these Kodansha-Kickstarters will run. Is this something very casual with only 1-2 campaigns a year? Will shounen titles — which enjoy the greatest success in manga-do — be given priority, or will stuff like shoujo romance or children’s comics be prominently featured since they don’t have the greatest ROI and Kodansha would rather shift the financial burden to the consumer?
I don’t know. Maybe I have to wait and see what this partnership really means, but right now, I just don’t get it. Either Kodansha should add these creators to their portfolio or the creators themselves should focus on doing a small-yet-successful campaign and promotion with their own works.