Ask the President!

[starlightmuse]

Another question inspired by the teleconference. Mr. Sasahara mentioned groups needing to keep up the pace in order to work with the DMG, and he mentioned something like five or six titles per month? Did he misspeak, or will we really be expected to translate, typset, and edit five complete manga volumes per month? Or was he speaking of chapters or one-shots?

I do believe Sasahara-san meant 5-6 titles for the year, not per month. I have since double checked, and there will be a minimum amount of books that need to be completed, but not as many as was mentioned in the teleconference.

Also, this question better belongs under the "Questions" thread.

[starlightmuse]

Is there any chance that our completed projects would be turned into a physical book at all?

I'm not 100% sure if this has been answered within this forum, but it has been mentioned that yes, popular titles have a chance of getting published. We do plan to print DMG projects, but not all.

[starlightmuse]

So the idea of DMG members engaging in a competition for a title (i.e. several groups provide the translation of the first chapter of a manga, then DM plus forum members rate the best version) is well and truly dead? I remember Mr. Sasahara mentioning it in an interview with Deb Aoki months ago as a way to ensure good translation quality.

Initiatives have changed since then. This was the original idea with our platform -- but since we have gone back to stage 1 for the platform, this idea has also been canceled.

[starlightmuse]

Regarding recent events in Japan, please know that our president is safe and returning shortly. Yes, the country is in a crisis right now and we feel questions of this nature are currently not appropriate. DMG will move forward as scheduled unless we announce otherwise.

[crayon]

This comment was originally posted by: scarface133 » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:48 am
in Announcement section. I moved it here.

Well....this sucks. I can't say I'm going to read any of those titles as they are not in print. Will any of the ever be in print? And since you licence them online, what if another manga company want to pick up a title and publish in print will they ever be allowed to do that? or are you guys basically taking over the whole marked and we will never see our favorite manga in print because it's online by you.

[thebumblingbee]

Will your licensed manga maintain the authenticity of the manga? For example, will the characters maintain their mannerism of speech as well as honorifics? Or is this going to be another claim of authenticity like Viz and Tokyopop while deliberately altering the manga-ka's original dialogue script?

[chirechan]

This is what I was going to ask about during the teleconference today. I won't be able to make the next conference, so I thought I'd post it here.

Once DMP starts turning a profit from all of these Guild titles, would you consider creating a safety net for localization groups?

Localization groups are taking a risk when they sign a Schedule A. The title could be unpopular or get lost in the flood of new DMG books and not sell many copies, or the Japanese publisher could change their mind and demand DMP stops sales. All of the group's time and effort would be wasted, and the biggest shame would be that no one would read the material that the group worked so hard to localize. I'm not sure what (if anything) DMP would lose.

So, would DMP consider guaranteeing a minimum pay out to groups in the event that one of the scenarios mentioned actually occurred? For example, if after 3 years, a localization group has not earned $500 for a given title, DMP would compensate the group the balance up to $500. If the title earned more than that, no compensation would be needed. In that way, DMP would share the risk with the localization groups.

If all goes the way you plan, I imagine this would rarely happen, but I know I personally would be much more willing to take on a large work load for DMG knowing that I can at least make minimum wage. When I tell other translators and typesetters about DMG, they all say there's no way they'd work on books they don't choose with no money up front. Even with a small guarantee, I think I could convince many of them to give the guild a shot.

Sorry this wound up being so long. It's probably best I got cut off and had to type it out!

[crayon]

The whole idea of DMG, is to get rid of expensive, upfront costs & payments.
And share the risk & revenue with EVERYBODY: The original creators- mangaka, DMP and the localizers- equally so this way we can deliver hundreds of titles from Japan to our fans.
I can tell you, that DMP (DMG) has invested a lot of back end overhead to acquire the digital content, human resources, development cost, web, IT and distribution channels that is virtually unseen by localizers and customers.
You may be right- not all titles may go as big in sale but that is the "risk" we ALL take.
We suggest that the localizer group be proactive- you can too, promote your titles that you worked on, by perhaps using social networking channels, let your friends and families know. Spread the word.
Of course, we'll do our part in promoting it too.
I think the best safety net is to localize as many titles as you can so that your localized titles are always visible and not buried in the crowd.

crayon & president

[chirechan]

I appreciate the quick response. My suggestion for a safety net was more of a "just in case" a few years after a book is released and not meant to be an up front cost. Ideally, no one would ever need to use the safety net.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate the personal nature of the guild.

[ficdogg]

Is there a way for the group leader to track the sales of the titles that his/her group finished?
I think this should be implemented somehow for the sake transparency.
Maybe as a special account on emanga, or somewhere on the dmg dashboard.

Someone should bring this issue up on the teleconference as well, because I am not able to participate.