Besides the release of chapter 13, there was another important matter in the last few days Being paid my salary!
This salary was the share of last month's sales revenue for the Marigold single, plus various miscellaneous copyright fees, and the total income after tax—39.67 million yen.
That's right, 39.67 million yen.
When Akira saw this amount, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
However, after a quick calculation: 835,000 monthly single sales, each album priced at 1,100 yen, their share is 10%, and he and Rin have to split it 50/50.
So, just this one sum alone was already 45.925 million yen.
As for why it was only 39.67 million yen after including the miscellaneous income, it was, of course, because of taxes.
Anyway, let's not dwell on the tax deduction for now. At this moment, Akira only had one thought: Good heavens!
He had been drawing manga for so long, and up until now, he had only earned a few million yen!
And yet, just by casually copying a song, he could earn this much in a month?!
No, drawing manga really has no future, right?!
But on second thought, it couldn't really be compared like that.
After all, manga follows a long-term route; it only starts to truly make money after the tankobon is released or even after it gets adapted into an anime.
Moreover, he was playing the IP game. Once the Type-Moon Series IP takes shape in the future, the earning potential would be on an entirely different scale.
Anyway, keeping a level head, Akira continued drawing the latest chapter of Fsn while writing "Because of You," and soon welcomed the shōsei results for chapter 13.
The ranking unexpectedly didn't slide, remaining at 3rd place.
As for naruto, perhaps because Konohamaru, who appeared in the second chapter, wasn't very likable, the ranking suddenly dropped to 7th place.
In reality, even looking at it with the perspective of future generations, the first chapter where Uzumaki naruto successfully graduates to become a genin, and the third chapter where they start forming teams, is what constitutes a coherent plot.
And suddenly inserting a plot about Konohamaru between these two chapters was indeed a bit confusing.
Additionally, although Konohamaru's status as the Third Hokage's grandson made him seem quite significant, and he remained active until the Boruto era in the future.
It must be said that among the many supporting characters in naruto, Konohamaru was quite a background character.
Even fan fiction of naruto rarely includes him.
Perhaps even his later ninja squad teammate, Moegi, was more popular than him.
Besides the shōsei results, this week Hisashi also brought another important piece of news: "If nothing unexpected happens, the first volume tankobon of 'Fate/stay night' will be released next Saturday, that is, October 16th."
"Did you receive the first-print edition sent to you?"
"I did."
In fact, Akira was holding a first-print edition tankobon of 'Fate/stay night' right then.
A first-print edition is not a sample book; it is the version from the first printing, which is exactly the same as what readers would buy, just sent to the author by the printer before the official release.
He took a rough look at it, and it was no different from other tankobon on the market. The outermost layer was wrapped in a colored book jacket, with the color cover he provided printed on it.
On the inside of the book jacket, the self-portrait he provided was printed.
Generally, Manga Artists who don't mind appearing in person will print their real photos here, but Manga Artists who are more reluctant to appear in person will choose to draw a self-portrait.
For example, the little character wearing a gas mask drawn by Toriyama Akira, the Sorachi gorilla by the author of "Gintama," Hideaki Sorachi, and so on.
As for him, he used the art style of "Learning with Manga! FGO" to draw a big-headed chibi version of himself, which looked silly and quite humorous.
Below the self-portrait, there was a note from the author that is, himself to the readers: "This guy is very lazy and left nothing behind."
The main content of the tankobon was the content of the first eight chapters of Fsn, so I won't go into detail here.
Although following the updates every week and discussing the latest plot with friends or netizens is indeed very interesting, in terms of reading experience alone, it's still more satisfying to read them all in one go.
And this applies not only to manga, but in fact, to the vast majority of serialized works.
Additionally, the paper quality of the tankobon was, as expected, better than Weekly Shonen Jump, and the images looked clearer.
For 'Fate/stay night,' it also looked more pleasing to the eye.
Setting aside the content, although the quality of the tankobon was no different from the vast majority of tankobon on the market, as his first manga tankobon, it was very meaningful to him.
Besides that, there was an even more important significance: "Finally, the tankobon is going to be released." He sighed.
Finally, it's time to start making money.
Although the manuscript fees from Shonen Jump were not bad, as everyone knows, truly popular Manga Artists never rely on manuscript fees to make money.
Manga tankobon, anime adaptations, theatrical versions, copyrights for various derivative merchandise—these are the things that truly make money.
And now, he was finally about to take the first step.
"Indeed." Hisashi understood his feelings and then reminded him: "However, the next part is the most critical time."
Generally speaking, a manga's ranking performance in Weekly Shonen Jump is directly proportional to its tankobon sales.
That is, the more people who vote and the more popular the work, the higher the sales.
Therefore, within Shonen Jump, there are different minimum sales requirements for works with different average rankings.
And for a super popular new work like 'Fate/stay night,' the requirements are naturally in the highest tier.
Hisashi said seriously: "For 'Fate/stay night,' it would be an ideal situation if the initial sales in the first week could reach 30,000 copies, and at a minimum, it must be guaranteed to be over 15,000 copies."
Er—although he seemed to have made a similar statement before, he still had to say now that the requirements didn't seem very high.
More importantly—he asked somewhat doubtfully: "But I remember, wasn't the initial print run 300,000 copies?"
To this, Hisashi explained: "That was prepared according to the projected medium-to-long-term sales."
Many products have the highest sales when they are first released and then continue to decline, but the sales trend of manga tankobon is the exact opposite.
As the serialization of the manga gets longer and popularity grows higher, the tankobon sales will also become higher and higher.
Conversely, when the initial first volume tankobon is released, some people may choose to wait and see for the time being, so the sales might not actually be very high.
"In short, an initial print run of 300,000 copies is the same treatment as One Piece."
"Now that I've said that, you know how much the editorial department values 'Fate/stay night,' right?"
If you put it that way, then indeed.
Akira nodded, then asked curiously: "Speaking of which, what were the first-week sales of the first volume tankobon of One Piece?"
"Well.." Hisashi thought for a moment and said: "I remember it was around 50,000-plus copies."
"Is that so..." Akira sighed upon hearing this, then suddenly said softly: "Mr. Sasaki, the single sales of Marigold are already about to break 1 million."