I got a reply back. Banzai said it's not them. They're not affiliated w/ Bonsai 
Ah, not good. If it’s possible at all, would you mind posting the conversation? Were they surprised at all that another French company was acting under a very similar name?
I can pose the question why they’re so similar to my contact (I supposed it wouldn’t be the first time that a business tried a similar name to an already established business) but there’s just a couple too many coincidences now. For the moment, I would say for authors might be to wait until the site launches.
At this point their one saving grace so far has been that the contract was fairly in favour of the author but again for the moment it’s suspicious.
Ahhh well thank you for doing this!! I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t think of contacting them directly. It’s too bad they couldn’t elaborate but they didn’t seem worried so maybe it happens more frequently? At the same time, it’s hard to ignore and I’ll definitely be asking!
Thank you for posting this. I emailed Banzai Editions last weekend (in French, my 2nd language) but hadn't received a reply yet. Good to have confirmation now. Waiting to see what their website is like in 2-3 months.
Generally (not directing my comments at anyone in particular, just dropping info), publishing scammers (aka vanity publishers5) aim for fast and easy money. They also tend to charge fees, which is a huge red flag as publishers never charge creators a dime (again, this is an industry standard across the board--never work with any publisher who charges you a penny for anything). The fact that Bonsai actually appears to be translating these works and have not asked for money does not appear to fit that pattern.
Next, there are computer programs available that can easily by-pass many websites that do not allow copy-paste and take full copies of one's work. If this is a scam, why even bother contacting people and doing all this additional work at no charge, when one can easily steal the work for free without the creator even knowing ? (and why not charge money like the other publishing scammers?) It seems like too much effort for too little gain. Only speculating here, though.
Anyhow, if folks here are still (understandably) apprehensive about this, remember the contract stipulates you can walk away from Bonsai Editions at any time, at which point your work will be removed from their website.
Copyright is King. For any works made public, especially if one is seriously pursuing a career in comics or literature, the work should be formally copyrighted before it is posted online. Without a copyright, one risks that their work may fall under the "public use" category, at which point recourse may either be difficult to obtain or completely unavailable.
If anyone does not have a legal copyright on their work yet, consider acquiring one as soon as possible. Depending on one's country, obtaining a copyright is a fast, easy, and very affordable process. Universal copyrights are available so works are protected from theft and plagiarism regardless of country. I made sure to complete this process before sharing my work anywhere.
First off, what is the contract, because if you agree to this I think there are a few things you should look out for, such as 'distribute your works'. Distribute can be vague and does not define how many insertions, which can get dicey if they decide to start selling merch without your consent. And what are the copyright laws, what it their business plan if they are a start up. I think there is not enough info about it, and if you cannot find it anywhere then they haven't been advertising the start up of their business. and if they have bought a domain, you can see if it is taken or not already. I would also say if you can get them to tell you who is design their website, like a company or person, and get in contact with the designer to see if they are real. if they refuse to tell you, I would pass.
They've provided contracts privately to persons they've contacted. A few comments higher, I mentioned a number of organizations that provide free contract review services for creators. Folks can join the organization(s) relevant to their genre if they wish to access these services or obtain further information (there is the SFWA2 for sci-fi and fantasy writers, for example). Even in a formal employment setting, most businesses do not post their contracts online for just anybody to view (primarily for confidentiality reasons).
Copyright laws vary by country. This requires each individual to do their own research and familiarize themselves with the copyright laws where they live. Where I am (Canada) copyrights are easy to obtain online or by mail through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
I have spent several years working in contracts (drafting, approval, rejection, amendments, negotiations, etc.) so just chipping in my 2 cents based on my professional experience. Of course, please do not take any of my comments at face value and consult the relevant governing bodies local to you. I hope this is helpful.
2 months later
Alright! So some actual news to give people in case they want it, Bonsai Eitions, the site is up and running now. Here is the link: https://bonsai-editions.com/11
I've pre-tested it and it all looks safe! If anyone else would like to add some info, it's welcome to it, but as of right now, I haven't had any issue with Bonsai Editions and it's nice to see an actual site up ^^
16 days later
Hm, so hi guys. I made an account to have a brief sum up on the subject.
Bonsai-editions.com was created by an old aggregator website for scanlation (lecture-en-ligne.com) and its owner, Papakurtz. At one point, around end of may 2020, he tried to implement payment system.
(Basically saying you might gain 160 coins by watching ad to read scanlated chapters and you could also donate money so he could then give it to the author). If I can trust online googling (https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-36699340-lecture-en-ligne-com), he basically closed down around june due to delitoon and usage of licenced work. You will notice his feed directly serves to advertise bonsai-editions.
As for the translation issue, I have to say I know some of the people who were recruited for the task. They are in the scanlation background, like Papakurtz, hence they're only doing it as a hobby and have no credentials. They are basically offered 15 % of the money made from the revenues to do all the rest in term of font, translation. That's why there were translation issues, because they are not actual professionals.
My biggest issue, when coming on this website, is the lack of identification of the party in the Chamber of Commerce. Editing companies, in their terms of use, will always identify clearly the number. Here are some examples :
Whereas this one doesn't.
You can compare it to the full terms of delitoon, which holds a similar shape. https://www.delitoon.com/cgu_app1
The number identified in there will lead you to a physical identity and the one liable to fraud, etc. If you post it on this website, it will lead you to their HQ. https://www.infogreffe.fr/
Therefore, is this an actual company ? Because it has no legal footprint I can find it. So I have to ask, do you have something of the sorts in your contract ?
As a matter of fact, if it doesn't, then is your contract actually legal and binding under law? And since he isn't fronting money but giving out money he receives, what are your guarantees of payment ? In fact, my friend did mention to me no payment of any kind will be wired unless the amount gets to a certain amount.
So he can technically drag it on and on and the results would be he got free labor and projects.
(Sorry, I split the message because I couldn't put all the images.)
Thanks for all the helpful Info, this very much may convince people to not join Bonzai with regards to the issues stated, I’m a little different in that I don’t really care about revenue, as this was just more of a fun experiment and worst case scenario I’ll drop the contract with bonsai editions, but for all those hoping to make some money I urge you to reach out to bonsai for details before signing up with them.
Just trying to help out. Also, I noticed the projects don't show views.
Is there actually any way to check the owner's actual revenue stream / view on projects which I'm assuming is how they intend to share the money?
And on the side note, I did see you mention about font purchase... I'm wondering if they even did that...
(Also, you should just ask if they're registered at the Chamber of Commerce... I'm assuming they wrote clauses about contract break. If they're not registered, the contract is probably void and you can leave without bothering with the process.)
Thats really a good point! They don’t show views, in the contract I got, they showed you earned a certain amount for the views you got, but I’m not actually sure how you track these, although I assume they must for their own benefits-
As far as I’m aware, I don’t have any profile made on my behalf where I can log it and actually check to see how my comic is doing.
Because I was worried about all the fonts they would have to use I did direct my personal translator to blam bot where Indi artists Can get free fonts, (they’re freaking amazing I very much recommend) but for the ones I bought myself, I don’t know if they actually did. (Altho I was told by my translator that they would by the font licence for the ones they needed
I'll be honest, I am somewhat skeptical about people buying the rights if they are, as I said, from the scanlation background.
Nonetheless, I really do pray the company is legit for you and not trying to swindle you on the long run.
And sadly, the fact you and others went on board will give them more credibility. I just hope others will be checking the situation through-fully.
From the contract that I retained a copy of, the company isn’t retaining the full rights. It’s only the translated French pages they have a right to publish on they’re site and only so long as I’m under contract, If either party no longer agrees to the contract they stated that they would take it down.
I think there are a lot of swindlers out there and a lot of them operate right in front of us. I’m producing my comic for free on tapas and WEBTOON, and like novelstar or even wattpad make money off of authors without any kind of payout whatsoever. To me that is far more fraudulent. I’m always on the lookout for issues with bonsai, but so far they’ve delivered on their promises, it’s now up to see it any gratuity is made or not, but in both cases I’ll be updating here!
5 months later
Ahhhh I hate to resurrect this post but I think it can't hurt at this point. I don't think anything is disastrously wrong, HOWEVER anyone whose signed onto bonsai editions or offered them their comic may have noticed that updates have stopped. I haven't been able to get in contact with my liaison to the cmpany either and when I go to the website I can see that no comic has been updated since July 21st 2021
Has anyone whose worked with them heard anything?? There's also some much bigger comics on there like 'No Way' and 'Vampire Girlfriends' but they haven't been updated past the end of July either. SO yah... anyone heard anything at all since then?
I think what I thought it would happen happened. They probably went broke.
I signed with them just because I as an artist had nothing to lose, but I never thought it was a good idea. Taking free comics and putting them in a netflix style service? sure it's in a different language but French is not exactly the most common language around, so I don't know how many people they expected to get to subscribe =/
Honestly quite possible! We might not get an answer, it’s too bad but not something I’m heartbroken after (tho I find it strange they still have a website floating around), tho that being said I would only like to defend that French is one of the most commonly spoken languages after English mandarin and Spanish!