Manga Magazine on Tapastic?

dracoplato 2015-12-08 23:13:28 UTC #7

Anything outside of porn seems okay, lol. There's the generic genres that we could go by Fantasy, Action, etc. but I'd be more inclined to see what the people wanting to participate were offering before making labels. I dunno, what would you do?

MarineHaddock 2015-12-08 23:20:03 UTC #8

I'd either go with romantic thriller (romance/action), crime thriller (action/horror?), or magical girls (fantasy). I've already got some characters set up for those genres who's stories I need to get round to writing.

CalimonGraal 2015-12-08 23:20:32 UTC #9

Would the comics have to be made specifically for the magazine/never posted anywhere else? :V
//that seems to be what's implied but wanted to make sure xD

dracoplato 2015-12-08 23:27:58 UTC #10

I'd also go with Magical Girl (fantasy), lol! I actually thought if the magazine were to have one overall theme that'd be a really good one because of it's current popularity.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, but after it's been posted in the magazine I think the artist is free to post it wherever they like after a week or so. Ideally I'd say after a month, when the new issue comes out then they can post the previous issue wherever they like but I don't know if that'd be fair to ask artists to wait that long.

MarineHaddock 2015-12-08 23:43:53 UTC #11

Will you be wanting to look over the concepts and stories before considering taking them on?

And finally an excuse to get back to my magical girls~ <3

dracoplato 2015-12-08 23:56:40 UTC #12

I'm game for pretty much anything, although it's not a bad idea to have people submit concepts and story ideas beforehand if not just because it may help solidify the idea with them too. I could probably make an official website posting with details on submissions and the project itself to help garner interest, also with an official release date for people to shoot for with their projects (February or March perhaps)

But I may be getting ahead of myself here XD I'd like to know that enough people are interested in it first. I think I'd at least like five people submitting to the magazine, with you and me that'd mean there'd need to be three more.

Also, for the number of pages submitted to the magazine for each comic I'm thinking people should aim for four, although they could go up to 10 and if they're really having a hard time then even 1 page isn't the worst. I'm also wondering if reviews and things would be of interest to people in a project like this, since manga magazines often times have those as well.

N6023 2015-12-09 03:26:40 UTC #13

Well, this is an interesting idea. Publishing with fellow creators I guess is more fun as opposed to doing it alone with not much subscribers. ^.^

So I'm interested, if this idea takes off, I'm willing to be the third one.

I have one active series going on at the moment, and it will probably fit into the action/fantasy section.

P.S. Watching Bakuman made me jealous too - "I wish I was part of a magazine too dammit!" lol

dracoplato 2015-12-09 04:09:41 UTC #14

Sweet!! There seems to be enough interest in it that I'll try to write up more specifics for it when I get the chance.

fanyart 2015-12-09 19:13:33 UTC #15

I have actually been slightly thinking about how something like this would be nice, but I suck at managing people and don't have time for these hassles, so I'm happy you took the initiative to actually start something!

I'm not sure though, if you can get people to contribute regularly, and even if yes, if that would make the series interesting in the long term. I was thinking more in terms of for example announcing several months ahead the theme of the issue and people who want could contribute - you can have people sign up with their ideas or just wait to see what arrives - in the worst case nothing arrives.

Also, you can have a "recommendation" section, where people (even just readers) could write about a comic they like but feel it deserves more readers. I'm not sure who would do the graphics for these posts though.

I think that limiting artists by when they can upload their contribution to their website/comic would actually put people off. On the contrary, if the artist releases their contribution on their own comic series (if it fits the flow of episodes, or as the wall post) at the same time as the magazine, they could link to it so that more people can learn about the project. If everybody releases at the same time, everybody will gain from it.

I'm also not sure how you want it to be formatted, if the pages of one issue will be stacked into one episode or as a bunch of new episodes, or the management things - who will have the final word on topics, what gets declined, who sets up the rules... And also some legal things statements, like that the ad revenue isn't claimed by anybody and is left to Tapastic, what happens if the contributions contain copyrighted characters (in case it's not the "recommendation" section, I mean Disney or anime characters), etc. It's gonna be pretty complicated >.>

But I'm really looking forward to this!

dracoplato 2015-12-09 20:44:41 UTC #16

Those are some really excellent points~! I love the idea of the recommendation section, I was really hoping to incorporate writers somehow and I definitely think the recommendations section would help with that, and maybe mixing it in with comic reviews.

I like the idea of having ongoing series in the magazine, but I'm certainly not opposed to the submission idea as well. I was hoping that maybe both could be incorporated. There's also been the talk of one shots, short series, and preview comics (comics which would show a part of ones that are already ongoing elsewhere).

You make an interesting point with the time limiting on submissions, I'll need to give that some thought. My idea now is that the only comics that would be limited would be the magazine exclusive ones so that they would be new and fresh to the magazine. If it's that way the project is less of a collective and more of a monthly magazine. But, I will give this point some more thought before writing up my details for the project.

You're right about the Tap formatting problems, I didn't realize until after I'd written this topic how many problems hosting it on here would have so I'm thinking it'll have to have it's own site. I'd still like to incorporate Tap into it somehow though so I'm going to give that some more thought too XD

fanyart 2015-12-10 21:01:22 UTC #17

That would certainly be very interesting and add variety to the magazine. I just think the editor (is it going to be you, then?) has too keep in mind that the less text the better. People often skip blocks of walls. I tried making a "storybook-like" comic once and still I think there is too much text, though I cut off everything unnecessary: http://tapastic.com/episode/226318 (it has two parts)

Also, I would suggest limiting the "recommendations" only to short info about what specific aspects of the comic the person recommending it finds the most interesting / unique, and why they think more people should read it. Otherwise I fear you would get a pile of shouts like "Go read Gaming Cat, it's cool" or "Emo Brat is just too funny", etc. , which are useless to the purpose because the reader doesn't get any info from that, and also everybody already knows these comics. Or people would be recommending comics of their friends just because they're their friends, no matter the comic quality. I would direct it to the goal of promoting not well-known comics that are unique.

IMO, a mix of all these things would be the most interesting.

That should be very interesting to creators as a way to promote their works, but would need to be directed well - like a preview of the comic customized only for the magazine, or a short comic going by the issue's theme (eg. Christmas) while featuring characters from the artist's series. Chunks of comics just for the sake of promotion should be avoided.

I can't see any disadvantage the magazine would be getting from a comic in the issue being simultaneously posted on the artist's series. I believe there are only benefits to that. I don't think people would unsub from the magazine if they see one of the comics in the artist's series they already follow - they would be missing out on other comics that will be in the issue but that they're not subbed to.

Personally, I would be less interested in the project if it was on another website. I may be biased because I'm a person that basically lurks only on Tap, but seeing how people were unwilling to move to Patreon with the end of Support Program, I doubt I'm the only one thinking that. I'm sure there are always ways to do it on Tap, they just need careful consideration.

Sorry if I sound a bit negative, I'm a pessimist, I guess, so I'm good at pointing out weak points in plans

dracoplato 2015-12-10 22:14:17 UTC #18

No, I think you're making good points. For the Tap point I agree with you on that. People on Tap don't really like to migrate off site to look at things, I think that's kind of a fact at this point and I certainly understand why since I also prefer reading comics on Tap. Because of the scope of the project I think it'll need it's own website, however, I think I've thought of a pretty good way to host it on Tap as well. Once I have a team of artists more well established for the project I'll have to present the idea to them and see how it goes over since they'll have the final say, but at the moment I'd say my vision is of hosting it both on it's own site and on Tap.

I'm still not agreeing with the limiting opinion not being beneficial to the magazine but I'll present the idea to the team of artists once they're on board to see what the final word on it is. I actually think it benefits the artist to wait since say you draw four pages for the comic that's in the magazine, after it's in the magazine you post one page a week until the next issue and it's the same as if you were updating most other comics. Nothing is really lost. Even now most artists I know update their main site before posting the pages onto Tap in order to generate more interest to the main site. But again I'll let the team decide on that point.

I think you're spot on about the preview comics and how they should be handled, and I agree that a mix of all of the comic options would be pretty good (magazine exclusives, previews, one shots, etc.). The more art the better I say.

I'm glad you pointed out the word limit idea for the reviews, I'd forgotten about that and you're right. There really does need to be a conciseness that's adhered to for those. For the recommendations you gave me an idea for if people just want to write short blurbs, there can be something like a Shout Out Wall on one of the last pages that has Twitter length texts for recommendations. For longer recommendations maybe it can be more like a page long High Light where there's a more introspective look at the work.

I'm hoping to be able to write up more details about the project tomorrow on an external site, but I'll link to it here as well. It'll probably be late in the day.

curlyfuandpeanuts 2015-12-14 00:16:52 UTC #19

I'd be interested in taking part and contributing something, even if it is small. I don't know a huge amount about Manga and the genres that have been mentioned here. But I do like the Franco-Belge bande desinnee style and also I'm open to experimenting (not that way! Dirty mind!)

This is a few of the things I did this week as part of my Xmas drawing marathon just so you have a taste of what sorta style I draw in.
But it's a great idea, so hope to read it soon in the New Year!

dracoplato 2015-12-14 00:53:59 UTC #20

Yes, I think your style would be just fine for the magazine~! I just posted more information relating to the project on my collective project site KhyatiX: http://khyatix.weebly.com/manga-magazine-project.html

Basically we're looking at a January launch date for the site and submissions, with a March release date for the magazine. The magazine will be hosted on it's own site and have a Tapastic mirror if all goes well~!

IchiruSakuraba 2015-12-14 21:13:28 UTC #21

This is such an awesome idea! Would there be an opportunity to join in later if you're not ready by the launch date? I'm still going to be new to uploading anything here, so I don't think I'd be ready to be a part of something awesome for a little while. (I'd use another story of course)

I'm totally going to read it though! I used to love reading Shonen Jump and a little Shojo Beat when I was growing up and wished I could be a part of something like that one day.

dracoplato 2015-12-14 22:05:28 UTC #22

Yes, you'll be able to join later~! Submissions will remain open all year round; so if you miss an issue you'd be applying for the issue after that.

Aspie_Gamer 2015-12-15 02:18:20 UTC #23

So is it only just fantasy esque comics or can you submit/recommend any genre as long as its not porn, gorn, anything else unacceptable?

dracoplato 2015-12-15 02:42:04 UTC #24

It's any story with a touch of fantasy in it that has a PG13 rating. The main thing is that there's one element in the story that's out of the ordinary. Say for example you wanted to do slice of life then one thing about their everyday life needs to be abnormal.

Honestly I'm not going to be super critical about it keeping to the theme, but if someone is submitting a diary comic that's just about their daily life it's probably not going to get in XD I think in this sense we can use the word fiction to best describe what's accepted. I'll make sure to make that more clear on the official submissions page that's released in January.

IchiruSakuraba 2015-12-15 16:06:54 UTC #25

That's awesome! I'll work hard so I can possibly be a part of this ^-^!

Zpreader 2015-12-15 16:20:15 UTC #26

Regular monthly updates don't really mesh with my workflow.

That being said, I would definitely be interested in posting a one shot every now and then. I'll have to look into it more.