In an unprecedented move from Shueisha, fans can expect new Shonen Jump manga by names from other publishers soon. Shueisha will hold two face-to-face information and consultancy sessions on November 23 and December 2, 2023, and a Zoom event on December 3, where professional mangaka from other publishers can pitch plots for one-shots or ideas they have for serialization to editors.
The official site for the seminar states that writers will sit for a 25-minute long private session with Shonen Jump editors to make their pitches, without worry that their discussion will be overheard by other participants. The site also lists their payscale for rookie writers, which is a minimum of 18,700 yen (~$124) (tax included) for a black-and-white page, or a minimum of 28,050 yen (~$186) for a color page. Therefore a new Shonen Jump manga, like Kagurabachi, would typically net a creator around $2400 for a 19-page chapter. For established writers, however, this fee can be renegotiated at higher rates in line with what they make at their current magazines. Shueisha is also offering optional 1-year rolling exclusive contracts that come with higher pay if writers choose to only serialize works for them within that time period.
Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is well-known for giving mangaka like One Piece‘s Eiichiro Oda and My Hero Academia‘s Kohei Horikoshi their first starts in the manga industry. To this effect, they’ve added the MANGA Plus Creators submission platform for rookie writers to get noticed, along with their longstanding Newcomer Awards. However, their recent recruitment move also cited the importance of their current talent that came over from other magazines. Kouji Miura (Blue Box) and Posuka Demizu (The Promised Neverland) previously came from Kodansha and Shogakukan, respectively. While it’s normal for writers who get rejected or axed from a magazine to move to another publisher, the most popular mangaka generally do not, except to explore something outside the publisher’s target demographic. This is typically because of the strong connections mangaka forge with their editors and staff, and company loyalty built up over their time serializing. Nevertheless, notable mangaka that have moved magazines are:
- Fullmetal Alchemist‘s Hiromu Arakawa (Enix/Square Enix) → The Heroic Legend of Arslan (Kodansha)
- Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic‘s Shinobu Ohtaka (Shogakukan) → Orient (Kodansha)
- Magic Knight Rayearth‘s CLAMP (Kodansha) → The One I Love (Kadokawa)
- Cutie Honey‘s Go Nagai (Akita Shoten) → Mazinger Z (Shueisha, then Kodansha) → Devilman (Kodansha)
Given the rarity, and that Shueisha is already the largest publishing company in Japan, they risk putting themselves at the center of poaching allegations. Shueisha can pay some of the highest fees in the industry, and so a public showing aimed exclusively at mangaka from other companies could be seen as exerting an unfair advantage on the industry. Nevertheless, it’s a sign from Shueisha that they wish the maximize options for their readers. Anime Corner’s Jay Gibbs had the opportunity to speak to Shuhei Hosono of Shueisha‘s editorial department about new initiatives to build their brand, including raising brand awareness and diversifying titles.
Source: Official Event Site
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation
