“My Doujinshi Only Sold 3 Copies! I Want To Die!”
- Author: Artefact
- Categories: H, Manga, News
- Date: Aug 15, 2011 07:53 JST
- Tags: 2ch, Comiket, Doujinshi, Hidan no Aria, Illustration, Onanism, Parody, VIP Quality
Whilst tales of top tier ero-doujinshi circles netting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales each Comiket are common, unfortunately for the vast majority of circles the results of Comiket are rather more humble…
From an exchange on 2ch’s VIP board:
“I participated in today’s Comiket and my sales didn’t hit ¥10,000… I want to die.”
“What did you sell?”
“I only sold 3 copies of 50 printed…”
“If you only sold 3, just upload it. Applications for winter have already begun, you know.”
“You sold each copy for ¥3000?”
“You couldn’t even sell 20 copies for 500 each?”
“You say only, but for a no-name circle to sell 20 isn’t bad at all.”
“I thought so too… how godly would I have been if I had sold 20! I want to die.”
“How much of a loss did you make?”
“¥12,000.”
“You just have to make the cover sexy and high quality.”
“How much did you flog them for?”
“¥500 a copy.”
“It’s actually amazing you sold even 3.”
“Show off your art, your art!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What do I do with my stock!!! I can’t sell it come winter!!!1 Shit, die diei dife dfs1!”
“This is it you damn fools:”
[He quotes another poster posting about his doujinshi on another thread:] “I found a really bad one! It’s an Aria book, I laughed reading it! When I bought it, the author said ‘the illustrations have some flavour to them, yes?’ This is doujinshi quality!”
“This…”
“I’m sorry.”
“I laughed.”
“You could make this into some quality AA.”
“You guys have never been to Comiket, have you? There’s a lot worse that that…”
“Sorry, I laughed.”
“It’s not that bad. But for a ¥500 debut it’s not there.”
“It’s amazing this sold at all.”
“There’s always next year!”
“I’d buy this for a laugh. But only for ¥200.”
“I quite like the final panel there…”
“I can imagine the person who bought it onanising away with that expression.”
“I’m going to bed.”
Demoralised artists are advised to stick at it, for fame awaits the select few.
| 
Otoko No Ko Harem – Will You Admit To Wanting This?
Dagashi Kashi Irresistibly Sweet
Oshiete Gyaruko-chan Pantsu-A-Plenty
Nitroplus Blasterz English Trailer Quite Rousing
Valkyria Chronicles Remaster Trailer Retells The Tale
Sickeningly Sweet Enju Aihara Miko Figure
Top 20 Anime Girls With The Sexiest Ponytails
Lovely Nekomimi Ero-MMD Quite Handy
Koukaku no Pandora “Nonstop Girl-Love!”
Shoujo-tachi Mezasu Total Ota-Anime
Guro Tossed Out The Gate
Shingeki no Kyojin PVs Swing into Action
Upskirt Umbrellas Stealthily Scandalous
Subarashii Sekai Wonderfully Worldly
Top 10 Anime of February, According to NewType
Fap Support JK “Satisfactory Customer Service!”
Yandere Simulator “Could Be Renamed”
Studio FOW Short Totally Tentacular
Phantom World Stretching Expectations
Charming Futaba Nendoroid
Skimpy Elf Bikini Cosplay by Saku Supremely Sexy
Gothic Lolita Hatsune Miku Cosplay Busts Out
Delectable Dizzy Cosplay by Lechat
Dark Elf Cosplay by Non Very Dark Indeed
Titillating Tamako Cosplay Perfectly Pink
Goddess of 2ch: “Full of Lust & Urges (& Also Videos)!”
Raunchy Reisen Inaba Cosplay by Tsuyato
Haruhi Bunny Girl Cosplay Rocks Out
Youmu Ero-Cosplay by Madoka Adachi Deadly Sexy
Comiket 89 Cosplay Sickeningly Sweet
This makes me want to think twice about trying to get my Yune x Alice BDSM novelette published (yes, Yune is the seme)
If you follow a reference book like How to draw manga you should be fine with faces. There are 2 types of reference lines the box where you draw a circle and then a box over the circle with layers to signify where things go. Or you can use the cross reference line where you draw it to the curvature of the circle that becomes the face. I don't recommend method 2 yet. That's usually for advanced artists.
I'm sure 09:53 will be grateful for the tips, but the last time I looked at a dictionary, a novelette was text only.
Learn from this defeat. Use it.
There are tons of people out there in many other industries facing the same problems every day. It's not time to be discourage by the result or petty pride. Take a break and study why it can't sell, determine the weak point and solve it. Thinking about dying only make yourself a failure.
And those people who don't have anything to say more than "fail" is just a dick. Don't listen to them.
Those who can't...criticize! Right?
Everyone have a hard day on the office once, especially on the first day at work. And you sure don't want your colleagues asking you to stay at home on the next day. Indeed, his work is bad but if he can make improvement, encourage him to do so. If he can't, he'll just realize that he's not suitable for that job and find another one.
For some reason i want to pat the guy on the shoulder.
I have a soft spot for such unrelenting bravery...all things concerned.
And yes, i have seen much worse. MUCH worse.
let's call buddy!
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5152/5900209632_14b076299e.jpg
XD!
yeah, pat him on the shoulder,... But slap him up side of his head.
He should of practiced more & put more effort into making each page. It looks like he only spent five minutes on each page.
He has a lot of nerve, trying to pass off this fail attempt as something someone would want to have.
He probably threw it all together in one afternoon.
I'll bet the printers were laughing their asses off while printing and binding it.
*smol consolation if he used an alias, his reputation is saved, otherwise he better pray that everyone forgets about this last attempt.
Next time, he better put more effort & sincere dedication to the project. Or else peeps who know him will take pics of him and flame his ass all over the internets.
^_^
haha no quality !
Not quite China quality
He should just get a little more practice in anatomy.
A lot, actually. His layouts aren't horrible, but everything else is untrained high-school doodle level at best. This is just yet another variation of the necessary 'ego shattering' that MUST eventually come to any artist no matter who they are.
Two things usually happen, they give up and say "I'll never be good, fuck it" or they realize how bad they were and get over it and start asking "Why did I believe I was so good? What can I do? Who can I ask?" and those are the true artists-to-be.
You'll find a lot of comic artists at Comic Con refusing to look at portfolios and such. Not because they're jerks or too special, but because they don't want to ruin peoples' weekend by telling them the truth, and they, like any good artists, knows it's a waste of everyone's time to lie to you about how good you are.
But still it makes me wonder if a lot of these artists don't even attempt to use reference books or use reference lines so everything comes out proportional. That's a mistake that arrogant and stupid people have. No matter how big of an ego one has, unless they are totally stupid they wouldn't attempt to draw things free hand when starting out. Most good beginners works one can still see reference lines for placement of hair, eyes, mouth and other parts. I mean it makes you wonder if the really crappy artists you see out there even bother to put forth effort.
@ Anon 16:29 and 17:28
I should have specified. I don't look at reference when I'm doing freehand stuff, but when I do professional work, it's a shift in mindset. In freehand I got around it by a few methods, by like making a note saying "Ref of ___" and not feeling guilty so that everyone can see it wasn't completely my work, yet I still got the practice.
Examples of where it doesn't enter my mind are a recent commission I did where I drew a guy in khaki pants crossing his legs, and I was so into the drawing I didn't even think to look at reference, I just kept erasing and trying different leg positions until the pose felt good, then refined, and I have 10 years of anatomy training, so it's not like I'm flying blind. The whole point of anatomy training is to be able to do just that anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm always going to hit something I don't know how to do. It's those instances where I keep needing to remind myself that 'reference' isn't a bad word.
You're an idiot.
Yes but you're trying to improve. I can't imagine that the author of the above doujin practiced drawing anything other than hair.
That's the same ego. I actually have a psychological issue with using reference for much of my freehand work because a while back it just kept getting put into my head that only plagiarists copy. Unfortunately nobody made me understand that reference and copying are completely different things, so it rarely enters my mind to consider looking for reference for things unless I have no idea what it looks like. For anatomy, I tend to just be persistent and keep trying until I either remember that I actually CAN look at reference, or I get warmed up enough that it suddenly clicks and turns out well.
Not the best method, but it's certainly taking time to retrain my brain.
that shit actually sold 3 copies.... amazing
and storytelling, perspective, lettering, etc. geez why do everyone thinks making comic/manga is easy.
Cuz its a hentai-doujin. Storytelling is the least of your concerns with art like that
@ Yoshi-kun @ 09:46 15/08/2011:
I disagree.
(1) If buyers didn't care about storyline, they wouldn't bother buying stuff with actual dialogue.
Instead, they'd buy artwork-only books.
(2) If the artwork is low-quality, you'd damn well BETTER have good storytelling, otherwise, you've got nothing to offer.
To the unhappy artist: doing doujinshi for the love of doing them will cause you to keep practicing and producing; with enough experience you can become good at it.
Conversely, doing it for dreams of fame and riches will cause you to be impatient and whiny during that time when your skills are not yet developed enough.
1.) I think what yoshi means is that you don't need to be a master storyteller and craft an intricate tale with multiple plot twists and character development for a simple hentai doujin.
2.) If a hentai doujin is low art quality, whats the point to begin with? Theres no longer a need for a story because any potential buyers will just glance at the art, see that its bad, and move on. Hentai is for fapping. The dialogue is there because silent characters are unappealing and just not arousing.
2.) If a hentai doujin is low art quality, whats the point to begin with? Theres no longer a need for a story because any potential buyers will just glance at the art, see that its bad, and move on. Hentai is for fapping. The dialogue is there because silent characters are unappealing and just not arousing
We have a winner
1) But if you do, it's high-speed elevator to stardom. Most of best known circles are famous for their storylines and wit.
Looks like she was hit in the face with a shovel.
Her face really is a big problem.
everything's big where she's supposed to be small...
An erotic dojin featuring girls that have received face transplants?
Only sold 3 copies and you want to die?
No, I want to die after seeing your dojin.
I already died :( ... but not because of this... I died and now I'm an undead and now I will die again because I saw this...shovel & broken-fork-fingers doujinshi xD
and those huge hips too!
Hey, them good birthing hips!!
Her face IS a shovel
WTF! Be grateful you sold three copies!
I have to agree, the artist didn't do a decent job, proportions were not symetrical.
Also, one very very important detail,...
Do not & NEVER half ass the cover image.
If your budget only allows 1-3 colours, then the art had better be one of your best single pieces you've worked on for the last 24 months.
Because its the cover that will catch the eye of passers by, and anyone who comes to your booth.
If the actual art is just a duplicate of something already inside,.. This is an gurantee failure.
Cover art has to be original and one of a kind, preferably in full colour.
This is what sets the amatures appart from those who have been in the business for a long time.
Now if you've already got a following of dedicated fans,... Then yes its alright to have a shitty cover. Because your fans know they're going to be getting a treat.
Fact of life, if you fail your fans - you know they will crucify you online for being a complete failure.
True. There are thousands of artists vying for attendees' cash...and many very good. Going in under-budget and under-effort proves worse than not going at all.
my eyes... they bleed...
did that guy really expect to sell 50 of these things and perhaps make a name for himself?
Hey he already made a name for himself with just 3 copies sold... although not in a good way....
Reminds me of Najimi's Love Typhoon
Except Love Typhoon had ironic appeal. This one isn't So Bad It's Good - it's just plain Bad.
It's so bad it's horrible haha.
Does he know that the art is not resemble to the original one ? And he wants his works are sold out ?
I kinda respect a man capable of actually selling this shit in public.
Mutant loli? What's next? More squids?
I suppose that's the only thing about him I can admire, though he had a severe case of UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS...
I had some experience joining the doujinshi crowd at several local 'Comikets' before, since my last ex dragged me along to help her sell her shit. From what I could tell, most people enter such events with strong assumption that they won't even get return capital; that they are basically paying hundreds to the printing company just 'for the experience of selling doujinshi'. Even if your art is good in general, you still can't expect to sell more than half your stock because there's no guarantee that most people attending it would like your style.
What I want to know is why did he stock that much...? It seems like he printed more than 40 copies, which is crazy because most sellers don't dare print more than that if they're not popular up to a certain point. May be because of the ripoff printing company he got.
Perhaps that was their minimum? That would make the most sense, really. I don't know how their printers work over there though, especially ones that will print doujinshi.
indeed, couldn't agree more.
the printers prolly pittied him and gave him a few extra copies, while trying to keep a staight face.
Even some artist or mangaka started off with bad or normal art drawing, but as time goes, they keep improving and perfecting their art and style. Even for veteran artist, some stop at a certain point and there is not much changes in art and style. Some keep proceeding and move on to a higher level. Some artist drawing became worst as the work goes on, perhaps lost of inspiration and spirit?
Though this person had some unreal expectation, and suffered embarrassment from poor sales but to be able to accomplish something with the skill he has is still worthy of admiration since many only enjoy what other creates and are not able to do the same. Something like all talk but no action. As long as he dare take this as a challenge and keep improving his basic art skill, style, symmetry and so on. He might have a chance to achieve a better results in future.
Last thing, I noticed that many harsh comments and criticisms. At times, I can understand why Japanese (same applied to the other nations) has a higher rate of suicide. It must be remembered that not everyone is as mentally strong as other. Some are fragile. Though making critics is everyone's right, but making too harsh comment or insult can sometimes lead to emotional breakdown/ depression. Well, you have watch and read those news, you should know better.
Yeah, to be honest..we only get a few assorted comments from the Japanese side around here. In case you don't know, when Japanese post on certain sites they shed each and every of their fake niceties. Sankaku is pretty tame, which is also mostly due to the fact that Non-Japanese are far more familiar with speaking their true minds and ignoring the idiots.
Well...at least he tried, eh?
Yes, and actually the content isn't as bad as i expected when i see the cover
You sir r a blind neko srsly!
Shut up u noob anon 14:44