I’ve made an important addendum to my post on nook’s PDF display capability. It turns out that the nook can display most full screen PDFs correctly, when the font size is set to small. No reflow of any kind occurs in this mode at all, and the page is sized to fit the screen fully. (In all other modes, all elements are reflowed, even overlapping image layers, which led to my initial eroneous conclusion that the device could not handle them.) This completely changes my view about the nook as a PDF reader, and the viability of PDF comics on the nook. Except for a slightly higher instance of crashes, properly formatted PDF files are just as good, if not better than raw comic images on the nook, because of the increased legibility of the lettering (assuming they’re fonts/vector format).
So to recap, to best optimize manga/comics for the nook:
- Size full page images in ebooks, be they ePub or PDF, to 600 x 730.
- Wallpapers should be 600 x 760. Screensavers can take advantage of the entire nook resolution of 600 x 800.
- Darken images slightly, or set color mode to monochrome indexed color (4-bit) to avoid a washed-out look.
- Use the bicubic smoother option in Photoshop when resampling to reduce screentone moire.
- Set font size to medium for viewing ePub.
- Set font size to small for viewing PDF.
All of that may be rendered moot if BN introduces an image viewer utility with zoom functions, but until then…
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Chris Beveridge talks about the history of AnimeOnDVD and what precipitated its sale to Mania, the website’s advocacy of new technology, why anime is superior to television animation in the US (it’s really not a question of ability, but that of ambition), and defends hentai as an art form. Check it out.
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The latest Tilting at Windmills column talks about the necessity of serialization in comic pamphlet form as a way to subsidize the creation process. I have a few thoughts on the piece, although I can’t really turn them into something cogent, so I’ll just rap them off…
1. Hibbs brings up manga often as a point of reference, and all of his observations are fine. But I hope readers don’t get the wrong impression and think publishing manga is any easier, or even less expensive. Securing international rights, the hassles of working over long distances in a foreign tongue, translation, the limitations of licensing compared to owning works outright; manga publishing has a different set of costs, a different set of risks, all of which must be met on a smaller profit margin per copy. Manga being priced the way it is, in my opinion, has more to do with scale, market expectations, market distribution, and perhaps too much willingness to undertake tremendous risks on the part of some manga publishers… as evident by the the number of manga pubs who’ve closed up shop lately.
2. The pricing of domestic comics could be more competitive with manga, if certain format concessions and production scheduling changes are made. Actually, strike that… comics probably don’t need to cost what they do now, if we limit our discussion to the big two. And why aren’t the profits from those big Summer movies used to subsidize the sticker price on those comics?
3. Unfortunately, the singles-to-subsidize-trade model isn’t applicable to artists working for smaller comics pubs for the most part nowadays. Many are teetering on Diamond’s minimum, and don’t pay artists a page rate anyway.
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Semi-related… Gary Reed offers up some defense for comic publishers caught up in online firestorms over missed pay. On one hand, I really appreciate the points he raises; most in the fandom lack realistic perspective because they don’t understand necessary business decisions and the factors governing them. But on the other, as I’ve expressed in numerous posts in the past, publishing is a form of investment, while the actual creation of comics is physical labor. Thus, comic creators should always be guaranteed just compensation, but not so for publishers… investment is basically informed gambling. I will always advocate publishers shouldering more of the risks, not creators. That means paying page rates, paying advances. If a publisher is not well-capitalized enough to guarantee those to their creators, in good times and bad, then they ought to reconsider their strategy.
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Light eroge maker Little Witch will be closing down. Canned Dogs has a translation of the announcement. Little Witch was almost singularly driven by the artistic output of Oyari Ashito, the mangaka who’s best known in the US as the designer for Kita-e (To North): Diamond Dust Drops.
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Well here’s hoping Christ gets rich and famous… but Hentai as an art form? Whaaaat? That’s crazy. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT!
Sad to see Little Witch go, but it’s not as though there’s a lack of content for the time they were around.
ALSO! I can’t say as I have a problem with the price of US comics… maybe the with their inconsistent release times, but not with the price.
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“Thus, comic creators should always be guaranteed just compensation, but not so for publishers… investment is basically informed gambling. I will always advocate publishers shouldering more of the risks, not creators. That means paying page rates, paying advances. If a publisher is not well-capitalized enough to guarantee those to their creators, in good times and bad, then they ought to reconsider their strategy.”
Amen! And thanks for saying so!
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“Thus, comic creators should always be guaranteed just compensation, but not so for publishers… investment is basically informed gambling. I will always advocate publishers shouldering more of the risks, not creators. That means paying page rates, paying advances. If a publisher is not well-capitalized enough to guarantee those to their creators, in good times and bad, then they ought to reconsider their strategy.”
I don’t think anyone is saying that creators should not be paid. And I was not offering a defense on why publishers SHOULD NOT BE EXPECTED TO PAY but rather why they don’t. Not a defense but a reason. The expectation that publishers should shoulder the risks is a lofty one that understandably, almost all creators would like (I am also a creator, having been published by over half a dozen companies outside the ones I am involved with) but that’s not realistic.
That attitude (and I’m not saying it’s a wrong attitude) is why there are so many creators looking for publishers. At Transfuzion, I am not actively looking for submissions and I guarantee nothing, and of course, am a small publisher—yet I am swamped with submisssions. I hate to see what would be the situation for a larger company actively seeking projects.
The first question I ask submitters is why? Why are you coming to me? What do I have to offer that you can’t do yourself? Why don’t you just publish it yourself? These are not trick questions. I’m simply trying to find out what they expect.
If someone comes to me stating that they want a page rate or guaranteed dollars for their project, I tell them to be their own publisher and then they can set up a fair rate between themselves.
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“What I object to is why this industry has a tolerance for it; few others do.”
I think you find the analogy of comic style publishers who are under-capitalized are quite common in other fields. They’re in traditional book publishing, mag publishing, music, film, just about any kind of creative endeavors.
I don’t know if anyone can define what the true job of a publisher is because it changes from company to company, from creator to creator.
I don’t think it’s realistic to limit what an “ideal” publisher should be (pay advances, pay page rates) as there are a great many factors that come into play. If someone wants a “real” publisher, fine…just submit your work to them. In comics, limit yourself to Marvel and DC…with perhaps a few others. That way, they can get what they want out of a publisher. So, no problem there…unless of course, they don’t get picked up by those large publishers.
Then, just publish it yourself. If publishers who can’t or won’t pay a specific rate, aren’t appealing, then you don’t have to use them. But it seems to be that these publishers must have some kind of value if they’re repeatedly are being utilized.
As for giving ownership in the company, in many cases, the publisher grants ownership in the property which in just about most cases, is more valuable than ownership in the company.
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