lol are you seriously telling me that when you go in a store, pick a volume manga, the only thing you look is the front cover and nothing more, you don't look at the back? the synopsis of the story is there.
I'm not overestimating people, i'm just telling the basic of what a person would do when going to buy manga, they will see the cover of it in a store when going to buy, give it a look, look at the back of the cover, read the synopsis or just give check in their phones and instantly knows what is about, and that's it, if you would not even look at it because isn't the kind of story you would be interested, that's you, that doesn't mean the rest wouldn't, also you're giving too much power to a cover, they're not that crucial neither have the power to sink or turn a new series into a hit, i honestly doubt that anyone will just buy this knowing zero context about the story and think "oh my God, they fooled me, i thought was a calm slice of life about a dude in a island, dropped!"
I haven't bought manga for a long time, but yes, there are times when I do it.
Well, Kishimoto's name, synopsis and back cover were not enough for people to buy samurai 8. And Samurai 8 had a very strong marketing cap.
Samurai 8 most likely suffered from poor word of mouth. People who bought the first volume didn't recommend it or the people who read it in WSJ didn't speak highly, reactions like that. I believe word of mouth is the most crucial thing in making or breaking a series and not a cover.
But the point isn't really the "buying" part but people giving it a look and checking what the series is about before buying, Samurai 8 is a example to my point, the covers were really cool and appealing, people for sure checked what the series was about but sales were still low, so isn't really the cover illustration that will suddenly be a key point to the fail or success of Cop & Dolphin.
several, I’ve seen a series with a good reputation but later they were canceled.
I mean what you are saying has most likely happened but I was talking about how positive word of mouth is more important than a cover when it comes to sales
Once again: the problem isn't the wrong people (not your target audience) buying the volume and not liking it, it's the right people (your target audience) never checking it out because it doesn't catch their attention.
mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp
I am not, after all Mitama lasted 47 chapters even selling less than Tokyo shinobi squad, the editors of jump want a new hit comedy so badly that they will hold on to the ones they have until they get one.
I’m 27 now, so typically I know what a manga is before I buy it.
Me too. I mean, how else are you gonna do it? If your bookshop only has two manga, that's one thing, but I usually shop either online or at conventions and in both cases there's gonna be at least 50 series to choose from. I'm not gonna read 50 synopses, thank you very much. I'm not even gonna read 50 titles. Either the cover needs to stand out somehow, or I must have heard of it beforehand (in which case the manga is already somewhat famous and probably more than 1 volume long).
Japanese tankobon back covers don't have a synopsis on them, at least the ones from Jump.
