Question Tip Jar

[zerocharisma]

Many authors and artists in the United States are putting up tip jars on their sites. It's becoming a way for fans to vote on what they like and what they want to see more of.

In some instances this is becoming a successful business model. As far as content distribution goes, it follows the iTunes pay-for-one-song model. Plus, PayPal and companies like it are international and make tipping uncomplicated.

Is there a way for MangaHelpers to include a link to a mangaka's tip jar? I can't read Japanese, so I can't tell whether a mangaka has a tip jar at all, and until the manga itself comes out in English, I would have no way of knowing how to send compensation for the outstanding material these people are putting out.

When it comes out in English I can buy the manga, but what if the manga fails because nobody in Japan (or Taiwan or China or S. Korea) knows what a large following that title is accumulating in Western countries?

Besides, y'know, paying the artist is a good karma thing.

Just a thought . . .

z.

(a generous tipper)

 

[unok-kun]

Usually when a manga fails in Japan, or any other country, is because official sales aren't enough for the publisher to think it's worth to keep releasing it. In the case of Japanese magazines, concretely, the mangas that get axed are decided by people submitting polls for the most liked manga in the magazine. Of course the publishers won't worry about people who are reading the manga illegally, because that won't give them income. You're probably right that it's a good idea to know the popularity, but the publishers won't care.