Chapter Ten: Pen Names, Royalties, and a New Work in My Dreams
Xia Jing knew that the serialization meeting for his submitted manga was being held today, but he also understood that the serialization results would most likely not be given on the same day; usually, the mid-to-high level management of the manga magazine would give them out the next day.
He couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
He was confident in the quality of the work five centimeters per second.
However, he was certainly nervous about the discerning eye of the mid-to-high level editorial department of Huanmeng Group.
Such cases where a manga artist is confident, an editor is confident, but the higher-ups make a foolish decision and the work ends up buried are not uncommon, not just in Xia Country, but he had a ton of examples from his previous life.
For instance, Attack on Titan was initially submitted to Shonen Weekly Jump, but the editorial department rejected it, and only then was it submitted to another manga company.
"No matter what, the results will be out tomorrow."
Before going to bed, Xia Jing cleared his mind of distracting thoughts.
In his dream, he dreamt that five centimeters per second was rejected by Huanmeng Group, and then he submitted it to other manga magazines multiple times, but five centimeters per second was still rejected, and then he completely gave up the idea of becoming a manga artist in this world, turning instead to serious study and embarking on a different path in life... In the early morning, he woke up from his dream.
Another uneventful day passed, and by the time school let out in the afternoon, Su Qingxiao, whom he hadn't seen for two days, was waiting early at the entrance of Xia Jing's classroom, just as before.
Seeing her peeking in from outside the door and waving at Xia Jing, several classmates in the class once again turned their gaze towards Xia Jing.
No way, the school rumors said that Xia Jing and Su Qingxiao from Class 1 had an unusual relationship, seemingly an early romance... Could it be true?
Normal friends wouldn't come to the classroom door to find someone every day or two like this, and specifically wait after school.
A few minutes later, Xia Jing's class also ended.
"Your class teacher really loves to drag on," Su Qingxiao said with a smile.
But Xia Jing currently had no desire to continue this topic.
"Student Su... have the results of the serialization meeting come out?"
"You forgot what I told you before," Su Qingxiao said with a smile.
"Su Qingxiao, the results of the serialization meeting... have they come out?" Xia Jing immediately reacted.
"Hmm, because you don't have a phone, my sister sent me a text message at 4 PM, asking me to bring you to see her after school. I only saw this message after school," Su Qingxiao said.
"Although she didn't explicitly state the results of the serialization meeting in the text message, if it hadn't passed, there would be no need for her to go to great lengths to have me bring you to meet her; she would just have me inform you verbally."
"Congratulations, Xia Jing."
The smile on Su Qingxiao's face looked exceptionally beautiful in the orange glow of the setting sun.
"Thank you..." Xia Jing paused, but could only utter these two words.
It could be said that Su Qingxiao played a huge role in this whole event.
Otherwise, Xia Jing might still be worrying about which company to submit the manga manuscript of five centimeters per second to, and the situation he dreamt of last night, submitting to other manga publishers, might really come true.
An hour later, Xia Jing and Su Qingxiao arrived at her family's villa area again.
This second visit to Su Qingxiao's home made Xia Jing less awkward than the first time, and this time... Xia Jing saw Su Mingxi with a smile on her face for the first time.
She was simply aloof by nature, but not inherently fond of frowning; she would still smile when appropriate.
Especially towards Xia Jing, the manga artist who helped her gain some face at the serialization meeting.
After all, before this serialization meeting, the manga works she submitted had lost to Gao Dian's works twice already.
"Congratulations, Teacher Xia Jing, your work passed the serialization meeting. I invited you here this time to discuss the signing of the contract," Su Mingxi said, handing a standard contract to Xia Jing.
Contract.
Upon hearing this, a weight was completely lifted from Xia Jing's heart. He picked up the contract and looked at it.
The dense text was full of professional legal terms he didn't understand.
Of course, Su Mingxi also provided a brief explanation at this time.
In short, it was about manuscript fees.
Manga manuscript fees were settled by the page, with each page costing 370 Xia Country Yuan according to the standard on Sakura Color Weekly, but this was just a baseline remuneration.
If a certain manga chapter's serialization ranking on Sakura Color Weekly increased, the remuneration would be calculated based on its specific serialization performance for that issue. Of course, even if it ranked first, it would not exceed three times the baseline remuneration.
If calculated based on a normal manga chapter being twenty pages, and four chapters serialized per month, the minimum remuneration for a manga artist whose work is serialized on Sakura Color Weekly would be around 30,000 Xia Country Yuan.
Similarly, Xia Jing's five centimeters per second was already fully completed, with a total length of over a hundred pages. Even if its serialization ranking was at the bottom for every issue, the minimum guaranteed remuneration would still be nearly 40,000 Xia Country Yuan.
With this money, even if the court immediately seized his current house due to his deceased parents' debts, Xia Jing would have some confidence.
Of course, as a manga artist, the bulk of the income actually doesn't come from manuscript fees.
Royalties from manga tankobon sales are often the main source.
And this royalty split was 6%; for example, if a manga's tankobon sold for 100 yuan, 6 yuan of that would belong to the manga artist.
This was already the lowest royalty rate in the industry; it's not that capitalists didn't want it lower, but Xia Country had regulations that this was the minimum standard for literary work royalty splits.
Likewise, this was also the standard treatment for New Manga Artists like Xia Jing.
If a work becomes very popular and merchandise is sold, those items also have a very complex calculation formula to determine profits.
But overall, before a manga work gains market recognition and is animated, those merchandise profits should not be considered yet.
Xia Jing's head was spinning from listening to all this; his legal knowledge was weak, especially concerning the laws of Xia Country.
Xia Jing looked at Su Qingxiao beside him.
"Don't look at me, the contract I signed is exactly the same as yours," Su Qingxiao said with a smile.
Capitalists worldwide are all equally exploitative.
The contracts of these manga companies in Xia Country certainly exploit creators, especially after your work becomes famous. Some manga artists will find that their anime merchandise sold hundreds of millions, yet they only received a one-time copyright buyout fee, and how much others sold has little to do with them... But these things are hard for the current Xia Jing to consider.
A New Manga Artist can only temporarily accept these contract terms; once he becomes famous, he will naturally have the right to add conditions to collaboration contracts for new works.
So after only a moment of contemplation, Xia Jing took the pen from Su Mingxi's hand and began to sign his personal information.
Ten minutes later, Su Mingxi, who had confirmed all the information was correct, nodded slightly and said to Xia Jing.
"Since that's the case, Teacher Xia Jing, our collaboration, yours and mine, and our company's, officially begins," Su Mingxi said.
"I'd like to ask, since five centimeters per second passed the serialization meeting, when will it be serialized...?" Xia Jing asked.
"Three weeks from now, on Friday, June 13th, five centimeters per second will be officially published in the issue of Sakura Color Weekly released on that day. The main content and characters on the weekly cover will feature the two new serialized manga for that issue, 'five centimeters per second' and 'love like fireworks blooming,' occupying the main position as new work promotions. Also, for the first five pages of the first chapter, I'd like to trouble Teacher Xia Jing to do the post-coloring, drawing them as color manga," Su Mingxi looked at Xia Jing.
Cover promotion and color page promotion?
Indeed, these were the promotional methods most manga magazines used for new serialized manga works.
It's just that there was another new manga work being published concurrently!
"Also, Teacher Xia Jing, do you have any thoughts on choosing a pen name? Like my sister, her pen name is Shui Xi. Using a pen name won't affect your daily life due to the fame of your serialized work," Su Mingxi said at this time.
"In that case, let's call it... Aoba!" Xia Jing said.
This was the pen name Xia Jing used in his previous life when he was a struggling manga artist.
Since he couldn't use his previous life's name in this life, letting his pen name spread in this world could be considered a form of spiritual solace for Xia Jing after his rebirth.
Su Mingxi thought about it and found it quite good, then extended her hand to Xia Jing.
"Then, happy cooperation, Teacher Aoba!"
"Teacher Aoba hasn't eaten yet, right? Qingxiao and I haven't either, so let's eat together. I also have some details about the manga collaboration that we can discuss over dinner..." This was also Su Mingxi's usual practice.
She usually treated the manga artists she collaborated with to a meal or visited them, regularly fostering a good relationship so that it wouldn't be so stiff when urging for manuscripts or critiquing manga content later, avoiding causing too much displeasure.
After all, one eats with a softened tongue!
"I say, big sister, you address Xia Jing with the honorific 'Teacher,' why don't you call me that? Am I not also a serialized manga artist under you?" Su Qingxiao protested.
"Talk about it when your manga work gets serialized on Fantasy Dream Comic," Su Mingxi sneered.
"You are still completely unqualified."
...At night, Xia Jing returned home, and only after confirming the manga serialization results today did his heart feel lighter.
Lying in bed, he began to fantasize about various scenarios and developments after five centimeters per second was serialized.
"Finally, I've taken the first step!" Xia Jing lay in bed and slowly fell asleep, unaware of how much time had passed.
In his dream, he dreamt of his memories from his previous life. In the middle of the night, he was watching a film, watching it very seriously and carefully. At the same time, he re-experienced the sadness he felt when watching this film in his previous life.
After finishing the film, he even couldn't help but seek out and read the original novel of the film.
And the plot, content, and name of this work, accompanying the flow of memories, were etched into Xia Jing's mind as he slept soundly in bed at that moment.
Waking up in the morning, the sadness that had accumulated in Xia Jing's dream last night from dreaming about a new work surged forth, making his expression extremely grim, his eyes even a little red.
After all, he was also an emotional person, with a strong sense of immersion in stories.
At the same time, the name of that work surfaced in his mind.
"tonight, even if this love disappears from the world!"
Xia Jing remembered this love novel from Sakurajima in his previous life and its adapted film content.
It was a story about a girl who, due to an illness, had her memories reset every day after sleeping, and her encounter, love, and eventual forgetting with a boy.
So the story's name was its premise, the catalyst for the male and female protagonists' love, and also the root of the tragedy at the end of the plot.
"tonight, Even If This Love Disappears from the World!"
There were several works with this type of theme and setting, such as the anime "Ef: A Tale of Melodies" and the female protagonist in "One Week Friends," but the one that left the deepest impression on Xia Jing was undoubtedly this one.
His stomach felt a little painful again.
Why did he always recall these depressing, abusive works he had seen before?
Couldn't he recall the specific plot of Gintama and draw some humorous manga instead?
Xia Jing's expression was also speechless.
He hadn't experienced double humor, but depressing works that tormented him once in his previous life and again in this life were coming one after another.
To be honest, in terms of depressing and heartbreaking intensity, this work was not inferior to five centimeters per second; it belonged to the type of romance literature that started sweet and then turned abusive.
However, the novel was only adapted into a live-action film, not an anime, so its popularity in the anime circle was not high.
"Hmm..." Xia Jing recalled the memories in his mind and began to ponder.
"five centimeters per second is only five chapters long, and it will be serialized and finished in a month. To be honest, dreaming about the memories of this work came at just the right time."
"If I want to start a new manga serialization after 5 centimeters per second ends, capitalizing on the popularity of the 5 centimeters per second work, then I really need to prepare a new manga now..."
As for the fact that the original work of this piece was a novel, that didn't have much impact.
The conversion between novel, manga, and anime is a common industry practice. As long as the core of the story is excellent enough, presenting it in any medium is not a problem...