Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 May 16

= May 16 =

How does I publish me books?
How do amateur/first-time manga illustrators usually publish their work? I happen to be one of people working on my story but I have no idea how to properly publish it into book form. I already have drawings for the title covers and drew out all the chapters and stuff, but what is the recommended method of publishing your first work into a manga comic? 64.75.158.195 (talk) 04:51, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Send some samples to publishers? I think this is the way to go - send some samples of your best work to publishers and include an outline of the whole story. Or, seek out a manga fanzine, maybe they're taking newcomers? If a portion of your manga may be cropped to serve as a standalone short story, maybe try that? --Ouro (blah blah) 07:42, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Whenever this question is asked here concerning regular books, the answer that is normally supplied is "Find an agent". Publishers don't generally accept unsolicited manuscripts.  I don't know if this is different for manga publishers.  Dismas |(talk) 07:58, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * A second alternative would be publish some material online and offer it for free. This will get you some feedback from readers and possibly attention from real publishers.--Quest09 (talk) 19:46, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Here is what I know (bear in mind that I am not a manga/comics artist, so take all I say here with a BIG grain of salt). As far as I know, there are three "conventional" ways to become a mangaka. The first one is to create and sell your doujinshi, to earn yourself some fame this way, and then to try submitting stuff to the magazines. The second one is to become an apprentice to an established mangaka, and then to "graduate" to publishing your own stuff this way. (Keep in mind that the assistant/apprentice names do not usually appear on the manga, the work is crazy hard, and the pay sucks). The third one is to draw one-shots, or self-contained first chapters of the mangas you have in mind, and to try submitting those to the magazines directly (with very slim but still nonzero chances of success). The biggest caveat in all this is that you need to be a native Nihongo speaker. Korean or Chinese manga (manhwa) still qualifies as a manga, but original English-language manga is technically a comics and not a manga at all. That doesn't mean you'd be worse off if it is in English; you may actually be better off. There are English-language webcomic artsts (Ursula Vernon, Jeph Jacques, Fred Gallagher, Mark Crilley, Bill Holbrook, ...) who largely or fully support themselves by drawing comics and publishing some or all of it on the web. None of it is really manga though, not even any of Mark Crilley's stuff. Still, this venue is definitely worth considering, unless you would want to move to Japan and starve yourself for many years for a very long shot at getting published in any of the Kodansha / Shueisha / Hakusensha / Shogakukan journals. --Dr Dima (talk) 23:30, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * If your (the OP's) main interest is to get a properly bound book, check out some print-on-demand shops or (more pejoratively, "vanity publishers"). I've had a comparatively good impression of Lulu (company). Chances that you will earn money are slim, but you can get books produced to a wide range of physical requirements, and you can potentially reach a large audience for very little initial outlay. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 09:34, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * "Get books produced . . ." I agree with, but "potentially reach a large audience for very little initial outlay" I don't, unless you mean that, having the books, the OP can then advertise, distribute and get paid for them entirely through his/her own efforts. Some of the various print on demand or other print-shop services (like, I too have heard, Lulu) will indeed produce bound copies for reasonable mark-ups over real costs. Many others, who describe themselves variously as agents, editorial services, independent publishers etc, etc but are in reality vanity presses, will typically charge for inferior or illusory editorial and other work, and overcharge for what they actually do (which often means secretly farming out the work to the same print services their customer could access directly for a large mark-up). Such operators, unlike real agents or publishers, have no more abilities than J. Q. Public to get adverts and reviews published, and no means of getting stores to stock their titles because no-one in the professional book industry will deal with them under any circumstances. Many such operators have to change their company names frequently to avoid dunning creditors and disappointed, sueing clients.
 * As an ex-bookseller and ex-editor, I broadly concur with the advice of the first three replies above. Try also visiting a Public Library and studying publications like The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook to find out about publishers and agents, looking at existing Manga publishers' websites for advice on submissions, and finding, studying and participating in the various on-line forum sites for aspiring writers and artists (random example, Absolute Write). Also, go to Manga or other Comics Conventions and ask successful writers how they did it. It's obviously possible to become a successful publisher of your own work, whether printed or online, as people like Dave Sim (not Manga, but certainly comics) and Jeph Jacques (Manga references) have demonstrated, but it takes years of very hard and poorly renumerated work. Finally, remember the rule of thumb that all money should flow towards the writer/artist, and be very wary if asked for up-front fees for services or production costs; in most (I agree not all) professional publishing circumstances such charges, where legitimate, are taken out of what a publication earns through sales. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 23:14, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Lulu, unlike traditional vanity presses, will have your book in their catalogue more or less forever, and have the infrastructure to accept orders and ship it all over the world. That's what I meant by "potentially large audience". With a traditional vanity press, you order X00 copies, the publisher may even promise to produce Y00 (Y>X), but he will nearly always make a fat profit off your initial investment and quietly burn what's left of the print run after a few months to save on storage. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:31, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed: another old vanity press trick is to print the requisite number of sheets, but not fold, bind and case them into book form. Lulu is, I agree, generally said to offer an honest and decent service as far as it goes, but while they do indeed catalogue your book and supply it to anyone who orders it, they don't (so far as I know) actively advertise to the public or to retail booksellers, or send reps to the stores to generate stock orders; nor do they accept returns from booksellers who, therefore, will almost never order shelf stock from them, only copies firmly ordered by customers. Consequently, creating awareness of and demand for your book is down to your own efforts. Some people are in a good position to do that - for example, those who give lectures and talks related to their book's subject - but for Manga it may be less easy. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 04:29, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Ratio analysis Non–Performing Credit to Total Credit
please tell me about ratio analysis Non–Performing Credit to Total Credit... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Surakshya (talk • contribs) 12:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * This sounds like a homework question to me - if it isn't I apologise. We will not do your homework for you, but we will help you advance from a stuck point. If it isn't a homework question, please explain a little more as it seems people aren't sure of what you mean. Thank you :) Chevymontecarlo . 12:04, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

How small are the smallest clients of big law firms?
Law firms like those belonging to the Magic Circle (law) or the White shoe firm. Mr.K. (talk) 13:14, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Fixed redlink 131.111.248.99 (talk) 16:57, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
 * The very largest and most well known law firm would cheerfully take on the very smallest client, if that client were willing to pay the going hourly rate for the work to be done. They might refuse the work if they already had the adversary as a client. They might charge far more per hour than a local storefront law firm for contracts, rental agreements, deeds, wills, or prenups. Large firms have associates, junior partners and new hires whose work gets billed out and which pays revenue to the partnership as well as the lawyer or paralegal actually talking to the client and preparing the documents. The senior partners would be aghast at the notion of turning away billings. Come one, come all! Edison (talk) 22:15, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Law firms are also ethically required to perform at least some pro bono work every once in a while. Everard Proudfoot (talk) 05:39, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * 212.219.39.146 (talk) 09:09, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
 * http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/legal_services_pai.html Everard Proudfoot (talk) 18:24, 17 May 2010 (UTC)


 * "Ethically required"? And what if they don't do it, will law firms burn in hell? Mr.K. (talk) 15:40, 17 May 2010 (UTC)


 * See the pro bono article, which was already linked above. In the US, the ABA "recommends" a certain amount of pro bono work, under its ethics rules.  There is this idea that since lawyers and doctors have their privileged positions by means, partly, of community support, that they are supposed to give back to the community with pro bono work.  As far as law firms burning in hell, well, yes, we all know that's a given.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:58, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Er...surely the smallest clients of law firms,would be those who represented Pygmies'R'Us or Dwarves Incorporated? :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.57.118 (talk) 12:28, 18 May 2010 (UTC)
 * No, it would probably be for the old lady's canary. The one she gave her vast fortune to.  Googlemeister (talk) 13:38, 18 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Not her ant farm? Nil Einne (talk) 07:23, 20 May 2010 (UTC)