https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/7r8cfz/lezhin_writers_striking_over_some_sort_of/dsuzdox/

Cross-posting from Reddit. The link explains it all, so I won't bother re-iterating it here.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm inclined to not refill on coins on Lezhin until this mess gets sorted out. I'll spend what I already have stored up, but even then, it feels a bit sketchy...

Well, not refilling my coins anytime soon unless this gets cleared up. 30% to the author is criminal to begin with.

Yeah. And who knows if the authors will even be able to get just that measly amount from Lezhin at all?

What a joke. I'm fairly livid over this, but I'm just trying my best to get the word out there about it, more than anything.

How dare those terrorist protest to get paid a fair amount for their own work? I'm calling my lawyers

Blacklisting authors... calling them "extremists"... stealing money with the 9% """""late fee"""""... That's fucked up

At this rate, I'd prefer an artist or author set up a Patreon so I can just support them directly rather than relying on this hot mess.

last edited at Jan 18, 2018 9:18PM

I messaged Ratana Satis and the Three Musqueerteers on their various social media to see if they're setting up shop somewhere else, especially because I really want to read Lily Love season 2 with Ploy and Ice, but... Not on Lezhin. :/

nakano13 posted:

nakano13 posted:

At this rate, I'd prefer an artist or author set up a Patreon so I can just support them directly rather than relying on this hot mess.

I always wondered why I don't hear of many mangakas using patreon for their projects, is always a website/publisher in between... if the publisher says no then they just give up.
Is it the language barrier? is just not popular there or they need really big amounts?

nakano13 posted:

nakano13 posted:

At this rate, I'd prefer an artist or author set up a Patreon so I can just support them directly rather than relying on this hot mess.

I always wondered why I don't hear of many mangakas using patreon for their projects, is always a website/publisher in between... if the publisher says no then they just give up.
Is it the language barrier? is just not popular there or they need really big amounts?

I do not believe it's the language barrier. At this day and age, most of the countries around the world teaches english at schools. Even in my third world country I have english classes. I imagine that South Korea, being a first world country and a close ally of the United States, will have a high rate of foreign language education.

I bet it's because is not popular over there... or they need really big amounts (I don't know about the last one)

nakano13 posted:

nakano13 posted:

At this rate, I'd prefer an artist or author set up a Patreon so I can just support them directly rather than relying on this hot mess.

I always wondered why I don't hear of many mangakas using patreon for their projects, is always a website/publisher in between... if the publisher says no then they just give up.
Is it the language barrier? is just not popular there or they need really big amounts?

I do not believe it's the language barrier. At this day and age, most of the countries around the world teaches english at schools. Even in my third world country I have english classes. I imagine that South Korea, being a first world country and a close ally of the United States, will have a high rate of foreign language education.

I bet it's because is not popular over there... or they need really big amounts (I don't know about the last one)

Or it's easier to get noticed if there's a publisher. If you go it on your own, you have to spend time promoting yourself.

nakano13 posted:

nakano13 posted:

At this rate, I'd prefer an artist or author set up a Patreon so I can just support them directly rather than relying on this hot mess.

I always wondered why I don't hear of many mangakas using patreon for their projects, is always a website/publisher in between... if the publisher says no then they just give up.
Is it the language barrier? is just not popular there or they need really big amounts?

I do not believe it's the language barrier. At this day and age, most of the countries around the world teaches english at schools. Even in my third world country I have english classes. I imagine that South Korea, being a first world country and a close ally of the United States, will have a high rate of foreign language education.

I bet it's because is not popular over there... or they need really big amounts (I don't know about the last one)

Or it's easier to get noticed if there's a publisher. If you go it on your own, you have to spend time promoting yourself.

Even some of the free-to-read English web comics use pseudo-publishers like Hiveworks to promote them and manage product stores. It helps to have backing when you are not already famous and highly successful.

I messaged Ratana Satis and the Three Musqueerteers on their various social media to see if they're setting up shop somewhere else, especially because I really want to read Lily Love season 2 with Ploy and Ice, but... Not on Lezhin. :/

so maybe I will post link to our answer

I messaged Ratana Satis and the Three Musqueerteers on their various social media to see if they're setting up shop somewhere else, especially because I really want to read Lily Love season 2 with Ploy and Ice, but... Not on Lezhin. :/

so maybe I will post link to our answer

Thank you very much for letting us know! :D

I've been following up on this news on the Korean side of twitter, and in recent news apparently a bunch of the authors protested earlier this month. Then a few days later, the lezhin staff invited them for a question and answer type round table type discussion. Apparently they showed them a presentation with bs information- saying that they sent all these messages and emails to the authors when they clearly didn't- and even refused at one point to answer one of the authors' questions. It's pretty disgusting, and you can see the emotional toll it's taking on the author's themselves as well.

And about Patreon- from what I've seen not a lot of artists use it. I've only really seen old fashioned 'commission' posts that name a price and a sample of their art. It would be cool if they used it to fund their art, but I think it's just not very well known.

Japanese does how their own version of Patreon, called Enty, where btw Galette is funded, so I think it could be a realistic alternative as well. It is all matter of how many people would actually support them I guess.