Online doujinshi sales are much lower than expected

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of Doujinshi events are planned for this year, including the main ones Comic market (Comiket) have been discontinued or minimized to prevent the spread of the disease. A Japanese blogger named “Director D” released the results and analysis of a Twitter survey on the reasons why online sales of Doujinshi volumes (a modality implemented by the pandemic) is very low than expected.

According to a screenshot of the Twitter survey above (which the author deleted from his account for data protection reasons), a total of 42,696 votes were received, and 56.4% of the respondents chose the option in which they indicated this due to the high cost do not buy Doujinshi by mail. “Director D” pointed out that this is a strange reason considering that entry into the Comiket (if performed), which includes meals, accommodation and travel, is already very high and the cost far exceeds 28% however, users who replied to the survey or tweeted it again agreed that they are not motivated to buy Doujinshi if there is no related event, which Director D believes is the underlying reason to the fact that although the opportunity was offered to buy the same quantities that would have been available in the physical event, sales were so low.

“”In fact, there are times when people buy things simply by buying“Recorded the user.” “In these moments, people don’t spend their money on the object, but on the experience of being a customer. It’s especially fun at events of this kind. Wake up early, get excited, get dressed well. Friends or artists, it’s fun to meet people you normally don’t know when there is no event. You can also eat in external facilities if you feel like it, and in these cases the travel and accommodation costs are really worth it, although they are much higher than the package delivery.“”

The user also cited the lack of central information about new releases as another reason for low sales. He suggested that artists follow a template and organize themselves via social media hashtags so that potential buyers can find and discover their works more easily.

In addition, the event Comiket 98, scheduled to take place between May 2nd and 5th this year, has been canceled to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Due to the postponed Olympic Games, the event was planned for May instead of the usual month of August. In addition, the planning committee announced in July that the planned Comiket 99 (winter comic market) should be postponed from this winter to the dates of the “Golden Week” in 2021 (ie between April and May 2021). .

However, the absence of a Comiket event this year has had catastrophic effects on artists and printers. In May the paper mill was opened Kitamura Kamiten Gone bankrupt. According to reports from J-Cast, the print shop Eikou compared to the previous year earned between 20 and 505 incomes in the past six months.

Source: ANN