def in Japan: a comic diary

It's "Eins, zwei, drei, vier".

thomas said:

It's "Eins, zwei, drei, vier".

Click to expand...

I'll adjust it in case of future editions, thx!

I've had a good few months. As I finish up the new book, I decided to take the next step: I registered with the Japan ISBN association to get my own registered numbers for publishing books. So from here on, I'm not just making stuff, I can actually sell them in stores. Getting them distributed is a completely different challenge, but it's a massive leap from what I was doing years ago. The phone interview to confirm my identity and that I wasn't abusing the system was a chore, but I passed it.

I'll update later when the book is done. But I'm now doing a proper imitation of a publisher.

Hey everyone. I need to update this thread!

So, I'm officially a publisher. I published my first book in May. It isn't a money-making venture. I printed a bunch, I need to sell a quarter of them to break even, but even then, it's never going to equal time put in.

With that in mind, I printed my own full-colour book, registered it with the Japanese ISBN registry, and properly submitted it to the Japan Library of record, whatever it's called. Basically, this is on record as a publication in Japan, and part of the permanent historical record of the country. You can do that by yourself for a reasonable amount of money.

Japan has strict rules about UPC size, ISBN classification, the amount of white space used, etc etc. Anyone living in Japan is accustomed to passion for minor details here.


The book, Ezo Toy, is now up for sale on the national doujinshi site, Melonbooks.

I've already translated my Kyoto book from a decade ago (possibly in this thread in the early days of it, not sure if I posted it all here). In English, it's been my top seller, even to people who can't read English well. It's simply been an interesting topic to readers.

Anyway, things have been good!

@nahadef A super big giantic CONGRATUALTIONS to you!

(and thanks for letting us folks on the inside know what is happening)