Yagikunthe talented author behind the manga “Satsuriku no Ou“, revealed the income obtained for his work through the publisher Shueisha. Through his Twitter account, Yagikun shared the following information:

• «11,536,000 yen. I worked at Shonen Jump Plus and I think the fees for the manuscripts of “Satsuriku no Ou” were around that amount. This is for 1 year and 5 months. Use it as a reference! I have surpassed 1600 pages in total and the colored illustrations were not paid for».

The author mentioned that 11,536,000 yen (about $73,000) were obtained during 1 year and 5 months of work, which is equivalent to approximately 17 months. To better understand whether this income is enough to live in Japan, let's do some calculations. Dividing the total income by the months of work results in about 678 thousand yen per month (about US$ 4,300).

Currently, the minimum wage in Tokyo is approximately 1,113 yen per hour. Assuming a standard 40-hour work week, This results in a minimum wage of around 178,000 yen per month. (about US$1,100). However, in Japan, income is subject to tax, and Yagikun's high salary would put him in a high tax bracket for which, after taxes, he would receive between 20 and 30 percent less.

In addition to taxes, manga authors often incur various costs involving drawing materials and software, workspace (whether it's a rented studio), and marketing and promotion. However, a crucial aspect is payment to participants. Manga assistants assist with creating backgrounds, inking, plots, and other aspects of the process, and their salaries are paid by the author themselves. For each assistant, then subtract a minimum monthly salary from what the author received and it won't seem like that much money, right?

• «That's why talented authors go to Shonen Jump Plus, where they publish digitally.».
• «As expected of a legendary masterpiece».
• «It's a disheartening story... Even with e-book sales, considering the taxes and costs».
• «Considering the audience, it's very little. Mangakas are like artisans, they should get paid twice as much.».
• «Wow! But when you think about it being over 1600 pages in total… isn’t the pay per page low? (´；ω；｀)».
• «If the books don't sell well, it really is a dead end.».
• «Is that all there is?».
• «The amount is impressive, but hearing that he did 94 pages a month for 1 year and 5 months makes me think, 'well, something like that'. If we talk about whether this person is amazing, he definitely is.».
• «Shonen Jump Plus really pays well. If it were a monthly income of ¥638,000, without assistants, with costs of ¥1,500,000, an annual income of about ¥6,000,000».
• «¥11,530,000 ÷ 17 months = ¥678,000/month gross, from which are deducted costs of sales, operating profits and losses, extraordinary profits, and taxes. Are the assistants' salaries included in the cost of production or in the cost of sales? This is starting to look more difficult than I thought.».
• «It seems incredible to me, but if with a series that continues to be updated weekly it reaches that amount, it would mean about ¥8,000,000 annually, and I think they could earn more. But if we consider that manga is an asset that can generate continuous income in the future, then there is hope.».
• «With that, it seems that I would have a lot of difficulty living with.».

Source: Otakomu