Digital Manga Guild Seen From the Inside

Last year, Digital Manga announced that they would be putting together an online guild to allow fans to assist them in translating manga in return for no money upfront but a percentage of (hopefully eventual) profits.

Now Melinda Beasi will be exploring the Guild as a participant. With the company’s knowledge, she applied as an editor, took their test, and was accepted, three months later. She’ll be writing about her experience… but first, she has to find group members. Digital Manga only deals with triads of “typesetter, editor, and translator” with one selected as contact representative, and editors are by far the most overrepresented role, with translators being the rarest. It sounds as though there are going to be some accepted editors who end up not doing any work because they don’t wind up in a group. (It’s the manga equivalent of “find your own artist, writer” in American comics.)

I look forward to reading more about her experience, especially when it comes to compensation and whether she feels the experience is worth the time and effort.