Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

In the large conference room, the editors sat around a long table. Traces of the previous issue's rankings still remained on the whiteboard, with half-erased numbers and arrows hanging crookedly on it.

Ibaraki Masahiko stood in front of the whiteboard, holding the newly compiled ranking list in his hand, his glasses reflecting the white light of the fluorescent lamp above him.

He cleared his throat and began to announce.

"Number one: One Piece."

……

The top three are, needless to say, always the same.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was calm. The top ten rankings had remained largely unchanged for several weeks, and everyone was aware of this.

Ibaraki Masahiko continued reading.

Fourth place: Gintama; Fifth place: D.Gray-man; Sixth place: Katekyo Hitman Reborn!; Seventh place: Eyeshield 21; Eighth place: The Prince of Tennis...

Each time he read out a name, the corresponding editor would nod slightly or jot it down in their notebook.

until……

"Ninth place..."

Ibaraki Masahiko and the others remained expressionless. "Attack on Titan."

Masaya Sakurai leaned back in his chair, wrote "Ninth Place" next to "Attack on Titan" in his notebook, and then put down his pen.

The other editors, however, were not surprised at all.

This is because the ranking results have been like this for five consecutive weeks.

The Giants' ranking has remained stable between eighth, ninth, and tenth place, without ever falling out or rising even one place.

It's safe to say that this manga has already secured its place in the top ten most popular comics. For a new work that has been serialized for less than twenty chapters, this achievement is enough to keep any editor up at night.

As for going any higher, there's really no way around it, because this is Weekly Shonen Jump, and the manga that make it into the top ten in popularity are all unshakeable masterpieces.

The top three—Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece—are the three pillars of Japanese manga. Following them are Gintama, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, D.Gray-man, and Prince of Tennis, all of which have been serialized for years and have accumulated massive fan bases.

The fact that the Giants made it into the top ten is enough to prove their strength. As for their ranking of eighth, ninth, or tenth for several consecutive weeks, Masaya Sakurai has no complaints about it.

Ibaraki Masahiko then read out the remaining rankings.

The order of the works ranked 10th to 20th has only changed by one or two compared to the previous period. The work at the bottom is a new project started by an old manga artist.

After reading it aloud, he placed the statistics table on the podium, but did not immediately announce the adjournment of the meeting as usual.

"There is one more thing before the meeting adjourns."

He adjusted his glasses, his gaze sweeping across the faces of all the editors present, and said, "Next, we will be taking an important vote: the decision to publish Attack on Titan as a standalone volume."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment, but only for a brief instant.

No one showed any surprise, and no one whispered among themselves.

Masaya Sakurai wasn't surprised to hear the news.

In fact, he felt that Attack on Titan was ready to be published as a standalone book as early as two weeks ago.

After all, generally speaking, manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump usually starts to consider whether to publish a collected volume when it reaches the ninth chapter.

This timing is standard practice for the editorial department. When a work has been serialized to this length, there is enough content to fill a standalone volume, and the popularity trend can be clearly seen.

Unless the show remains unpopular and is on the verge of being canceled, it may be postponed until between episodes 12 and 15 before a decision is made.

But there's no doubt that Attack on Titan's popularity has always been above average, with absolutely no possibility of it being cut short, and it's even on the verge of becoming a major hit.

The ranking in the reader survey has been steadily rising, the level of discussion on the forum is also increasing, and more and more readers are mentioning the name of the Titans in their weekly letters.

Therefore, there should be no doubt that Attack on Titan will be published as a single volume.

However, as the editor in charge, he did not have the authority to make the final decision on whether or not a book could be published as a standalone volume.

Only the editor-in-chief can decide whether to put this matter on the agenda, and then the editors will vote on whether to publish it as a standalone book.

The specific procedure is that each of the editors present has one vote, and only if more than half agree can the publication plan for the standalone book be launched.

Although Masaya Sakurai had a good idea of ​​what was going on, he couldn't reveal anything to Eri Aragaki before the editor-in-chief officially announced it.

And now the editor-in-chief has finally made a decision.

Masahiko Ibaraki picked up a stack of pre-cut white ballot cards from the podium and had the editors sitting in the front row pass them around to the back.

The voting cards were printed by the editorial department itself. They only had two options: agree and disagree, with a small box next to each. You just had to put a checkmark on them with a pen.

The editors took the voting cards, quickly checked them off on the table, and passed them back to the editor-in-chief from the front row.

Ibaraki Masahiko collected all the ballot cards, had the two assistant editors count the votes in person, and then stood in front of the whiteboard and waited.

As for whether Attack on Titan will be published as a standalone manga, the editors already have a definite answer.

Everyone has witnessed the Giants' performance over the past ten weeks. They climbed from thirteenth to ninth place step by step, not by luck in a single week, but through a steady upward curve.

This kind of trend is extremely rare, if not exceptional, in JUMP's new serializations.

The vote count results came out quickly.

The assistant editor wrote the compiled figures in a corner of the whiteboard, and the number under the "agree" column far exceeded half.

Ibaraki Masahiko glanced at the numbers on the whiteboard, then picked up a ballot card and checked one or two more to make sure there were no problems.

"Passed unanimously."

He turned around and looked at everyone present, then focused his gaze on Masaya Sakurai and said, "Then Sakurai, you will be in charge of the Attack on Titan manga publication from now on."

Sakurai Masaya sat up straight and nodded, saying, "I understand."

Ibaraki Masahiko nodded, and then, as usual, gave a few words of advice to the few manga editors who were ranked at the bottom.

"Maruyama and Sato, please communicate with the teacher in charge and provide guidance on adjustments for the next episode."

"If there is no improvement over the next two weeks, proceed with the procedure."

It's cruel, but that's the truth.

This is not an isolated case in Weekly Shonen Jump. Just like the two manga that debuted alongside Eri Aragaki's Attack on Titan, they have already been canceled.

Only the strong can survive here, and this saying is also very applicable to the comic book industry.

"Alright, everyone, let's adjourn the meeting."

Ibaraki Masahiko immediately said.

The chair legs dragged on the floor with a series of thuds as the editors stood up and walked out.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Preparatory Work

After the meeting, Masaya Sakurai was busy again.

The process of publishing a standalone book is much more complicated than chasing weekly serials. It involves not only the manuscript itself, but also a series of steps such as cover design, opening color pages, author's afterword, typesetting and proofreading, printing cycle, and bookstore distribution.

The first thing he had to do was to inform Eri Aragaki, the author of the Attack on Titan manga, about the plan to publish a single volume.

After all, the release of a standalone volume is a big deal for a manga artist.

Firstly, this proves that their comics have gained a foothold and are on the verge of becoming very popular.

Although many manga are serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, the proportion that actually gets published as collected volumes is not high. Many works are canceled after only a dozen or so chapters, never even getting the chance to become collected volumes and be displayed on bookstore shelves.

Secondly, their income is expected to surge.

The royalty for a single volume is 10% of the price. If 50,000 copies of a volume are sold, the royalty income is equivalent to more than half a year's salary for an average office worker.

For a work that ranks in the top ten in popularity, 50,000 copies is just a starting number.

Sakurai Masaya returned to his workstation, picked up the landline phone on the table, and dialed Aragaki Eri's personal number.

The phone rang a few times.

At this moment, Eri Aragaki is busy in her studio drawing the manuscript for the new chapter of Attack on Titan.

Several unfinished drawings lay spread out on the workbench. Some were only outlined and the halftone dots hadn't been applied yet, while others were still wet from being painted black. Next to them were ink bottles and scrapers. Natsume Akane sat to one side of the workbench, carefully applying halftone dots with a scraper in her hand.

On the other side, Ayane Takeda was responsible for drawing the buildings and trees in the background, and her lines were becoming more and more skillful.

Erina sat on a stool next to her, holding a brush and touching up the blackened parts with ink.

The four of them were busy with their own things, and the only sounds in the studio were the scratching of pen tips on paper and the scraping of halftone dots by a scraper.

The phone rang.

Eri Aragaki put down her G-pen and picked up her phone with her un-inked hand.

The caller ID showed Masaya Sakurai's number.

"I need to take this call..."

She gestured to the other three people to wait a moment, then pressed the answer button and said, "This is Aragaki, Mr. Sakurai."

"Congratulations, Ms. Pear."

Masaya Sakurai's voice came through the receiver, his tone slightly more formal than usual, and he said, "I'm here to inform you that the first volume of your manga 'Attack on Titan' is about to be released. Congratulations."

Eri Aragaki's hand holding the phone froze in mid-air.

She froze for a moment.

Then the expression on her face changed from stunned to ecstatic, her mouth almost stretching to her ears.

"Thank you, thank you, Mr. Sakurai."

After all, she'll be making a fortune after the solo volume is released.

Royalties, first printing, and money coming in with each reprint if necessary—this income is on a completely different scale from her current monthly royalties.

Her mind was already racing, calculating what she could do with the money: buy Erina the laptop she'd always wanted, get a bigger monitor, and stock up on several more boxes of Chinese seasoning.

"You're welcome. I'm just making a notification."

Masaya Sakurai said, "We also need to inform the teacher that she will be assisting us with some additional work over the next month."

Eri Aragaki immediately replied seriously, "Please speak freely, Mr. Sakurai."