[ SECRET POST #144 ]

[shahni.livejournal.com]

⌈ Secret Post #144 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

- Con returnee is happy and sleepy. Thus you get early post!

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 75 secrets from Secret Submission Post #021.
Secrets Not Posted: 0 broken links, 0 not!secrets, 0 not!fandom
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 30th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: Here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: #13

[katsu]

There is no label saying "men only," but at the same time, if they're writing things that women aren't interested in, women aren't going to buy their books. So there is nothing to stop me from reading comics, but they certainly aren't giving me a reason to give them money for those comics either.

There is a difference between the individual artists and their freedom to express themselves, and the industry, same as there is in the book industry. An author or an artist most certainly has the right to create as they see fit. However, that does not give them the right to have their artistic vision published and bought by the adoring masses. There's a reason so many manuscripts languish in the slush pile year after year and are never picked up - because the book industry goes for what they think their audiences will buy, hell with the artist's vision. The industry is there to cater to their audience, because they want their audience's money, and they're not going to get that money if they don't provide a product that interests that audience.

So no, an artist isn't forced to draw a damn thing, just as a writer is not forced to write a thing (though if they're smart, they still listen to their editor instead of clinging to their "vision" if they want something the a company will publish) however, the industry is in charge of deciding what it will publish. And the comics industry has been doing a lot of whinging about their losses, and about how they're not reaching much of a female audience (and they can't seem to figure out why), and it is because they are not choosing to publish things that a wide female audience will be interested in.

So yeah, it is their own fault that they've failed to tap into a large sector of the female audience, and at this point, they're probably never going to get them back because manga's caught their loyalty.