After four extended forays to Tokyo and countless boxes shipped in, I’ve managed to amass over one hundred volumes of doujinshi — fanmade comics created by independent artists groups called “circles”, using the names and likenesses of established or copyrighted characters.

Doujinshi is one of the gray areas of fandom, taking up a certain percentage of fan purchases within Japan. They are also making considerable strides into foreign markets, with import services and auction sites filling the void. The market is so large that major publishers and production houses turn a blind eye to it, since sales of derived works also boost the sales figures of the original works.

Many of today’s best manga artists also started out as doujinshi artists, so production houses are loathe to shut down the circles for fear of the talent well drying up.

I love doujinshi, and consider it another facet of the fandoms I support; I appreciate the time and effort circles put into producing them. Although I’m no expert, I do know what I like, so from experience I’ve managed to narrow down my criteria to five main points. I hope new doujinshi circles can take a look at it and use as a sort of guide for themselves during the production process.

Fandom and Characters

Creating a doujinshi starts out with selecting your fandom and characters. This will seem obvious, but you may be surprised to find out that some circles — especially the popular ones that can churn out print runs of over 10,000 copies, select their subject based on what’s popular and what they think will sell.

It’s a trap that some new circles may fall into, and unfortunately many of them do not survive it. If you are a new circle starting out on your first comic, it will make things easier for you — not to mention it’ll keep you more inspired, if you picked a fandom and characters that genuinely interest you and your circlemates.

The Cover

The cover is your introduction to your prospective buyers. It gives plenty of information to browsers that may be enough to convince them to purchase your product, so it pays to make a good first impression. Generally, colour covers give more visual impact than grayscale. Covers that incorporate the characters in the story are also a good draw, since the buyer knows exactly what they are getting.

Try to use clear, precise fonts when typesetting your cover, since this helps set the tone for the entire book. And if you think your budget can handle it, go for thick board covers in matte or gloss. Not only will this increase your book’s durability, it will also increase its value and its desirability to hardcore collectors.

Continued in Part 2.