Why is Amazon selling Dragon Ball AF?

[Eddie]

Well the title really says it, folks.
http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-AF-Yo ... ragon+ball



This is both sold and shipped by Amazon. Heck, it's eligible for Prime shipping. Er... when did it become cool for a major corporation to make money from bootleg goods? I'm 100% fine with fan created works, but I don't know that Amazon should be passing it off as official and profiting from it (you can look at the first few pages, like a typical book sold on Amazon, and the pages proudly proclaim their status as a copyrighted work).

I do see that Herms is credited, though. Is he seeing royalties from Amazon? Is he funding his evil plans with AF money?!

[voltlunok]

Huh...Well that's...odd. Head scratching even! How did this make it through review? The guy clearly doesn't own the rights or have a license to the characters last I checked and Amazon selling this and shipping it is really really weird...Unless Young got permission from Funi or Toei which...I doubt. Maybe Amazon has really low standards for this kind of stuff?

The reviews for it also feel quite...fabricated. I'm just as perplexed as you buddy.

[Doctor.]

Perhaps Malik would be able to answer this properly, since he has been selling Dragon Ball New Age on Amazon too. It just seems like this is a thing that's generally ignored, I guess.

[Eddie]

Yeah, it seems Amazon is selling multiple fan works. I'm not sure that makes it better, though. One of the largest retailers in the world is making money by selling this stuff. It isn't exactly the same as the local flea market. The first volume of AF is currently the #67,256 seller of all books on Amazon. That's more than this:

[precita]

I thought there was a law that fan works of any kind couldn't be sold on major retailers like this. You could probably get away with it on ebay but I'm surprised Amazon is doing this.

[Metalwario64]

I was going to suggest it was a third party listing, but it's actually sold by Amazon directly... Plus it has Herms listed as the translator. That is so strange.

[funrush]

I pointed this out over in the doujin's respective thread in the Fan-Works Area. It's been there for a couple of months now, possibly longer, so Shueisha either doesn't know or doesn't care. Interesting part is that it credits Herms for translation and other Kanzenshuu members are in there too. Super weird to see doujin advertised on the same page as the actual manga.

[Eddie]

I pointed this out over in the doujin's respective thread in the Fan-Works Area. It's been there for a couple of months now, possibly longer, so Shueisha either doesn't know or doesn't care. Interesting part is that it credits Herms for translation and other Kanzenshuu members are in there too. Super weird to see doujin advertised on the same page as the actual manga.

Well it's currently outselling many volumes of the actual manga...

[Herms]

I do see that Herms is credited, though. Is he seeing royalties from Amazon?

Nope. I assume they're just using translations I posted on the forums. I used to translate Toyotaro and Young Jiji's AF doujinshi, back in the day.

[Eddie]

I assumed that was the case. I'm curious how the money is split. Amazon's profiting from official releases and fan created works. Quite a racket...

[TheGmGoken]

Perhaps Malik would be able to answer this properly, since he has been selling Dragon Ball New Age on Amazon too..

i feel bad that you work hard and do a pretty good fan made dragonball manga with good drawing but barely get money for it.

i mean how many out of millions of fan made dragonball is actualy good?

While I would eventually LOVE to somehow make this my full-time job, making DBNA isn't about making money for me. More than anything, I'm a Dragon Ball fan, and as a fan I don't feel really comfortable charging people an arm and a leg for a doujinshi. I want to keep things affordable, even if it means that I don't even make $20 a week from book sales. Even when I'm selling my books at Youmacon (at a discounted rate from Amazon, mind you), I still barely break even.

Tbh, I rely more on my Patreon donations, but even then I'm giving people something in return and every penny that was donated goes right back into DBNA whether it be art supplies or books and materials for Youmacon.

I'm sure Malik is more knowledgeable about the subject than I am. That seems a bit risky, though.

While there is a certain amount of risk, I covered my bases thanks in no small part to Derek Padula from The Dao of Dragon Ball, who assisted me in the publishing process. I appreciate the concern though.

i hope for you to somehow make it cuz to be honest you actualy managed to make a dragonball fan manga very interessting with something new.
this is just my opinion but i rather buy your books than something official like the latest parts of naruto or something or atack on titans i never found that interessting tbh.

no disrespect to both mangas ,tho.

Well I certainly appreciate that. Thank you

I saw Young Jiji translated work on Amazon too, so i don't think Malik and others will have problems, it is grey zone, yes, but i don't think Toei would bother look after them, it is like with all these fanmade reproducion cartridges, too much work, not to mention possible backlash from fans.

Precisely. At the most, Shueisha would issue me a cease and desist, in which I would merely have to discontinue selling the books online. I don't see it ever happening though, seeing as thousands of doujinshi artists sell their doujinshi every year in Japan and hardly any of them ever get pursued.

[Doctor.]

Well yea, I read those posts when he posted them, but I was more-so hoping he'd enlighten us in regards to the legal issues.

[eledoremassis02]

I think these are slipping under the radar. Amazon has a self publishing (you upload the file Amazon makes/sells the books). I have the first volume and it isnt too bad. I doesnt have anything on the spine of the book tho.



Is it the all the volumes?

[Sayo-chan]

It's been there for a couple of months now

I pointed this out to a friend in early January, so it's been up there for awhile now.

[irreality]

I pointed this out over in the doujin's respective thread in the Fan-Works Area. It's been there for a couple of months now, possibly longer, so Shueisha either doesn't know or doesn't care. Interesting part is that it credits Herms for translation and other Kanzenshuu members are in there too. Super weird to see doujin advertised on the same page as the actual manga.

I'm not sure Shueisha would care -- doujinshi sales are common in Japan, having whole conventions (Comiket) and big stores in malls full of the stuff (Mandarake, K-Books) overrun by sales of these for every fandom imaginable, alongside regular manga. Whatever the copyright law is in Japan, it seems to allow such fanworks to be sold quite openly and freely. The US copyright holders might have different opinions (Viz, Funimation?), though? But I doubt they will pursue.

[KentalSSJ6]

I pointed this out over in the doujin's respective thread in the Fan-Works Area. It's been there for a couple of months now, possibly longer, so Shueisha either doesn't know or doesn't care. Interesting part is that it credits Herms for translation and other Kanzenshuu members are in there too. Super weird to see doujin advertised on the same page as the actual manga.

I'm not sure Shueisha would care -- doujinshi sales are common in Japan, having whole conventions (Comiket) and big stores in malls full of the stuff (Mandarake, K-Books) overrun by sales of these for every fandom imaginable, alongside regular manga. Whatever the copyright law is in Japan, it seems to allow such fanworks to be sold quite openly and freely. The US copyright holders might have different opinions (Viz, Funimation?), though? But I doubt they will pursue.

Such doujin is how Toyble (guy who made the DBAF with Xicor/Zaiko) got picked up to do the DB Heroes manga and now Super's manga adaptation, though now under the name Toyotaro.

[eledoremassis02]

there are a few other fan comics on here as well
http://www.amazon.com/DBZeroVerse-1-Mar ... on+ball+af
http://www.amazon.com/DB-New-Age-Dragon ... on+ball+af

Also whats young Jiji's version? Toyble started AF? Its all confusing lol

[ekrolo2]

there are a few other fan comics on here as well
http://www.amazon.com/DBZeroVerse-1-Mar ... on+ball+af
http://www.amazon.com/DB-New-Age-Dragon ... on+ball+af

Also whats young Jiji's version? Toyble started AF? Its all confusing lol

Two different versions of the same premise though Toyble's is likely finished as Toyble is working as an official artist on the DB Super manga, Young Jiji's is still going on.