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Okay, I’m about to educate y’all. This is why it would not make sense to buy scanlations and print them, from the experience of someone who letters manga for a living.
(1/14) https://twitter.com/salinsley/status/1279420253215379457
(1/14) https://twitter.com/salinsley/status/1279420253215379457
First, scanlations are copyright infringement. I don’t know what copyright holder would be okay with licensing their work to a publisher who’s gonna support the very people who are unlawfully redistributing their intellectual property, but let’s put that aside for a sec.
(2/14)
(2/14)
Let’s talk image files. The files that publishers get from licensors are high quality. They are not magazine scans. You won’t find these sold online anywhere.
(3/14)
(3/14)
These HQ images include extra art that you don’t see so that the image extends all the way to the edge of the printed page. It's called “bleed", and, without it, words would get cut off or get stuck so far in the gutter you’d have to break the spine to read them.
(4/14)
(4/14)
Here’s more on bleed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleed_(printing)
(5/14)
(5/14)
Did the scans get their image files from the magazine serialization or the tankobon (trade paperback)? Artists often make changes from magazine to TP, and it can be anything as small as a halftone change or as large as a panel re-order. These changes need to be included.
(6/14)
(6/14)
Next, editorial. Have you ever noticed how the books from a publisher all kinda feel the same? It’s because they each have their own style guides that dictate everything from how SFX are spelled to where text should be placed in a balloon.
(7/14)
(7/14)
Just going page by page editing the lettering so that it aligns with the style guide would make this hypothetical workflow a complete waste of time and money. You’d basically have to re-letter the entire book.
(8/14)
(8/14)
Next, fonts. Did the scans use a font that the publisher doesn’t own a license to? If so, the pub has to buy the font, which can be hundreds of dollars. Did the scans use an illegal copy of a font? If so, the pub has to re-letter all the instances of that font.
(9/14)
(9/14)
Font size is also an issue with print vs digital. You can zoom into small text on a digital reader, but you can only get your eyeball so close to a printed page. Small stroke (outline) values also look very bad in print, but look fine in digital.
(10/14)
(10/14)
Then let’s talk staff. The people who designed the logo and cover have to be paid. The person who wrote the words on the back has to be paid. The people who proofread have to be paid. The people who make corrections have to be paid.
(11/14)
(11/14)
The people who prepare the book for the printer have to be paid. The people who deliver the blues have to be paid. The people who print the books have to be paid. The people who distribute the printed books have to be paid. The people who market the books have to be paid.
(12/14)
(12/14)
Readers are not just paying for a shitty printout of a random comic. They’re paying for a consistent, high-quality product that supports the long list of people who made it.
(13/14)
(13/14)
In conclusion, it would save zero time and zero money to print scans. Please erase this incredibly bad take from your minds.
(14/14)
(14/14)
