Chapter 27: No Need for Drafts

The last time Sakamoto Ken came to the Shueisha building, he didn’t actually visit the editorial department.

He had only met with the editor in the public meeting area. After all, he wasn’t a contracted writer for JUMP at that time.

But now, he could officially step into the editorial department as a contracted writer.

In his previous life, Sakamoto Ken had only been to that small magazine company. The entire company had only rented one floor in an office building, and the editorial department had only a few positions.

The JUMP editorial department was not small, but it looked particularly crowded.

(Image above: JUMP editorial department, taken from the documentary “Our 50 Years with Shonen JUMP.”)

Desks and various gaps were piled high with books, manuscripts, and documents. At a glance, there were about twenty or thirty workstations, most of which were empty.

It wasn’t because there were no editors at those positions, but because the editors were out.

As a manga editor, the work handled in the office was actually in the minority.

They needed to go out, for example, to the author’s home to discuss manuscripts, pick up original manuscripts, go to bookstores to check on the shelving of new books, and so on.

On the wall next to them was a large whiteboard with the name of each editor marked on it. The next two columns were for manually filled-in outside business and return-to-office times.

Most of them had written the author’s name in the “outside business” column, which meant that this editor had gone for a home visit.

In the “return-to-office time” column, several editors had directly filled in “going home.”

This meant that after visiting the author, they would go home directly from work without having to go back to the company.

The editorial department was different from those rigid, traditional companies. There was no need to clock in and out. Except for the editorial department’s collective meetings, all time was arranged by the editors themselves.

Although there were no clock-in time requirements, the editors’ overtime was actually particularly severe.

An editor’s working hours depended on the schedule of the author they were in charge of. If they were unfortunate enough to encounter an author who had their day and night reversed, then the editor would also have to reverse their day and night.

At JUMP, each editor was responsible for at most two weekly works, and generally, they would only follow up on one.

After all, discussing the plot with the author, polishing the storyboards, rushing manuscripts, typesetting and proofreading, reader feedback… all the various matters of one work could fill up an editor’s normal working hours.

An editor who was responsible for two at the same time was the king of kings among the workaholics, belonging to the category of having given up all personal life.

The situation for monthly and web publications was different. While being responsible for a main magazine work, an editor could also take care of some monthly and web authors.

After all, the manuscript volume of a monthly author was much less than that of a weekly author, and for web publications, it was just a matter of uploading online. There were no time-consuming and laborious outside tasks such as typesetting, printing, and bookstores.

Of course, what was being said here were editors for “ordinary authors.”

If it was a top-tier author at the level of Oda or Kishimoto, a dedicated editorial team would be assigned to them, with all members working full-time to take care of everything for the author, even including matters of daily life.

Sakamoto Ken’s gaze swept across the editorial department. This was the holy land that all new manga artists yearned for. He didn’t expect it to be as chaotic as a warehouse.

Soon, he saw Editor Kaji sitting in a corner near the inner side, almost completely obscured by a mountain of books.

Probably sensing the gaze from the entrance, Editor Kaji looked up, and their eyes met.

She was stunned for two seconds, then immediately stood up.

“Sakamoto-sensei, you’re here. I’m sorry, I’m sorry I didn’t go down to pick you up,” Kaji Keiko walked over quickly, apologizing repeatedly.

“It’s fine. I just happened to be looking around the editorial department,” Sakamoto Ken said.

“It’s different from what you imagined, right? It’s quite chaotic,” Kaji Keiko pointed outside and said, “Come on, let’s go to the small meeting room to talk.”

Sakamoto Ken followed Kaji Keiko through a corridor plastered with manga posters to a small room.

In the room, there was only a round table and two chairs.

Kaji Keiko pulled out a chair for Sakamoto Ken, then sat down opposite him.

“Sakamoto-sensei, let’s skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point,” Kaji Keiko said. “During the morning meeting, I introduced Chainsaw Man to all the editors, and everyone agreed that Sakamoto-sensei’s work has great potential.”

“Thank you,” Sakamoto Ken nodded and said, “I have great confidence in Chainsaw Man. If it gets on the main JUMP magazine, it can definitely be a flagship work.”

“Haha, having confidence is a good thing,” Kaji Keiko felt that Sakamoto Ken was just joking, and then said seriously, “JUMP’s flagship works are not so easy to be selected for. Sakamoto-sensei’s goal now is first to be successfully serialized in the weekly magazine.”

Sakamoto Ken had been paying attention to Kaji Keiko’s expression. Although the change was subtle, he still caught this slight change.

“Editor Kaji, is there some problem in trying to get the serialization opportunity?” Sakamoto Ken asked.

Kaji Keiko nodded sincerely and said, “Although Sakamoto-sensei’s work was number one in last week’s new work poll, the competitor, she, um… is very strong.”

“She’s behind me by nearly four thousand votes, and there’s still a chance she could squeeze me out?”

“It’s a bit complicated to explain. It’s not convenient for me to tell you the reasons…” Kaji Keiko sighed lightly and said, “But it’s not that there’s no chance to get on JUMP this time. Now even the Editor-in-Chief is pushing your work hard. If we can further widen the gap later, then I’ll bet my career on it and recommend Chainsaw Man.”

Seeing Sakamoto Ken frown slightly, Kaji Keiko immediately added, “Sakamoto-sensei, don’t be anxious either. Even if we can’t get on the main magazine this time, we will still prepare for serialization. The next serialization opportunity will definitely belong to Sakamoto-sensei.”

With Editor Kaji saying this, Sakamoto Ken understood.

It seemed that Haruna had indeed used her family’s connections.

If there were connections from high-level executives like the president, and it just so happened that JUMP had a vacant serialization spot, letting her experience serialization was not a big deal.

After all, from time to time, works would withdraw from the main JUMP magazine, and new works would be needed to fill the spots. These new works would not receive much attention from readers in the first few issues of their serialization.

However, once they started serializing in the weekly magazine, they had to follow JUMP’s rules.

Weekly Shonen JUMP only had about twenty spots for works in each issue. Even for manga that had been serialized for a long time, if they hovered at the bottom of the reader surveys for three consecutive issues, it was very likely they would be axed.

Like Shaman King, a popular work that had been serialized for six years back then, it was also tragically axed.

In fact, there were more famous examples in later generations, but it was currently still 2015, and Kishimoto-sensei had just finished Naruto not long ago.

A few years later, Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru, for which he was the original author, was heavily promoted through various channels before its publication, but it was axed in less than a year.

JUMP only believed in reader surveys. Even for Kishimoto-sensei’s work, they were merciless when it came to axing it.

With Haruna’s personality, if she was axed after a few issues of serialization on JUMP due to poor performance, she would probably be hit very hard. She might never draw manga again in her life.

However, Sakamoto Ken had no intention of helping her with the manga serialization. It would be best if he could win the serialization spot.

He was the one who was short of this manuscript fee.

Kaji Keiko continued, “In short, for the matter of serialization in the main magazine, Sakamoto-sensei, you don’t need to worry too much. Just focus on drawing the work well.”

“Editor-san, you can rest assured about the quality of the manga. I finished three chapters last week, and you’ve seen them,” Sakamoto Ken said.

Kaji Keiko nodded and said, “Then, my requirements for Sakamoto-sensei’s work are no longer at the level of web publication. From now on, I will view each of your chapters with the requirements of main magazine serialization.”

She spread her hand towards Sakamoto and continued, “Next, let’s first confirm the subsequent plot ideas and storyboard drafts with me.”

“I can narrate the plot, but as for things like storyboard drafts…” Sakamoto Ken maintained a smile and said, “Kaji-san, I don’t need drafts when I create.”

“No need for drafts?” Kaji Keiko was a little puzzled.

“Kaji-san, you should understand that every author has different creative habits, right?”

“Of course. Then Sakamoto-sensei, tell me about your habits.” Kaji Keiko took out a small notebook, intending to start taking notes.

Sakamoto Ken said, “I don’t have an outline, no drafts. I directly draw the complete storyboards.”

Kaji Keiko had just written down the word “no” when her hand holding the pen paused.

“Directly draw the storyboards?” Kaji Keiko frowned slightly and asked, “What do you mean?”

(End of Chapter)