Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

Chapter 85 Taking a Different Approach (Third Update! Seeking First Subscriptions!)

Too long?

This surprised Eri Aragaki.

She originally thought that as long as the quality of her work was good and the editor approved it, it would be published. However, she did not expect that there was a strict length limit that was blocking her out.

"Judging from the current storyboard, this short comic by the teacher is not short at all, and the completion level is probably around two hundred pages."

Lin Shiping then explained, "We have regulations on the length of short comics, which is a maximum of 55 pages. 'Goodbye Eri' far exceeds this limit."

He flipped to the last page of the storyboard and continued, "And my advice after reading 'Goodbye Eri' is that the storyboard has a great narrative rhythm. If the plot is cut or modified due to length limitations, it will ruin the excellent story of this manga."

I really don't want such a wonderful story to be ruined, so I've made it clear that "Goodbye Eri" cannot be published in any Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

Upon hearing this, Eri Aragaki suddenly realized, "So there's this restriction?"

The main issue is that she hadn't really noticed this point; she just thought that "Goodbye Eri" belonged to the short manga category, so it was suitable for publication in "Weekly Shonen Jump".

In her previous life, she read short comics that were mostly published on online platforms, which rarely had any length restrictions; as long as the story was finished, that was enough.

Moreover, since "Sayonara Eri" and Fujimoto Itsuki were originally under Shueisha's umbrella in her previous life, she subconsciously felt that "Sayonara Eri" should naturally be able to be published in JUMP.

However, what she didn't know was that the era in which "Goodbye Erii" was created in her previous life was the era when online platforms were fully emerging.

"Goodbye Eri" was actually published on the online platform Shonen Jump+. The reading mode on the web and the app didn't need to consider printing costs at all; readers could just scroll down.

The biggest difference between the internet age and the print media age is that the internet age's online platforms are almost unrestricted.

Apart from the influence of special factors such as subject matter and plot, there are no restrictions on length, color, etc.

The author can draw two hundred pages if they want, and use full color if they want, without being constrained by the printing budget.

However, the print media era was different. In the print media era, magazines and publications had limited space and color, and increasing the space or color printing would greatly increase costs.

A magazine only has so many pages, and the number of pages allocated to each serialized work is planned in advance, with the number of pages allocated to the short story section being even more limited.

Therefore, the length and color printing will be greatly limited.

In its previous life, "Goodbye Eri" was published without restrictions on online platforms, but in this era, it cannot be published in "Weekly Shonen Jump".

Eri Aragaki subconsciously overlooked this, which led to an awkward situation.

She brought the storyboard with great confidence, thinking that Lin Shiping would decide on it on the spot after reading it.

The manuscript was indeed approved, to the point that it ranked first in Lin Shiping's mind for the year, but it was stalled due to length issues.

"Hello, here's your mocha coffee."

She had nothing to say until the waiter brought over the mocha, which had a layer of creamy milk foam on the rim and a small flower made of caramel on top.

"OK, thanks----"

She picked up her cup, took an awkward sip to ease the tension, and then said, "I understand."

"I'm sorry, I forgot to explain the situation to the teacher and took up her time."

Lin Shiping could only say, "However, I think that even if it cannot be published in JUMP, you can still choose to submit the completed work to us, and we can recommend it for publication as a standalone volume."

Eri Aragaki's eyes lit up, but she still asked, "Is this... alright?"

"It should be possible."

Masaya Sakurai, who had been silent all along, suddenly put down his coffee cup and said, "If you finish creating 'Goodbye Eri,' teacher, we'll submit our work. If it's really good, it should be approved after a vote."

Most importantly, Eri Aragaki is no longer an unknown new manga artist.

Attack on Titan has consistently ranked in the top ten and has the potential to become a huge hit. Shueisha's internal assessment of her has gradually shifted from "a newcomer who needs to be nurtured" to "a promising stock worth investing in".

If the quality of "Sayonara Eri" is really as good as Hayashi Shihei said, then Shueisha would probably vote to approve the proposal, since a publishing house wouldn't turn down a good work.

Making money—it's not shameful.

While I can't speak for other works, I'm quite confident in the quality of "Sayonara, Eri".

The reason this short story from the previous life was able to top all the charts is not just because of Fujimoto Itsuki's fame, but because of its solid quality.

So she said, "Okay then, I will continue to finish 'Goodbye Eri'."

But just then, Lin Shiping suddenly said cautiously, "Riko-sensei, how about we put 'Goodbye Eri' on hold for now and continue talking about the short manga at the end of this month?"

After all, "Goodbye Eri" definitely can't be published, but the short manga is still missing.

The end-of-month publication space won't automatically fill in just because you submit a good work that can't be published.

If Eri Aragaki can't produce a manuscript, Shih-Ping Hayashi will have to urgently contact other manga artists in the remaining two weeks, or find a replacement from the submission pool.

And at the end of the year, he knows best the quality of the available alternatives.

Eri Aragaki was somewhat at a loss, mainly because she knew that with the length limit, she couldn't copy many of the short comics.

She quickly went through the classic short stories she had read in her previous life in her mind. Most of them were quite long, ranging from eighty or ninety pages to two or three hundred pages.

Short stories that can tell a complete story within 55 pages do exist, but the selection range is much narrower.

What should she do then?

She had no choice but to admit, "But I really don't have any ideas for the time being."

"Actually, the teacher's previous short comic 'Wu Song' was very well received. I saw many readers write to me wanting to see the teacher draw the sequel to Wu Song's story."

Lin Shiping was not giving up and continued, "For example—drunkenly beating Jiang Menshen, blood splattering at the Mandarin Duck Tower, or some readers also want to see Lin Chong's story. The kind of ancient Chinese style that you created is really very distinctive. I think we can draw a story like that according to the readers' requests."

In his view, the stories are all ready-made.

As long as Eri Aragaki maintains the unique and charming style of "Wu Song", she can just draw according to the story in "Water Margin".