Aug 7, 2011 3:05 PM
So you want to be a Scanlator? Easy Modo 1/3
One of the common things I get messaged besides: “Are you a faggot?! How could you hate XXYY?!?” is "How do I become a scanlator/start my own group?"
Well , first off, I am not a faggot, because I do not normally suck dicks, and that one time was totally out of my control anyways and I hate your favorite manga/anime because it sucks. Not dicks, because I don’t suck dicks and that other time doesn’t count either.
*ahem*
The better question is: Why would you want to be a scanlator?
You will likely end up feeling harassed, annoyed, betrayed and incredibly under appreciated.
Clearly, I have failed to disuade you.
I am not going to list specific and detailed instructions for how to debind, scan, clean, edit, typeset, QC and work releases. There are much more detailed guides for each of those out there, and are beyond the scope of his entry, which is Listing the Basic Requirements needed to get something initally rolling and offer a few tips to help smooth things along.
This quick and dirty guide assumes you want to scanlate a completed or ongoing series. One shots are such much easier to do.
My personal advice to a person wanting to start up their own scanlation group is simple: Do as much of the work as possible by yourself.
Mo’ people mo’ problems.
The chance of DRAMA and RAGE increase by the square of the number of people involved. 1-2 People can easily handle a single manga with a weekly/monthly release cycle or any number of one shots. Just look at all the Doujin releases done by a TL/editor, who is sometimes the same person.
Things to keep in mind:
Is anyone else working on this manga? Is that group currently working on it? Are they disbanded? On Hiatus? Dropped?
This may or may not stop you, the question is if you care about the trollery or butthurt that may result.
Requirements
-----------------------------
1. Raws
2. Translator/Translation
3. Web Presence *dunno where to properly shoehorn this in at*
4. Staff? and Basic Position Requirements *whether all you or not*
5. Process and Workflow
a. Editting the Script
b. QC
c. Editting/Cleaning Raws and QC
d. Typesetting and QC
e. Release
1. RAWs
=================
You will need a reliable source of RAWS.
a. These can generally be found on any number of web raw aggregator sites, IRC, P2P (including PD, BT, Whiny and Share). Don’t ask me about PD, Whiny and Share: GOOGLE it. These raws may be of varying quality.
Make sure the web-raws you’ve obtained are adequate for your purpose and readable by your translator.
b. You can purchase the magazines/tanks and ship/debind/scan them yourself. This can be quite expensive to do on a regular basis.
c. You can purchase scanned and pre-leveled raws from several sites/groups. I will not list them here due to the possible wrath of a MAL mod. This is fairly inexpensive and a great option if all else fails
d. You could have an awesome buddy in that region who will purchase, debind, scan them for you! *We should all be so lucky -sigh-*
2. TRANSLATOR
=================
a. You will obviously need a translator. This is almost ALWAYS more vastly difficult to obtain than finding raws. Individuals even barely fluent are in high-demand in scanlation. Often a single translator will be working on several projects across any number of groups.
b. You may be fluent in written Japanese, though if you are reading this, that is unlikely.
c. You can attempt to recruit a translator from Mangahelpers and other sites, or find an available completed translation.
d. You can attempt to crowd-source a translator/translation from /a/
The real issue with translators is like any scanlation staff, they are unpaid and motivated so long as it’s fun and real-life circumstances do not interfere or vice versa. It is quite possible they may simply get tired of it and disappear.
It is very likely your translator, like any other staff member, may not be available in a crunch at some point. *Remember me hinting about keeping the staff size small?*
There are other options for a crisis or just starting out Scanlation group.
e. You can purchase a Translation from any number of online Translation sites; I will not list them here. If a simple text translation is all you require, you will typically pay .25-50 cents per page.
I have had generous translators for quite a few of my private projects that I sought out and others I met by accident, just keep it chill and have fun and you may make a friend.
Life is about networking, the more people you know: the more people you know.
I have also purchased translations when no other source was available and had great results.
3. WEB VISIBILITY
=======================
I couldnt figure out quite where to put this in at. So here is as good anywhere.
a. You VERY likely will want a website/blogsite. This can be as minor or epic in scope as you desire. Starting out, you really just want a place for fans to come to grab new releases and see news about upcoming releases, new projects and recruitment, if desired and to get your new release noticed or listed on manga aggregators such as mangaupdates.
b. It is entirely possible to forgo a website/blogsite entirely and simply dump on /a/. /a/ is an image board from a certain notorious –chan site. It is a very nice avenue for releasing a chapter to gain visibility and attract fans. I would advise a mid to late evening chapter dump thread Central or Eastern US time: after most of the trolls have gone to bed.
Remember to NOT get butthurt about lack of comments or trolling. Some people will like your project, some will not. But hopefully you are scanlating because you love that manga and want to share it regardless of how many may or may not like it.
c. Get your group/site and releases listed on Mangaupdates and crazytje.be. These will provide great exposure.
Now that concludes the essentials. You now have raws, a translated script and even tentatively thought up a blog site to post about it. Next up where be: WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? You've accomplished the basics, you have a raw and a script. Now you know the basic process is , erase japanese text, and insert english text and release!
There is a bit more to those steps that we will go over next time in Part 2.
Well , first off, I am not a faggot, because I do not normally suck dicks, and that one time was totally out of my control anyways and I hate your favorite manga/anime because it sucks. Not dicks, because I don’t suck dicks and that other time doesn’t count either.
*ahem*
The better question is: Why would you want to be a scanlator?
You will likely end up feeling harassed, annoyed, betrayed and incredibly under appreciated.
Clearly, I have failed to disuade you.
I am not going to list specific and detailed instructions for how to debind, scan, clean, edit, typeset, QC and work releases. There are much more detailed guides for each of those out there, and are beyond the scope of his entry, which is Listing the Basic Requirements needed to get something initally rolling and offer a few tips to help smooth things along.
This quick and dirty guide assumes you want to scanlate a completed or ongoing series. One shots are such much easier to do.
My personal advice to a person wanting to start up their own scanlation group is simple: Do as much of the work as possible by yourself.
Mo’ people mo’ problems.
The chance of DRAMA and RAGE increase by the square of the number of people involved. 1-2 People can easily handle a single manga with a weekly/monthly release cycle or any number of one shots. Just look at all the Doujin releases done by a TL/editor, who is sometimes the same person.
Things to keep in mind:
Is anyone else working on this manga? Is that group currently working on it? Are they disbanded? On Hiatus? Dropped?
This may or may not stop you, the question is if you care about the trollery or butthurt that may result.
Requirements
-----------------------------
1. Raws
2. Translator/Translation
3. Web Presence *dunno where to properly shoehorn this in at*
4. Staff? and Basic Position Requirements *whether all you or not*
5. Process and Workflow
a. Editting the Script
b. QC
c. Editting/Cleaning Raws and QC
d. Typesetting and QC
e. Release
1. RAWs
=================
You will need a reliable source of RAWS.
a. These can generally be found on any number of web raw aggregator sites, IRC, P2P (including PD, BT, Whiny and Share). Don’t ask me about PD, Whiny and Share: GOOGLE it. These raws may be of varying quality.
Make sure the web-raws you’ve obtained are adequate for your purpose and readable by your translator.
b. You can purchase the magazines/tanks and ship/debind/scan them yourself. This can be quite expensive to do on a regular basis.
c. You can purchase scanned and pre-leveled raws from several sites/groups. I will not list them here due to the possible wrath of a MAL mod. This is fairly inexpensive and a great option if all else fails
d. You could have an awesome buddy in that region who will purchase, debind, scan them for you! *We should all be so lucky -sigh-*
2. TRANSLATOR
=================
a. You will obviously need a translator. This is almost ALWAYS more vastly difficult to obtain than finding raws. Individuals even barely fluent are in high-demand in scanlation. Often a single translator will be working on several projects across any number of groups.
b. You may be fluent in written Japanese, though if you are reading this, that is unlikely.
c. You can attempt to recruit a translator from Mangahelpers and other sites, or find an available completed translation.
d. You can attempt to crowd-source a translator/translation from /a/
The real issue with translators is like any scanlation staff, they are unpaid and motivated so long as it’s fun and real-life circumstances do not interfere or vice versa. It is quite possible they may simply get tired of it and disappear.
It is very likely your translator, like any other staff member, may not be available in a crunch at some point. *Remember me hinting about keeping the staff size small?*
There are other options for a crisis or just starting out Scanlation group.
e. You can purchase a Translation from any number of online Translation sites; I will not list them here. If a simple text translation is all you require, you will typically pay .25-50 cents per page.
I have had generous translators for quite a few of my private projects that I sought out and others I met by accident, just keep it chill and have fun and you may make a friend.
Life is about networking, the more people you know: the more people you know.
I have also purchased translations when no other source was available and had great results.
3. WEB VISIBILITY
=======================
I couldnt figure out quite where to put this in at. So here is as good anywhere.
a. You VERY likely will want a website/blogsite. This can be as minor or epic in scope as you desire. Starting out, you really just want a place for fans to come to grab new releases and see news about upcoming releases, new projects and recruitment, if desired and to get your new release noticed or listed on manga aggregators such as mangaupdates.
b. It is entirely possible to forgo a website/blogsite entirely and simply dump on /a/. /a/ is an image board from a certain notorious –chan site. It is a very nice avenue for releasing a chapter to gain visibility and attract fans. I would advise a mid to late evening chapter dump thread Central or Eastern US time: after most of the trolls have gone to bed.
Remember to NOT get butthurt about lack of comments or trolling. Some people will like your project, some will not. But hopefully you are scanlating because you love that manga and want to share it regardless of how many may or may not like it.
c. Get your group/site and releases listed on Mangaupdates and crazytje.be. These will provide great exposure.
Now that concludes the essentials. You now have raws, a translated script and even tentatively thought up a blog site to post about it. Next up where be: WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE? You've accomplished the basics, you have a raw and a script. Now you know the basic process is , erase japanese text, and insert english text and release!
There is a bit more to those steps that we will go over next time in Part 2.
Posted by
gisele_alain
| Aug 7, 2011 3:05 PM |
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