I've researched a little bit into the manga publishing world, but I'm not sold on the hope of having a big manga/comic publishing company publish my work for me. I want to create mangas and manga-style art, but this leaves me with a problem of trying to find a place to sell my art once I create it. Marketing tips would be welcome, but my main concern is finding a way to create mangas and similar art for profit, though not necessarily with a company backing me.
And on that thought, my manga needs a lot more attention than single pictures. I don't want to necessarily get it into print, but I would be happy to sell it digitally or in print if the costs of printing it were manageable.
I've heard of PubIt! (Pub It, to my knowledge a Barnes and Noble-related self-publishing ebook company. Please tell me if Barnes and Noble (or Amazon) has an actual self-publish-and-put-it-out-for-sale program.) and I've heard something about ebook publishing through the Kindle too, but I'd want more information on these sources if possible. I'd also like to know if there are any websites that will pay you to post your manga, though I doubt such a thing exists. Please let me know if YouTube will or is at all likely to sponsor manga or how-to-draw video creators!
I wouldn't be opposed to professionally printing my manga, but my main fear there is that the costs of publishing manga or related artwork with a company like Lulu(.com) or VistaPrint would rack up, and selling my art through Amazon.com at a slightly marked-up price wouldn't get very profitable and I'd be stuck roaming around pawning my work off to shops or publishing through companies that specifically help get your work out there and probably come with a high fee as a result. I'm not lazy, but I can't afford to spend all day pushing for my work if I can avoid doing that and focus on creating art if at all possible.
If anyone can fill me in on anything about the manga publishing world, and in particular in some unconventional but still easy, free to cheap, and for-profit ways to publish a manga, I would GREATLY appreciate it.
PS: Yes I am very aware of DeviantART and that DeviantART sells prints. But it doesn't sell full-fledged printed mangas, and that is the main concern that I have.
Double PS: I would be very happy to create non-full-manga anime style art and potentially make a profit, but if there are places other than DeviantART that will host and potentially pay you, I'm unaware of them. Please let me know about them! This is why I mentioned VistaPrint earlier, even though to my knowledge it doesn't print books.
Please help me out here! I thank you greatly for your time and information if you do. I don't expect to make a living off of solely the profits from posting work online or self-publishing it in some "weird" fashion, but I am seeking information out on how I can do that for the most profit.
… Does anyone have any realistic figures on self-publishing/self-selling to work with???
>>> Are there any ways to sell my own, self-created manga (preferably online)?