My third panel of Chengdu WorldCon 2023 was Online SF Publishing in Japan. The panel was held in Japanese and interpreted in Chinese at the Hall of Lunar.
Panelists were me, Virtual Golila+ (VG+) editor Kanata Inoue, and Hayato Saito, Hayakawa Shobo chief editor of SF-Magazine Rikimaru Mizoguti, writer Iori Miyazawa(宮澤伊織) and Isukari-Yuba(柞刈湯葉). The moderator was the Japanese-Chinese translator DingDing Chong(丁丁虫).
The introduction of panelists was along with the theme. At first, I introduced my debut process in 2012. I wrote my first novel and published my e-book via online platforms.
Inoue and Saito introduced VG+. VG+ was started as an SFF news publisher by Saito, but in 2020, they started the short story competition, Kaguya SF Contest. VG+ offered winner publishing on their website and translating in English and Chinese. After the contest succeeded, VG+ founded the online web publishing platform Kaguya Planet and started a commercial imprint label. Both Inoue and Saito told a lot about online publishing potential.
Mizoguti introduced general information about Japanese online publishing as a commercial publisher-editor and two writers Miyazawa and Isukari talked about web fiction platforms that bore tons of light fiction.
Iskari talked about patronage by using note.com. When he said that he earns one by six of the annual revenue with weekly blogging, audiences and panelists roared.
The Chinese audience seemed to enjoy our talk. The questions were interesting in. After the panel ended, it was impressive to see the two VG+ members surrounded and asked for autographs.
