My Take on FAKKU! Books

So, I've been noticing the addition of FAKKU Books becoming a more prominent feature of the site, and to be completely honest, I can't entirely get behind it. Don't get me wrong, I can see that a website like FAKKU may need other ways to make money than simple adds, however there's several problems I have with this feature. First: Renai Sample. I have a genuine grievance with this being something that must be purchased to be viewed. And again, don't misunderstand me, but the fact of the matter is that, while there is a bit of new material, it's mostly a repackaging of works that were released earlier on the site. And, when the manga's were on the site before, they were free to read. Now, tell me if wrong, but doesn't that seem a bit off? I mean, you offer something for free for a long while, and then suddenly decide, "Nope, I'm going to charge a premium for this." And yes, at least it's Homunculus' work, but that makes me worried as well. There are plenty of extremely talented artists who's work is posted on this website. I fear that eventually, Dr. P or Yuzuki N Dash will be considered a premium service. I love FAKKU because of a sense of community that's created through the common ground of hentai. By charging for the privilege to read your favorite artist's work, well that removes that sense of community, because it's only a few individuals who can afford to purchase said premiums who can enjoy them. It seems a gross over exaggeration, but that creates a feel of elitism in a simple matter such as hentai or manga. And, on a much simpler note, it's an extreme bonerkill to see a new work by Homunculus or Boshi and be met with a snide little Momoka telling you that there's a pay-to-fap charge. And I understand that several artists are signed under Wanimagazine, but to remove existing content and repackage it with a new fee seems a bit off to me. I personally believe that a more welcomed version of FAKKU Books would not entail a digital version of the manga that you had to pay for to read, but instead remove the digital variant from the website entirely, offering it as a paperback copy. It seems a bit cruel to tease the users of FAKKU with these books, and I think it should be made clear up front that these are actual paperback copies sold through Wanimagazines. What do you all think of this?

No digital--> no work of Homunculus, Napata, Hisasi, Cuvie, Bosshi, Naruco Hanaharu on the site at all, it's not up to Fakku to decide whether or not they're hosted on the website free, it'll probably be a violation of the contract Jacob struck to secure us these works without just outright having to remove them. It's the best developement Fakku! could get out of the Wani situation

P.S. Use paragraphs, inb4 tl;dr.

Edit: there's a thread for this just below, believe it or not, we discussed this same thing in a different context, hah, this is going to be a trend as FinalBoss said.

You know the whole reason that these books were no longer available on this site was because companies such as WANI asked for them to be taken down? So they wouldn't be on fakku or other sites period without it being a legal issue. Not so much for the doujin since there are bigger copyrights for those, mainly original artist works owned by the companies.

Anyways, fakku/Jacob saw this as an opportunity to talk with WANI and collaborate on publishing the works officially in English. Yeah you can still get bootleg copies off of other sites/torrent the works that were taken down, but to legitimately sell works for people to buy and own is pretty big and nice if you ask me.

Also, the amount of books they have sold isn't just a few, they've sold quite a bit and if they market/advertise/promote this right then this could be a profitable market.

I've purchased some of the books already myself since $10 dollars isn't that expensive (bought the paperback as well since I love owning books physically) and I would say that the reworks are pretty legit. They are HD with much love and detail put into it, plus they are uncensored which is always a plus. Basically don't knock it till you actually see it.

With your argument saying that it's cruel/pointless to sell digital versions. One it is cheaper then the physical book. Two some people don't want to own a digital copy for whatever reason (live with people they don't wish to have see the copy or prefer digital through and through). Most books are digital anymore, I mean look at how many people use things like nook and kindle. It would be ridiculous not to do digital copies.

The last bit about the community is something a lot of people have been throwing out and about. Here is the thing about communities, organizations, groups, and society in general; things change. With change comes difference of options so even though you dislike this direction not everyone agree's with you. Me personally I just go with the flow and if fakku wants to become a business, by all means do so. If they charge for people to come onto the site or to read hentai, I'll gauge how I feel about it then and if I don't see it benefiting me I'll go somewhere else (they'll probably just charge for premium membership where you'll get something like a magazine each month, the rest of the site will be free as always).

Other then that I'll leave this here by the big man himself since it was a pretty nice speech:

I can see your point there. I suppose I've just been a bit uppity about this change in this familiar website. And I can see were the FAKKU Books have actually saved some good works for us. It just seems to be a step away from what I loved about FAKKU. But regardless of that, I do understand that it was because of Wanimagazine's labeling and sponsoring these artists that the FAKKU Books were made. I suppose that it was my own personal grievances with the system that I was calling out. Mostly, I have a personal issue because of the fact that I, as well as several others, I'd imagine, have a hard time diverging funds for an interest such as hentai or manga. And yes, looking at the prices, I can see that they aren't exorbitant sums, but for some it is still difficult to justify putting that money towards things like manga or hentai. But overall, I can see where you're coming from. I suppose I just let my own problems with it get to me. Thank you for your input.

Nothing to argue on your point, but just to rest your mind on the matter. People who can't pay or don't want to are either truly in a tight spot or they just don't want to be involve in supporting and purchasing hentai, but those people generally aren't too upset about this (As you are, thank you for your sentiment, it's a good mentality feedback nontheless). The only ones that are truly angry and bashing Jake are very likely underaged and can't manage a bank statement, or they are mentally underaged and believe that their free good is entitled to them. So don't worry if you see a lot of unreasonable whiners around as this matter is still settling into gear.

To W.O.C183, thanks for that. And I agree wholeheartedly. I'm not angry with Jacob or any of the FAKKU! administration. It would be foolish to blame them for the necessity of FAKKU! Books. And if I sounded like I was pointing my finger at Jacob or FAKKU! as a whole, I apologize, as that wasn't my intent. I suppose this was more about my own venting regarding the matter.

P.S.- I'll try to remember to break my posts into paragraphs from now on. I can see how that would be hard to take in when it's just a messy clump.

I do agree with you at some points that you pointed out. It is a bit rip off to repackage something that was free and asks people to pay for it.

But the upshot is that it is repackaged and made with much better quality. I know you are not like some users that are pretty much mentally underage, so I would suggest maybe to buy one of the books to see how much better it is compared to how it used to be.

I'm glad you did express your opinion in such civilized manner though. Because some just don't. I can relate to you, so does many users here in fact. But hey, it is an inconvenience but it isn't the end of the world.

Can guarantee the new Books have been pirated. I know for a fact Renai Sample has.

But someone will have paid for the digital copy for it to get pirated in the first place. As long as Fakku benefits from it and it keeps Wani happy, then it's a win-win for everyone concerned.

[size=10][color=red]Kinda wish there were older titles?
I wouldn't mind a cleaner translation of Alice in Sexland etc. as a book release. It's kind of hard to even find full scans on the internet for these older titles
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Just to clarify something: we definitely aren't selling a "repackage" of the scanlated versions that were previously on the site. We're redoing everything from scratch for these books, using the same files as the Japanese publisher (rather than scanned versions). Besides the superior image quality, we're also doing many things that are usually overlooked in scanlation, such as translating all the sound effects, translating each chapter title, and creating proper titles.

Rather than having several people of varying levels of skill and ambition work on different chapters, we have one translator and one typesetter working on one book, which leads to a much more consistent version where the quality won't suddenly dip in random chapters. This might seem like a minor thing for some, but it's one of the things I'm most proud of when it comes to our books. I wouldn't feel comfortable selling these books if it was just a mishmash of various scanlation groups.

I won't tell you to buy our books, but if you every do, I think you'll find that they're far from repackages of the old scanlated versions.


We're absolutely going to go back and pick out some gems from the 00s—and even further back—and we already have some things planned!

Really, though, it's taking something that had been uploaded without compensating the author and turning it into a product that does. Not that big of a deal.

Hence, I said it is a bit of a rip off in a way, but it isn't a big deal.