Mafia Sitter, which has been available through this store, will be discontinued and the remaining stock will be disposed of on August 5 :'(
To clear the remaining inventory, it will be available at 50% off from July 20 to August 4.
Sale price: ¥1,500 (regularly ¥3,000, shipping not included)
I ended up printing far more English copies than there was demand for, so I'm now left with a lot of extra stock.
The copies I have at home will still be sold for ¥2,000 (my event price), but the 50% off sale only applies to the copies available through Alice Books.
Since this was my dream first manga volume, I chose a high-quality printer, which made the production cost much higher than expected. As a result, the retail price ended up feeling too high for what people expected, and I simply didn't market it very well.
If you have friends overseas who enjoy manga, I'd really appreciate it if you could consider giving them a copy as a gift. It's a classic buddy story, so it may appeal to fans of that genre.
I’ll sell this art at Osaka acomic Con. Characters from 'Mafia Sitter'. Their world is inspired by Italy, but I love how the dry, gritty background contrasts with the vibrant, pop-style characters.
The paperback of my comic 'Mafia Sitter (English Edition)' is now available for purchase! International shipping is available, but there are only 25 copies in stock, and I don’t plan on printing more.
Buy now -> https://alice-books.com/item/show/10562-3
I was also planning to release the next part of Mafia Sitter as WebComics(https://www.webcomicsapp.com/comic/Mafia-Sitter/66d58b7462661d6e302ecfad) at the same time, but unfortunately, the review process hasn’t been approved yet. I’m not sure when it will be, so please bear with me a little longer.
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[Story]
The Boss of the Cosmo crime family had summoned his three underlings to the hideout for a new assignment. However, only Vene and Gio were present. The third member was conspicuously absent, leaving their seat empty.
The Boss ordered Vene and Gio to bring someone else in as a replacement. In a panic, Gio brought a young girl named Stella, who seemed lost and uncertain.
Startled by the sudden turn of events, Stella took a seat at the table, trying to make sense of the situation. The Boss then outlined the details of the mission. Unable to leave Stella, who had overheard their plans, Vene and Gio decided to bring her along.
Size: JIS B5 / Total Length of Book: 70 pages / full-color graphic novel
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A girl who had lost confidence due to constant failures gains confidence by spending time with the m
↑You can read all the pages from the link above!
[Comic] Mafia Sitter
I started writing in mid-January to submit to the Global Comic Award 2024 and finally completed it. Continuing from there is a long feedback.
The working time is two months for the main text and two weeks for the cover. Around January 11th, I received a DM from a friend saying, "There's a contest like this," and thought, "The deadline is the end of March... it's impossible for me (I've never drawn a completed comic before)." But it's a comic contest aimed at the world... My art style is only recognized in this contest... I couldn't ignore this contest. I was in the middle of making another piece, but I interrupted it, and I was full of anxiety about whether I could draw a comic in just two and a half months. However, the thought, "Instead of worrying, I should act quickly," came to my mind, and I started writing from January 13th, changing my mindset.
I spent 1 day on the script, plus 1 day typing the dialogue, and started the "completed 1 page per day" lifestyle from January 16th.
The goal was to complete 45 pages, but at the plotting stage, it was about 56 pages. When I actually started drawing the manuscript, the planned page allocation didn't match, and the total number of pages increased to 65. (I learned the importance of page allocation.) At a pace of 1 page per day, I wondered if I would make it by March... (I'm easily bored, I didn't think I could do 1 page per day.) So, I rearranged my schedule to make 3 pages on weekends, which would give me some leeway. This idea turned out to be a big success.
As a result, I achieved 1 page per day and was able to finish drawing all the pages by early March, leaving the remaining time to work on the cover, which is like the face of the comic.
Since I work as a company employee, I had to finish work by 8:00 p.m. to make time for the manuscript, which was a daily pressure. There were times when I finished the manuscript at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. on weekdays. I fell ill. At that time, I felt like giving up. (On the day I fell ill, I slept for about two hours and resumed manuscript production after my condition improved a bit.)
It was truly a life of "pushing myself to the limit", but accomplishing it gave me confidence. 'Oh, I can make a 65-page full-color comic in 2 months.' It became an advantage for me. (I don't want to push myself like this anymore, though... haha.)
Thank you for participating in the survey for the title logo! The survey results leaned towards the left logo. While the left logo was packed with concept, its font style and thickness varied, resulting in imbalance when aligned in a row and making it difficult to use in monochrome. If the left logo had overwhelmingly won the votes, I would have chosen it. However, since the right logo also received a considerable number of votes, I decided to adopt the right logo.
Now all that's left is to see the results on Global Comic Award. I'm really aiming to win. Both the script and the art are amateur-level when viewed separately, but I balanced them out to make them good enough.
It's my first comic work... I really want a lot of people to read it!
*If enough people like the comic and want to get a copy of the comic book, I can make and sell it:)
Also, Mafia Sitter paperback is on sale, too!
（The price has been revised.）
https://alice-books.com/item/show/10562-3
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[Story]
The Boss of the Cosmo crime family had summoned his three underlings to the hideout for a new assignment. However, only Vene and Gio were present. The third member was conspicuously absent, leaving their seat empty.
The Boss ordered Vene and Gio to bring someone else in as a replacement. In a panic, Gio brought a young girl named Stella, who seemed lost and uncertain.
Startled by the sudden turn of events, Stella took a seat at the table, trying to make sense of the situation. The Boss then outlined the details of the mission. Unable to leave Stella, who had overheard their plans, Vene and Gio decided to bring her along.
Size: JIS B5 / Total Length of Book: 70 pages / full-color graphic novel
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It's been a month since I started selling the Paper back of Mafia Sitter(English Edetion) online, and to my surprise, I haven’t sold a single copy! This situation is making me feel a sense of urgency.
This is my second time creating a comic, and I've been struggling with how to promote it effectively. For the English edition, I decided to experiment by publishing it as a webcomic. While the webcomic hasn’t been fully released yet, I’m not sure if readers are waiting until they’ve read the entire story before deciding to buy the paperback, or if they’ll simply feel satisfied after reading it online and not purchase it at all.
One major issue might be the price. Printing a graphic novel independently is quite costly—especially since I was particular about the quality of the paper. Reducing the price significantly is challenging. (I’ve already lowered the price of the paperback by about $7 in response to this sense of urgency, but even so, it hasn’t led to any sales.)
Another potential issue could be the platform. The site I’m using to sell my book is a Japanese platform. Could trustworthiness be a concern when purchasing from there?
Or perhaps the problem lies in how I’ve promoted it? I’ve made several promotional efforts, primarily on Tumblr, but maybe people just don’t use Tumblr anymore? This time, I decided to try Tumblr's $10 Boost plan for the first time. The result? Just 2 reblogs(laugh)!
It could also be that my art itself is the issue. Selling a high-cost book that relies on high-quality printing is inherently risky. Maybe my art doesn’t justify that kind of price point.
There must still be something I can do. What if I added simple hand-drawn sketches to every copy sold through the online store? Would that make people consider buying it?
If you have any thoughts or insights on this, I’d love to hear them!
Thank you all so much for the advice!
This is the first time I've received such warm and helpful suggestions on Tumblr.
One thing I learned from your feedback is that Bluesky seems highly recommended. I do have a Bluesky account, but I hadn’t been posting in English. To reach more English-speaking readers, I decided to create a new account.
https://bsky.app/profile/motojima-en.bsky.social
I also realized that information about Mafia Sitter hasn't been reaching people—this is important.
I feel that I need to convey the world of Mafia Sitter more effectively. Moving forward, I’ll try drawing the characters little by little.
I’m sorry I can’t reply to every message!
But I’ve read every single one of them!
Thank you all so much!
