Manga Ichiba Artist’s Information Guide

Here is a link back to the Main Page and General FAQ

Hello Artists!
Welcome to the FanimeCon Manga Ichiba Artist’s information guide!
Please read the entire FAQ and rules before applying to make sure that your works are eligible to participate in Manga Ichiba.

This is our first year, so we’re not sure what to expect in terms of demand, but we plan to run applications from Monday, October 27th to the end of November, 2025. A waitlist will be opened afterwards.

Acceptance emails should go out by the end of November or December.
This is to give you plenty of time to work on your books!

Artists can apply at: https://apps.fanime.com/2026/mangaichiba/

Eligibility:

Any artist may apply as long as they meet the following requirements:

  • Will be 18 years of age before May 22, 2026.
  • Are able to obtain a valid California Seller’s Permit. (These are available internationally.)

Participation Rules:

  • ALL individuals who contribute creatively to a work must register with the event as members of the circle – even if they will not be attending the convention – and at least one circle member must be present to sell.
    • Furthermore, ONLY contributing artists and writers may register as circle members. All individuals with a copyright claim on the material being sold can and must register as circle members. 
    • No proxy selling is allowed.
  • This is an event for selling independently produced, self-published books and games only. Publishers, corporations, and other rights-holding entities may not register for this event in any capacity.
  • The purpose of this event is to promote the production of original English-language doujinshi manga. Therefore, all works must be available for sale in English.
    • Each seller must sell at least one doujinshi manga that was originally published in English (i.e. not published in another language and translated into English). 
    • Other kinds of doujinshi books and games that have been originally published in English can be sold alongside original English-language doujinshi manga.
    • Exceptions to this may be made on a case-by-case basis, such as for textless manga or for a bilingual artist doing their own manual translations. If you believe your case warrants an exception, please contact our staff via email or through discord.
  • Further, the sale of non-doujinshi “merch” (keychains, posters, etc) will be restricted.

Obtaining a Seller’s Permit:

All circles must obtain a California seller’s permit, which can be obtained from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration Website. Please adhere to the rules below when applying for a permit. Each circle must have a hard copy of their seller’s permit onsite. While selling at the convention you can be asked to produce your permit for the State Board of Equalization at any time. Not doing so will result in immediate action both by the State and by the convention.

  • Do NOT use FanimeCon email addresses on your seller’s permit.
  • Vendors must provide a valid Permanent or Temporary Seller’s Permit issued by the State of California.
  • Temporary Permits must be valid for all of the event dates, regardless of how many days you plan to attend, and the event space (DoubleTree Hotel San Jose), which must be listed visibly on the permit.
  • DoubleTree Hotel San Jose must be listed as a sub-location on the Permanent Seller’s Permit.

If you do not submit your seller’s permit by the deadline, you will not be able to sell. If you are using a Permanent Seller’s Permit, your name must be the primary name on the permit.

Venue Address:

2050 Gateway Pl, San Jose, CA 95110

Dates:

Friday, May 22 – Monday, May 25, 2026

Content/Participation Policy & Guidelines:

FanimeCon DOES NOT accept content with the following depictions:

  • Underage sexual content and/or abuse (including shota/loli)
  • Any content that implies bestiality is not permitted.
    • Furry/anthropomorphic, fantasy/monster art is fine.
  • Necrophilia
  • Propaganda/Hate Imagery
  • Anything that discriminates against California-protected classes (https://www.senate.ca.gov/protected-classes)

Artists may NOT offer or sell the following:

For all works:

  • No AI-generated art of any kind, in any quantity.
  • No stolen or traced art. 
  • No use of trademarked names or logos in your titles and/or covers
    • Trademarked character names (“Pikachu”, “Malenia, Blade Of Miquella”, “Shoyo Hinata”) are not acceptable. 
    • Non-trademarked character names are acceptable (e.g. Mario, Peach, Hinata) 
    • Parody names are also acceptable.

For R18 works:

  • Do not list the age of any character as being under 18. No exceptions.
  • Do not depict ANY real-life people as minors, even if they are currently above the age of majority and do not participate in sexual activity.
    • For example, do not make your Harry Potter doujinshi’s school-aged Hermione look like actor Emma Watson under any circumstances.

What is R18 content?

R18 content refers to any content that is not suitable for minors, including sexually explicit, graphic violence, extreme gore/horrific imagery, excessive substance abuse, and other especially sensitive subject matter.

Suggestive imagery, sparse nudity, moderate or cartoon violence, and other mild depictions or discussions of sensitive issues generally are not enough to receive an R18 rating. It should also be noted that it is as much about quantity as it is about gratuity; a single frame of a naked woman may not qualify, but everyone being naked all the time might (even if there is no explicit sexual activity). As a rule of thumb for this event, if your work would receive an R or M rating or higher, it counts as R18.

Unlike in Asian territories, Manga Ichiba does not require the censorship of any particular forms of graphic content, such as genitalia. However, R18 content cannot be sold in the All-Ages section. Failure to properly report R18 content may result in some or all of your works being restricted from sale. If you are not sure whether your content is R18, you may contact us by email or through discord.

Format & Pricing:

Allowable Materials:
This is an event to encourage and promote original English-language doujinshi manga and is not meant to serve as an overflow for Artist’s Alley or Night Market. 

As such, it is not generally a venue for selling non-manga goods such as keychains or posters. Very limited amounts of such items–such as those with direct relationships to the doujinshi being sold–may be allowed. Non-manga books, such as illustration books, may be sold in addition to manga. Games may also be sold.

Booth allowance:

  • A single booth is expected to be one-half of a 10 or 12-foot table, with space around for stock, personal belongings, a small display, a helper, etc. Large displays, like the ones in Artist’s Alley, will not be allowed.
  • The event will have intervals of six to seven hours each. The number of days and intervals per day will be adjusted based on the number of applications received. 
  • Circles will be afforded a single booth for ONE interval on ONE day, which will allow for other circles to take their place on subsequent days/intervals. 
  • In the event that multiple days/intervals are warranted, booth assignments may be split up by theme (e.g. All Ages works being sold in the day and R18 being sold at night or specific genres being sold on different days).

Booth Price:
The booth fee for Manga Ichiba is $20. Additionally, a valid FanimeCon 2026 badge for the day you will be selling is required.

Book Formats:

  • For the purposes of this event, book content types will be categorized into four categories: manga, illustration books, light novels, and zines. 
  • All books sold must be at least eight pages, not including covers.

Content types:

  • Manga must have a minimum of eight pages of sequential art, which must make up more than 50% of the book’s total pages not including covers. Circles must sell at least one manga.
    • Any number of books of any type may be sold in addition to manga, provided at least one circle member of each book is present at the booth and all works can reasonably be considered self-published.
  • If more than 50% of a book’s pages consist of non-sequential art or the total pages of sequential art are less than eight, it will be considered an illustration book.
  • If more than 50% of a book’s pages contain pure text, it will be considered a light novel.
  • At this event, a zine is considered any book containing multiple distinct works created by different people (as opposed to a single work created by multiple people in collaboration), OR any mixed media book not classified as a manga, illustration book, or light novel (such as a book containing 6 pages of manga and 6 illustrations).
  • Some zines may qualify as manga for compliance purposes, but may be subject to additional review. For example, a single book consisting of 2 distinct six-page manga by 2 separate authors, plus 6 additional illustrations by a third member, would be classified as a zine while also fulfilling the “circles must sell at least one manga” requirement. If you are not sure if your book will meet the requirements, please contact staff by email or through discord.

Game sales:
All games must be complete at the time of sale–no alphas, betas, or “early access” games. All content rules also apply to games.

“It’s my first time producing doujinshi. Do you have any formatting or production advice?”

Doujinshi manga comes in all shapes and sizes, but is typically 20-30 pages with black, white or grayscale interiors, plus color covers. Here are several different kinds of production types typically used:

  • Saddlebound books (also known as “staplebound”) are stapled along the spine. These can be bound at home or professionally. Classic format American comic books are an example of saddlebound books.
  • Perfect-bound books (sometimes called “squarebound”) are soft covered with a clean trim and stapleless, cornered spines. These books are typically professionally bound, and most doujinshi printed through professional services are bound in this style. Most manga and light novels released in America are perfect-bound.
  • Copybon (コピー本 “copybook”) books are printed non-commercially (such as from a copy machine or an at-home printer) and staplebound by hand. Copybon of all content types are allowed, provided that they are sold by the original creator of the work.
  • Omakebon (おまけ本 “extra/bonus book”) are short books or leaflets of additional material that are given away as a gift to fans who purchase books in-person at events, as opposed to online or from secondary retailers. Omakebon are usually four to eight pages but can be longer. Omakebon are often copybon, though not all copybon are omakebon. Omakebon are allowed, but not required.

Doujinshi comes in all shapes and sizes, but are typically 20-30 pages with the most common formats being about 18cm wide by 25.5cm tall (roughly the dimensions of a typical American comic book) and the smaller 14.5 cm wide and 21 cm tall (a little larger than the typical manga you’d see in an American bookstore). Black and white or greyscale interiors with color covers are standard, but these are all simply notes on what’s typical. There are no specific rules on format.

For pricing, we strongly suggest aiming to break even on production and travel expenses and keeping sales expectations reasonable.

Application

If you are interested in applying to sell your doujinshi at Manga Ichiba, you may find the application form here: https://apps.fanime.com/2026/mangaichiba/

Contact

Any questions or feedback may be directed to: mangaichiba@fanime.com.
We also have a Discord set up specifically for artists. You may use this as a venue to ask questions, provide feedback, receive up-to-the-minute news, find community with other artists, and chat with staff. This server can be accessed here: https://discord.gg/nuwaVGvW4R