Here's a blog entry about it from another scanlation group. They also suggest an idea I support. I believe manga should be available in electronic form and I believe the Japanese publishers should pay for translation services from folks like me so they can have near real time translation of ALL of the manga series in English. I believe you all should be paying some small amount (or be subjected to advertisement) to read your favorite manga series so mangakas can continue to bring you great stories and art and translators can earn some money to continue translation (rather than doing it during his or her spare time).
Here's a link to the blog entry: Link
Here's a like to a different blog entry: Link 2
As long as the publishers refuse to give their world-wide audience what they want, scanlation will continue and money will continue to be left on the table.
A comment, though, on raws. I don't provide raws because for those folks that do read Japanese, that would be straight up piracy -- it's like scanning a licensed translated manga book and posting it. And in that respect, I agree with Shuseisha. Posting manga raws most likely does materially hurt them inside of Japan.
I purchase all of the materials I translate, and trust me, it's not cheap. However, because I do this, I'm not dependent on a raw provider. But still, I will not have early access to Ouran raws anymore and I really don't mind because those raws were not of very good quality.
Anyhow, I make a plea to you all once more: when a series becomes available in your country, please purchase the books if the series is truly one of your favorites. Support your favorite mangakas and support manga in general. Hopefully, soon the Japanese publishers will get a clue and make this a winning situation for themselves, translators, and world-wide fans.
