Man held for illegal book sales, publication

A 28-year-old man who illegally published comic books and sold them online has been charged with selling unlawful publications, prosecutors in Shanghai's Baoshan district said.

Chinese law forbids the publication of books and magazines without the national standard serial numbers, a license for publication.

The man, surnamed Liu, was detained by police in April this year and more than 10,000 comics were seized from his place. Part of them included stuff on pornography and violence. He made a profit of 840,000 yuan (US$136,689).

Liu picked up Japanese anime and comics' skills when he was young. He made friends with some netizens who shared similar interest on anime-related websites. It was from these sites that he learnt that quite a few amateurs profited by selling self-published books at home and overseas in late 2012.

Liu then contacted some Taiwan artists who published their own comic books and offered to be their local agent. Liu earned commissions from the sales.

Meanwhile, he got in touch with local artists and found a publisher for them. The books were sold on Taobao.com for around 30 yuan each.

Dojinshi, a Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, and manga (a Japanese-style comic) or novels, are popular among domestic amateur artists.

While they are immensely popular abroad, China regulates the market to keep unwanted and harmful contents away from readers.