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Spotlighting the Hidden Gems of Western Comics:An Interview with the Founder of a Small Manga Publisher Part One
By MA Publishing Student and Editorial team member, Kanna Sakai
Published: <<27/Mar/2026>>
We interviewed Shaka, a passionate fan of Japanese manga, who eventually launched a manga publishing company.
Shaka Fraser, Founder of Hoseki Publishing and MA Publishing Student at UAL
Manga and Anime are terms that have gradually settled into English while keeping their Japanese roots. Demon Slayer, born from the hugely popular comic magazine Shonen Jump, topped Japan’s domestic box office charts, taking both the first and second spots—truly at the centre of culture. Whilst it embodies Japanese pop culture and carries an immense presence, in the Western publishing world it still sits on the margins.
In London, however, there’s a publisher that aims to spotlight Western-created manga as hidden gems. Founded in 2023, Hoseki – meaning gemstones in Japanese – Publishing is run by Shaka Fraser, a passionate manga enthusiast and current MA Publishing student at UAL.
This two-part interview explores the inner workings of Hoseki Publishing. In this first part, we focused on the company’s publications and the challenges of running a manga-focused publisher.
Kanna: What kinds of publications does Hoseki Publishing produce?
Shaka: We have our magazine, which is inspired by the Japanese Shonen Jump. Then we have our volumes, or tanko-bon as they’re called in Japan. Each one focuses on an individual series, usually collecting eight to ten chapters in a single volume. Then we have our comic book line, we release these as individual issues first, and once enough issues have been published, we compile them into volumes.
Kanna: What led you to start Hoseki Publishing?
Shaka: What brought me to it was that I had previously created a webtoon called Shade of Red, which gained a small following and got published in a few stores. I ended up falling in love with the publishing process. But I realized how hard it had been to get to that point, so I decided to start a publishing company with the motto of “afford the creator”—basically helping other creators who want to publish their work. I founded Hoseki Publishing to help smaller creators get to where they need to be.
shade of red
Kanna: Tell us about your team.
Shaka: We have an editorial department—they find and scout manga, act as the point of contact, and make sure manuscripts are polished and grammatically correct. Our marketing team creates posters and other materials to attract readers to the magazine or individual manga. And our licensing team handles contracts, like licensing or publishing rights, making sure both the creator and the publisher get the best deal from the collaboration.
Kanna: What’s the biggest challenge in running a publishing company?
Shaka: There’s not one, everything, every single thing. I’d say the hardest part is funding. Any sort of publication is going to require you to put some money up front whether you can get funding or not, but you’re not always guaranteed to make that money back.Also, we live in a country which is not focused on production, whereas if you go to Asia, there is more of a production focus. Whereas here production can be quite expensive, which is why a lot of publications rely on advertisement. Finding the right means of production is one of the hardest parts as well. Surprisingly, working with the artists and getting the chapters in—which I thought would be the most difficult part— is actually the easiest, because a lot of people actually enjoy making manga and want to get it out there.
We hope that you will join us at our own community event, Ink Paper Power, online on the 23rd of April!
INK, PAPER, POWER: margins to manifestos – 23.04.2026 – Free Online Event