Beginners guide to buying and choosing BL Manga | Episode 94

Recently I have been getting so many recommendations of manga haul/ manga collecting videos. I don’t normally watch them because I’m not really interested in anyone manga collection unless in related to BL. But I saw this particular video talking about five mistakes to avoid when buying manga. I watched it out of curiosity and it was actually interesting. It had given me the inspiration to talk about this topic for this podcast. I have talked with Tao about budgeting on episode 90. 

It seems that collecting manga is much more than collecting than I thought. I mainly buy manga spontaneously.  Don’t have a goal, I don’t record my spending nor list them on a spreadsheet. 

Why does everyone go on about setting goals for buying manga? I just randomly buy and buy manga when the time is right. I do have a few pieces of advice I could give for beginners or those who want to find some good BL manga. 
Un hauling - a term I never heard of but basic means to remove or pass on your manga by selling or donating them. Which I sort of doing some time when I have moved on for a manga and I want to get rid of the old and be in the new. 


Don’t get book drunk
Don’t blind buy a series 
Not to buy too many series at once 
Not to follow the hype too much, or watch people like 
There is nothing wrong with having a Pacific collection. If you prefer BL manga that fine. 
Read the review! Get to know the manga beforehand before you invest it. 
Buying second hand, it great for finding manga for cheap or rare manga. It is also a positive way of recycling and not being wasteful.


Highly recommend reading manga online or buying manga digitally. Especially a series you want to get into but don’t have the space and want to invest too much into it. 
Online library subscription-like Futekiya is a fantastic library site where you can read over 100 BL titles for a very small subscription fee per month. (Or any plan you choose for your budget) 
It is good to have some print and some digital. Because there is a lot of manga you may not feel you want to own a physical copy but want to read it any so digital copy or digital library is the very best. Plus it is far cheaper and convenient. 

Futekiya: https://read.futekiya.com/browse?in=School%20Life

Renta is a great website for Buying and reading BL/Yaoi manga. You can chapter or rent them. 
EbookRenta! - Rent Low-Priced Licensed Manga - https://www.ebookrenta.com/

Visiting the library is very good to read manga for reading. And to check out the manga, so if you really like the manga you will buy it. I use to go to the library a lot back in the day. I use to read Loveless, my local library had a few volumes of Loveless. 

Recommended publishers to buy BL Manga:
Sublime Manga (vic)
Yen Press
Kuma (FAKKU)
Seven Sea 
Juné 
TOKYOPOP 
SQAURE EINX 
Irodori Sakura Comic (18+ Doujinshi)