i know most westerners jsut know “doujin” as porn but what the word actually means is self-published 同人 and it refers to basically any media that is not published through a publisher. you can think of it as “indie” for japan, since these works are generally created by one individual or several individuals working together without being overseen by a publisher or editor. japan has a massive self-published media market, with many sites dedicated to letting people publish their own writing, music, video games, animations, etc., and many people make a living or supplement their income through selling their own self-published works

one reason i’ve been considering improving my japanese so i can publish in the japanese doujin market is specifically because it’s so indie-friendly, with lots of consumers who are willing to pay for creative original works like that. it’s such a huge step up from the creative market in the usa, where most people have to get an income through patreon instead, or watch their profits get cut into by amazon or other publishers, or have their work censored by editors or denied by publishers because it’s transgressive to them. genuinely feeling like if i actually wanna sell my own creative writing, i’ll have a way better shot in japan than in the usa