Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Dark Horse Comics, Yen Press | Tagged: Jamie Smart, london book fair
David Fickling Books, the publishers of Bunny Vs Monkey by Jamie Smart is officially no longer a “small publisher”
Article Summary
- David Fickling Books surpasses £5M in sales, dropping its small publisher status, thanks to Bunny Vs Monkey.
- Bunny Vs Monkey by Jamie Smart boosts DFB, making him UK’s top graphic novelist, beating Alice Oseman.
- DFB has published hits like Philip Pullman’s works and collaborates with The Phoenix comic.
- Yen Press and Dark Horse Comics trail in sales, with Solo Leveling, Vol. 8 ranking 59th in total charts.
The biggest booksellers in the UK may be the likes of Penguin Random House (PRH), Hachette and HarperCollins. But what of the smaller publishers? On the morning of the London Book Fair, the Bookseller’s Small Publishers charts in 2025 measures those with annual sales of less than £5 million in the UK as measured by Nielsen in 2024. One comic book publisher, David Fickling Books, jumped above that last year, thanks to Jamie Smart of Bunny vs Monkey fame. As we reported, Jamie Smart’s sales topped that £5 million mark by himself.
David Fickling Books was founded in 1999 and became an independent publishing house in 2013 after first being part of Scholastic and later Random House. They have published several prize-winning and bestselling books including Lyra’s Oxford by Philip Pullman, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, Bing Bunny by Ted Dewan, Pants by Nick Sharratt and Giles Andreae, Before I Die by Jenny Downham, Trash by Andy Mulligan and A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton. DFB also works closely with The Phoenix, a weekly story comic for children which David Fickling founded. And it was from there that Bunny Vs Monkey by Jamie Smart was born, rocketing him to be Britain’s biggest selling graphic novelist, overtaking Alice Oseman of Heartstopper. Jamie Smart will be the first appointed Creative Of The Fair for today’s London Book Fair.
The remaining small publishers have generated £2 million in graphic novel categories, representing 12% of total sales. And the second and third biggest small publishers in the UK so far in 2025 are Yen Press and Dark Horse Comics, both behind prose publisher New River Books. Both Dark Horse and Yen Press, both at London Book Fair starting today, have seen their combined sales increase by more than £100,000, half of the category’s year-on-year increase. And Yen Press’ bestselling graphic novel Solo Leveling, Vol. 8 ranks 59th in the total sales charts, with 2,200 copies sold.
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