post in : Comics , Comics Publishers , Current News , Dark Horse Comics , Yen Press| tag : Jamie Smart , london book fair
David Fickling Books , the publishers of Bunny Vs Monkey by Jamie Smart is formally no longer a " small publishing company "
Article Summary
The biggest booksellers in the UK may be the like of Penguin Random House ( PRH ) , Hachette and HarperCollins . But what of the smaller publishers ? On themorning of the London Book Fair , theBookseller ’s Small Publishers chartsin 2025 measures those with yearly sales of less than £ 5 million in the UK as measured by Nielsen in 2024 . One amusing record publisher , David Fickling Books , jump above that last year , thanks toJamie SmartofBunny vs Monkeyfame . As we reported , Jamie Smart ’s sales agreement topped that £ 5 million mark by himself .
David Fickling Books was set up in 1999 and became an independent publishing house in 2013 after first being part of Scholastic and afterwards Random House . They have published several trophy - winning and bestselling books including Lyra ’s Oxford byPhilip Pullman , The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - timebyMark Haddon , The Boy in the Striped PyjamasbyJohn Boyne , Bing BunnybyTed Dewan , PantsbyNick SharrattandGiles Andreae , Before I DiebyJenny Downham , Trash byAndy MulliganandA Boy and a Bear in a BoatbyDave Shelton . DFB also works closely with The Phoenix , a hebdomadal story comic for children which David Fickling establish . And it was from there thatBunny Vs Monkeyby Jamie Smart was born , rocketing him to be Britain ’s biggest selling graphic novelist , overtakingAlice OsemanofHeartstopper . 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 humble 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 start today , have seen their combined sales increment by more than £ 100,000 , one-half of the category ’s year - on - year increase . And Yen Press ' bestselling computer graphic novelSolo Leveling , Vol . 8ranks 59th in the full sales chart , with 2,200 copy sold .
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