It’s back! The UK Comics Creator Survey 2025 has launched. Five years after the results of the first survey it’s time to make your voice heard again!
UK COMICS CREATOR SURVEY 2025
The UK comics scene is a fast-growing grassroots creative industry, fuelled more recently by the explosion in readership of comics and graphic novels: 27% of adults and 40% of young people read comics once a month or more (according to research from The Reading Agency / National Literacy Trust), and sales of graphic novels have tripled between 2019 and 2024 (stat courtesy of Waterstones). It’s an exciting time to be alive and making comics! But the history of this industry is notoriously paved with the exploitation of creators, and in order to make sure that this period of growth is sustainable we need to ensure that the needs of its creators are met, which means, first of all, working out what those needs *are*.
WHAT IT IS
- The UK Comics Creator Survey 2025, launching on Friday September 5th, is a nationwide, anonymous online survey, designed to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of who is making comics in the UK today, how they’re doing, what obstacles they’re facing and what they need to be able to thrive.
- It is open to anyone over 16, based in the UK, who making comics or intending to make comics for public audiences, from established professionals to emerging creators and students.
- The data will be analysed by The Audience Agency, who will also be running qualitative interviews to explore subjects in more depth. The final report will be published in early December.
- The 2025 survey will build on the findings of the last survey in 2020, which found that:
- The average income was £10,299, with 66% earning less than £5,000;
- Only 13% of creators earn a living through comics alone;
- 1/10 creators who view comics as their career are only able to do make comics in their spare time;
- Creators identify as 60% male, 33% female, and 6% non-binary;
- 1/3 comics creators are working class;
- The main challenges were cited as ‘Lack of financial income, or expectation of it in the future’ (55%) and ’Lack of time to create’ (51%).
- The 2025 survey will ask many of the same questions as the 2020 survey in order to ensure comparability and to give an idea of where the community might be heading.
- There will be additional questions to quantify the impact of AI, the cost of living crisis and Brexit on livelihoods.
WHY
It has never been harder to make a living as a creator in the UK, and this is exponentially more so in an industry that has very little established infrastructure. The findings from this survey will be used to advocate for creators and make the case for better support and funding.
Specifically, the findings will:
- Help organisations like the SoA, AOI and CCIC to advocate for creators, ensuring their views can be represented in policy and campaign work;
- Improve levels of funding by delivering relevant data that can be used in funding bids and campaigns;
- Increase support by identifying issues in order to lay the groundwork for interventions;
- Empower the comics community with insights that will ensure activities are representative, equitable and sustainable;
- Break down silos by giving arts, literature and funding organisations information necessary to include comics in their programming;
- Make the case for the formation of a backbone organisation, ensuring the comics community can work collaboratively towards shared
WHO IS BEHIND IT
- The survey is the work of Hannah Berry, following on from the 2020 survey conducted while in post as Comics Laureate
- The project is in partnership with the Comics Cultural Impact Collective (CCIC): a non-profit organisation dedicated to raising the profile of comics and supporting creators; the Society of Authors: the trade union for all types of writers, illustrators and literary translators; and the Association of Illustrators: the professional body championing illustrators and the illustration industry.
- The UKCCS25 is funded using public funding from Arts Council England, as well as a Knowledge Exchange Small Grant from Arts University Bournemouth
