SINGAPORE — Sonny Liew, the comic artist and author best known for his book, The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, has called on the National Arts Council (NAC) to address its support for local publishing and the book industry, in particular, how NAC “approaches comics in its grant structures”.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Sept 13), Liew also shared the breakdown of the revenue received from the publication of his graphic novel, with figures that detail his advances from publishers, royalties paid out and his prize money for winning the Singapore Literature Prize for English Fiction this year.

He wrote: “That translates into, over 24 months, about 2,500/month. Which is not such a bad thing if you think of it in terms of ‘doing something you love’, but quite sobering when compared to other endeavours, from teaching to engineering or management, medicine etc.”

Liew was reflecting on this as he contemplated accepting the Creation Grant from the NAC for his next book. Liew, 41, further added that while “the ceiling for a Literary Grant was raised from S$25,000 to S$50,000, but according to the NAC, the S$25,000 increase is meant mainly to reflect projects that involve multi-disciplinary components such as a performance showcase and exhibition.

“So this means if you’re making comics, you’re stuck with a S$25,000 cap on the grant — and that’s something I think needs addressing.”

Ms May Tan, NAC’s acting director of sector development (literary arts) clarified that “the Creation Grant only supports the first stage of the development of an art work”.

She said: “We recognise that the creation process requires many stages, and the timeline of 18 months allows the Council and artist to establish a reasonable scope of work for submission.

“Other grants are available, on a competitive basis, to support the full production of a performance or the publication of a book, as well as to support the marketing and internationalisation of such quality artworks,” Tan added.

“Specific to our burgeoning literary arts scene, support is also extended to seeding new works, which include mentorship programmes, local and overseas residencies where artists are given the space and time to work on their projects,” Tan told TODAY.

Liew’s post received support online for its transparency but also drew mixed response as most creatives perceive Liew’s position as a comics creator at the “upper end of things when it comes to royalties, reprints, awards and the like”.

Edmund Wee, founder of Epigram Books, the publisher for The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye, did not respond to TODAY’s queries, but he replied directly to Liew’s Facebook post, sharing the full breakdown of revenue with the writer receiving S$14,333 as advance plus royalties, a similar amount also received by the publishers for their share of the sale of rights to US, French and Italian publishers.

Literary community’s response

The literary and graphic community here generally support Liew’s stance and understand that NAC grants are simply a start. Fellow comic artist Koh Hong Teng points out that producing a full-fledged graphic novel involves collaboration of not just artists and writers but also editors, colourist and letterers.

“Graphic novels are both visual and literary so it will be a positive step if NAC could re-look its funding requirements and mechanism.”

Singapore poet and spoken word performer Marc Nair, agreed that perhaps more flexibility could be given by NAC for certain works that are cross-disciplinary in nature. “Obviously, everybody has a different financial situation. So, perhaps more open dialogue should take place between the NAC and the artists to determine what is best in each situation.”

US-based comic artist Colin Goh, known for his Dim Sum Warriors graphic novels, said: “Sonny managed to score pretty significant advances, and as time goes on, he would also earn royalties that would begin to reward his earlier effort. This model applies to all forms of content creation, whether writing or music or filmmaking — you put in your sweat equity and take the early risks, in the hope that as you produce more and more products, you will build multiple future streams of passive income.”

The general sentiment shared amongst both established and emerging writers — both comics or otherwise — is that securing funding that enables one to devote an entire 18 months to focus on a single work, is “like finding the Holy Grail” as Goh puts it.

In addition to working on his graphic novels, Goh, a 46-year old father of one, does freelance illustration, editing, writing, website design, and still takes on legal cases as a qualified attorney.

Dan Wong, an up-and-coming 33 year old artist who recently produced the graphic novel interpretation of the film One Hour to Daylight for the Singapore Writers Festival 2016 initiative Utter, shared that he made ends meet by doing “commercial projects alongside personal artwork, just like Sonny”.

“We have to juggle the demands of commercial work alongside the need for personal expression and fulfilment. It’s a constant balancing act involving money, time and energy.”

However, as Liew pointed out, taking on additional work to complement funding sources makes the completion of the work within the specified 18-month time frame more difficult. He hopes going public will spark off an open dialogue “so that the agencies here get a better sense of the real challenges artists in Singapore face, and perhaps a need for higher grant quantum across the board, if we seek to be able to give creators more room for working on their projects in this high cost-of-living nation”.