FAQ
Last updated: 21/8/2026
What is a CIC?
Small Press Scotland is a registered CIC (Community Interest Company), which means that all profits made by the company must be reinvested into the community it is benefiting: for us, that's Scotland's small press community. If SPS ever closes down, any remaining funds must go to another CIC doing similar work.
What counts as "small press"?
For the purposes of our company, we define “small press” as independent, freelance, or self-employed creators, or small businesses with limited annual output, creating work such as comics and graphic novels, roleplaying and board games, zines and informal literature, sequential visual narratives, and traditional formats like prose, poetry, and plays.
While our market events (like TAGS Fest) may focus on only some of these forms of small press, we are aiming for our professional development days to apply to a wide range of creators and creative practices.
Were TAGS Fest and Sequential Scotland sold to Small Press Scotland?
TAGS Fest and Sequential Scotland were not sold, nor did they change hands. Eve and Brian founded TAGS Fest in 2023 and Faye Stacey founded Sequential Scotland in 2024. and were running the event as individuals. We had common goals for our events and decided to form a CIC to continue running our events under one umbrella business.
What does being a CIC mean materially for TAGS, Sequential, and future events?
As a CIC, we are able to apply for funding that was inaccessible to us previously as individuals/sole traders, meaning that we can make TAGS Fest and our future events sustainable to run.
For TAGS Fest 2023 and 2024, Eve and Brian put substantial unpaid time and personal resources into making the events a success and were only reimbursed through sales we made at the events. However, in order to make TAGS Fest the event we want it to be, we can't split our attention between our own sales and the on-the-day responsibilities of organisers. Applying for funding to pay for our time means that we can invest our energy into putting on a great event.
These new funding opportunities also open the door to some of our long term goals, such as inviting guest tablers and speakers, digital access to our panels and talks, and more advertising and promotion.
Finally, there is a level of clarity and safety that comes with running a registered company, such as what assets belong to the company, and how they should be handled.
What does being a CIC not mean for TAGS, Sequential, and future events?
Most importantly for us, this move to organising events under a registered company does not mean that our goal as organisers is to make a profit. One of our aims as an organisation is to keep our events accessible for both the creators and the public, and this means striving to keep table and ticket costs low. As a CIC, we are required to invest any profit back into our community and to file reports with HMRC to prove that we're doing just that.
Transparency is important to us so, just like for TAGS Fest 2023 and 2024, we will continue to release financial reports for all our events to show exhibitors and the public where the money is going.
We will also not be instantly sky-rocketing the scope of our events; we plan to expand steadily and aim for sustainability over growth, so for now we will be focusing on TAGS Fest and Sequential Scotland rather than introducing any new market events.
