Self-publishing: Take a page from these authors
More writers here are getting their books out, with the help of self-publishing services and online tools
Why stop at writing when you can be your own publisher?
That's what more people here are doing.
Ms Pearlin Siow, 40, founder of Boss Of Me, a company that helps authors publish their work, has seen a rise of up to 80 per cent in the number of people who self-publish compared to when the company started five years ago.
Owners of self-publishing companies attribute the rise to a more educated population, the ease of self-publishing, lower cost, more control over the book and better profits for authors.
Mr Patrick Chan, executive director secretariat of the Singapore Book Publishers Association (SBPA), says: "As Singaporeans are now better educated and more confident, they would like to... share their knowledge and creativity."
Digital print technology saves cost too.
Mr Goh Kheng Chuan, 47, owner of Rank Books, says: "Our minimum print run now is 50 copies. In the past, you needed to print at least 500 or 1,000 (copies).
"Most people don't need so many books anyway. So this means you do not have to fork out a huge investment to (get) published."
Previously, a minimum run of 500 books would cost at least $3,000 to print, says Mr Goh. Now, a minimum run of 50 costs just $1,288 , making it easier on the wallet for self-publishing authors.
As a result, he says more people are jumping on the bandwagon - teenagers, tutors, fresh grads, retirees and trainers.
Rank Books started as a publishing company in 1972 but has transitioned into a company that provides self-publishing services.
Mr Goh says: "A lot of authors come to us... But their books may not have commercial value and they just want to put a book together to sell to their friends and family."
MORE CONTROL
Famous self-published authors include English writer E. L. James, who wrote the best-selling Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy, and US neuroscientist Lisa Genova, the author behind Still Alice.
Self-publishing allows authors to have more say in how their books turn out - such as the design, printing, marketing and distribution.
Ms Siow says: "Many of my clients sell their books through their (own) networks. Many also give their books away for free or use them as an incentive for their seminars and talks."
Unlike in the past, authors are no longer at the mercy of publishers, she says, thanks to "the advent of social media and various publishing tools, and websites like Kickstarter."
Mr Chan adds: "Publishing companies typically offer a 10 to 12 per cent royalty while self-published authors keep all the proceeds."
Ms Siow works with top book distributors here and links clients to them.
She says: "Book distributors typically take 60 to 70 per cent of book sales whereas a publisher takes 90 per cent.
"You can also schlep your books to indie bookstores like Books Actually and Cat Socrates and negotiate a commission with them, or sell your books online."
Ms Susan Long, general manager of Straits Times Press, says self-publishing is a positive trend and is good for self-expression, the publishing industry and for Singapore.
She says the company is always on the lookout for good works - self-published or unpublished. It has just published a previously self-published work, The Malaysia That Could Be, by Kalimullah Hassan, which is now out in the bookstores.
She says: "The author had done a very small, sold-out print run in Malaysia."
"Some authors are known, but the books they self-publish could be very niche in audience and topic, such that traditional/mainstream publishers would not pick them up."
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