I’m no longer happy with being stuck in a office cubicle 5 days a week, pushing paper, staring at the monitor, working the system and talking to IT support; doing things that sometimes seem totally meaningless.
It’s the way I earn money for sure, but it all seem meaningless in the grand scheme of things. At least in the scheme I subscribe to.
So I’ve been thinking about what alternatives are available. I’m certainly no starving artist type, plus the clannies can’t be denied their daily kibble, so it has to be something that does put food on the table.
The only thing that I do well and enjoy doing, which could also conceivably make dough, is writing.
I’ve been thinking about how I can use my writing ability, but it’s always been a half-hearted we-shall-see kind of contemplation. But I’m not getting younger, and it seems the concept of doing things that I enjoy is starting to simmer a bit more vigourously.
I found a few articles online that seem to shed some light on the options within the possibility of writing.
Here’s two articles on getting published, from SIM and Today. Both talk about the trials and tribulations of getting published, but from such different angles, much like the counterweight of Libra. The message is, of course, keep your eyes open and make your move based on informed choices.
SIM article
Features (August–September 2006)
So You want to be an Author? Getting a Manuscript Published is More Complex than You Think
By Tan Chee Teik
You can become famous as an author. Many of us have great ideas we want to share with others. Why not make some pocket money by selling such ideas through a book? This article provides some tips on how to get started as an author.
AFTER PUTTING down a good book, many of us wished that we were the author of the bestseller and live the rest of our lives off the royalties from the book. Others vow that they will publish the spiced-up story of their life when they have taken out the Central Provident Fund savings.
It is an excellent idea to share your experiences with readers and add them to the pages of history. But getting a manuscript published is more complex than you think.
Many uninitiated authors spend years on the manuscript and when it is finally completed, they spend more years hunting for a publisher. This process may lead to heartache, as the rejection letters from local publishers are as common as weeds in the garden. There are very few publishers in Singapore who are prepared to take a risk with a tenderfoot author. There are hundreds of publishers in the United States but many there prefer to deal with literary agents.
A good approach is to draft a convincing book proposal and sell the idea to a publisher. In this way, you need not spend time and effort completing the manuscript if no publisher is interested in your book.
The nine parts of a good book proposal are:
• Cover
• Title page
• Brief synopsis or executive summary
• Contents page
• Book description
• Author profile
• Book contents and specifications
• Chapter summaries, and
• Sample chapter.Book Proposal
Cover: Invest in a good design to illustrate the selling points of your proposal.
Title Page: Choose an attractive title and subtitle. This page should include the
author’s name and contact.
Synopsis: This should be about 1.5 pages long. Written like the back co-ver copy, it should stimulate the editor to read your proposal.
Contents Page: The page numbers help the reader to go directly to sections of the proposal that interest him.
Book Description: Should be about three to seven pages long. It positions your book in the market by answering these questions:
Who will buy it?
What other books has the audience bought in the past?
Why will the audience buy your book instead of the competitors’ books?
Start with a captivating introduction. Compare and contrast your book to other successful titles you have seen in the bookshops. Stress the need for the book and its benefits, as well as the problems and solutions your book addresses and solves. Use statistics to support your arguments.
Author Profile: One or two pages. Do not include an academic vitae, instead write it more like a press release that makes you sound promotable, presentable, and knowledgeable. Include past titles if possible. Avoid boasting but this section is very important to the acquisition editor, for example, you can’t write a saleable zoology book if you have no expertise in the area.
Book Contents and Specifications: One-page overview of the book lists chapter titles only. Specifications include manuscript length in number of words, format (colour printing, hardcover, quality paperback, or mass market paperback), and anticipated delivery date.
Chapter Summaries: Use bulleted lists to highlight the chapter’s strong points. If your book has more than 10 chapters, try to keep the summary of each to one page only.
Sample Chapter: Pick your strongest chapter where you can display your writing talent. Besides your profile, this sample writing is proof of your writing skills to the editor. If he finds that your writing has many spelling and grammar mistakes, and worse still, there are many errors of fact, your proposal will be rejected without much apology.Publishing Contract
When you receive the good news from the editor, the next step is to sign the publishing contract. Generally, the author’s agreement with the publisher covers the following questions:
When the author shall deliver his manuscript
What he must supply in addition (illustrations, appendix, index and so on), the amount of alterations he is allowed to make without charge after the manuscript has been typeset.
The contract also outlines the publisher’s obligations:
• When the books will be published
• When the royalty will be paid
• Copies to be printed
• Approximate price.
The agreement contains conditions for the sale of the secondary rights. These include rights for translations, sale to foreign markets, sale of serial rights to magazines and newspapers, sale of the publication to book clubs, cheap editions, and film and television rights.
From this point on, the editor will hold the author’s hands to guide him about how to make the book a bestseller. He will give tips on:
1. Approximate size of the book; how to estimate the number of manufacturing pages
to enable author to stay within the boundaries agreed upon
2. Preparation of manuscript: Typing, housestyle, and other points
3. Schedule for completion of manuscript
4. Methods of gathering and preparing illustrations
5. Organisation of book for maximum usefulness to users
6. Contractual matters such as royalties; allowable corrections in proof; obligation to
prepare manuals and revisions; permissions and copyright; and assignment of
contract, and
7. Preparation of correlated and supplemental materials such as teachers’ editions,
transparencies or Powerpoint teaching slides; and tests if it is a textbook.Self Publishing
For authors who have a completed manuscript in hand but no publisher, all is not lost. With the help of someone with publishing knowledge, you can be your own publisher. If it is a black and white book, the typesetting, printing, and binding cost will not be unaffordable.
A small investment of about $2,000 will allow you to print about 500 copies of a 180-page book. The main problem is finding a distributor for the title. Book distributors may charge up to 45 per cent of the published price for their service which leaves the author with little profit except his pride.
Alternatively, he could sell the book via his Web site and through direct mail but he should register a company in order to start this business.
Best of luck to those who want to be a Dan Brown or JK Rowling one day.
Copyright © 2007 Singapore Institute of Management.
Today article:
Take a leaf out of this writer’s book
Friday • October 13, 2006
Peter Ooi
SNIPPETS of writings accumulated over the years, lying forgotten on the shelf, conjured up memories of the time I had once spent churning out material for my short stories.
It was on one of those rare occasions spring-cleaning my study that I stumbled upon a couple of short stories I had written for my personal collection.With some encouragement from my wife, I wrote a few more and compiled them into a small collection.I had always wanted to write a book. But I had never really gotten down to writing one, nor had I approached any publisher because I did not feel quite ready.
I never intended to write this book either — it was on the spur of the moment that I decided to self-publish it.
It took a relatively short time to work on it, and within eight months, my book, Penny for a Pauper, hit the bookshops. I was excited when I first saw it on display on the shelves of MPH at Stamford Road.
It has been more than three years now, and my book is still on the market. Reactions to it have been mixed. That is understandable because not all books enjoy 100-per-cent positive reviews.
How often have you told yourself or told someone: “I’ll write a book some day”?
Perhaps, you already have. Or, perhaps, you’ve been too daunted by the task of getting it into print to get started.
Venturing into self-publishing is worth a thought if you are unable to find a publisher. If you have money to spare and a book you can’t wait to release, give it some consideration — remembering that the returns are slow. Do not do it for fame or fortune, but if you have something to share with readers.
The first and most important things you have to do are to get a good editor, a good book distributor and a good printer. MarketAsia is a distributor in Singapore which promotes books by local writers.
Also, be prepared for the outlay. Publishing is no longer as cheap an affair as it used to be. For instance, 1,000 print copies of a 200-page paperback, including book cover design and page layout, will cost you roughly $5,000. But in pricing your book for sale, it has to be affordable to readers — or your book may remain unread on the shop shelves.
Before you even take the book to the printer, you need to apply through the National Library for an ISBN (International Standard Book Numbering) number and have that registered on the back cover of your book.
Before the book goes into print, proof-read it again. Once the printer delivers the books to you, arrange to meet the book distributor to discuss the terms of contract. Give him a copy of your book. Meanwhile, you will have already given some complimentary copies to friends. These people are your first line of advertising agents and through them, your book will get its initial exposure.
After you have finalised things with your distributor, you can send out a copy of your book to the newspapers with a press release attached. Then, it is up to them to follow up with a review or interview, if you are lucky.
A book launch is optional. You can have a soft launch, one with great fanfare, or none at all. Exposure — whether at the bookshops, the library or book fair autograph session — makes a difference.
Your book distributor is your best friend. He is the one who channels your book to all these outlets. He updates you with a periodic sales report and keeps you informed of developments in the book business. Most importantly, he sends you money periodically from the sales of your books.
In some ways, self-publishing has worked for me. My greatest satisfaction, however, has been to find people have discovered my book through the National Library; I once spotted a young man reading a library copy of it on the MRT. It does not matter that he did not buy it — it is sheer joy to know that your work is being read.
If you are contemplating self-publishing, I hope the journey will be just as fulfilling for you.
This was contributed by a freelance writer.
Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
I’m not so sure I can be a money-churning writer from the get-go, which is why I’ve been feet-dragging, and feet-dragging, and feet-dragging until days turn into months into years.
One option suggested was to write freelance for magazines and so on. I’ve got one such gig but it’s not an active one, as in I’m not prolific at all, though I very much want to. To pursue it more vigorously, I need to have time, time which is being spent in the cubicle now. There’s a lot to think through and balance. I’d prefer to land a stable writing gig first, as I feel it’ll help in creating a good writing space conducive to producing decent works that will keep the freelancing viable. Maybe it’s just me but I find it tiring and disruptive to switch gears between my cube-work and writing.
Another possibility to plain old writing seems to be copywriting.
I’m also looking at doing some translation work since I’m quite decent with Chinese/English translation. The only problem is that my written Chinese is rusty and I definitely need an aid when dealing with it.
Of course, for all these possibilities, there is a problem: I’ve got no experience, and I’m trying to do a mid-career switch, and it’s always a problem teaching an old cat a new meow.
Time races on, and it’s not waiting on my procrastination and idiosyncratic shambling. Time to grab this beast by the horns.
