Comments on: How to Publish A Book in Malaysia

By: Nora

Nora — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:34:45 +0000

Hi, I have a completed contemporary romance novel, written in English. I’ve been wondering whether there is a possiblility of publishing an English novel in Malaysia. I’m still unsure whether to publish locally or internationally. I’d rather market my book internationally. I thought it would be interesting for the rest of the world to read about romance and life in Malaysia. I posted the complete novel for comments and improvement at one of US based writing sites and received great responses and followers. The book was voted as Book of the Month twice. I’ve tried self-publishing and have two books for sale now – a short novel and a poetry book. I managed to sell a few copies online, but it’s not possible to sell locally as they’re too expensive after the conversion rate.

Would love to hear what you think. Thanks.

By: Kassim Abbas

Kassim Abbas — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:01:22 +0000

Hi, Bala,
I’ve written a novel for teenagers It’s about three bosom friends Mahir, Chandra & Chin Han who went jungle-tracking with their scoutmaster. The day trip brought them to a strange garden of the Princess of Ledang. They had an encounter with a fairy, who was the guardian of the forest. The fairy warned them only to look at the beautiful flowers in the garden and not to take home even a blade of grass. They were also forewarned not to go near a disused well at the edge of the garden. But, as the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. They tried to take a quick look at the well but were blown into the well by a sudden gust of strong wind. As they sank into the well, they thought they were drowning but suddenly they found themselves in a strange environment…… they were transported 600 years back during the era of the Malacca Sultanate in the 115th. century A.D. There, their adventure began …..

Title of the Novel : The Machindra Gang.
Language : English.
No. of Chapters : 47.
No. of pages : 514.
No. of Words : 84,000
Size of Book : 8in. X 5in.
Target Readers : Students from Primary 5 to Secondary 3.
Anyone interested in helping me get this novel published, please contact me via my e-mail : kba_345@yahoo.com. Thanks.

By: Ravi

Ravi — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:04:29 +0000

@viwian : > you can do simultaneous print run … ensure that the colour text are the same for all versions…and use grayscale for the text for all 3 languages. This way, you can do a print run of 3,000 copies and split it 1,000 for english, 1,000 for malay, 1,000 for chinese. ) and paying at the price of 3,000 copies )

By: Ravi

Ravi — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 06:02:36 +0000

@Sumi: > It takes only about 3 working days to get your ISBN.

By: Hermen

Hermen — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:49:39 +0000

Hello sir,
i hav a question. i wanna start writing storybooks for children, and i want to publish these books, ryte. So how am i supposed to start?? ok 1st i go register my company, and then i get the manuscript ready. so, does it need any approval from the education ministry or anything?
is there any way i can email u directly???
it will be great help, thanks.

By: Nickey

Nickey — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:41:08 +0000

Gobala’s article is well written and describes an accurate picture of the publishing scene in Malaysia. Here’s the pros for going either with traditional publisher or self-publishing:

1. Going with traditional publisher
-Better exposure in terms of marketing. The traditional publisher has connections with bookstores and retailers all around.
-You don’t have to invest a single cent in printing and getting the books done, except for your time to write your manuscript.

2. Deciding to self-publish
-If you have high capital, you can go offset printing. If you are on tight budget, try print-on-demand (POD) digital printing. Differences: POD has slightly higher cost per book but at least you don’t have to stress about keeping stocks of thousands of books in your room.
-You can earn back most of your royalty, aside from the % you give to your distributors. Book distributors in Malaysia usually take about 60% of your sales price. You as the author keeps the other 40%. (Rate might vary depending on who your distributor is, but MPH takes 60%)
-Usually it’s better to go with self-publishing if you already have your market circle or people who are going to buy from you. You earn the most when you sell directly to your readers. Either your own website (you do packaging and delivery yourself) or you’re some kind of guru giving seminar talks, then you can sell your books to the attendees.
-It’s good to go self-publishing if your book’s niche is very narrow. You can’t find any traditional publishers that want to carry your books because your genre/niche doesn’t match theirs. Then go self-publishing. But once again, you must know who your buyers are gonna be.

Like what Gobala and Peter mentioned, publishing a book is not the best way to get rich. Well, that’s unless you are Robert Kiyosaki, John Maxwell or JK Rowling. The money comes in very slowly. It might event take years before you see the full profit for your book writing. You can take it as a passive income, but if you want to rely on it as your main active income, I wouldn’t recommend so unless you’re already some bestseller.

Next thing I wanna highlight is as the author of the book, you’re probably the one and best person to market your book. Promote it to your friends, your clients, your family, your neighbours and those around you. Promote it online in your Facebook, Twitter, your blog, etc. Your books will never suddenly sell well just because you put them in MPH or Popular. In fact, if MPH choose to display your books in their bookstores, for the first run, they usually take only around 5-10 books per store. MPH will subsequently increase the order on your books if they find your sales record to be very impressive. Actually not only MPH, but most bookstores or retailers are like that. And it’s on consignment basis, means you get your earnings when your book is sold to the readers.

Ultimately, putting books in MPH or Popular or Kinokuniya can help to expose your books to the public. But the grand marketer of the book is still YOU! The destiny of your book lies solely in your hands as the author.

Having said all these, if you still wish to pursue the path to self-publishing in Malaysia and are looking for guidance and directions, you can drop me an email at nickey@theinspirationhub.com. I’ve been in the publishing industry for 3 years now and I’ve helped authors self-publish their books and distributed throughout MPH, Popular, Kinokuniya and bookstores around in Malaysia and also Singapore. I hope my advice will be able to help you in your path to publishing.

Nickey

By: leena raja

leena raja — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 01:15:54 +0000

Hi GK!

What if I wanna publish an art book on henna hand painting? which publisher should I approach?

By: CoCo Moo

CoCo Moo — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:37:45 +0000

Hi there Gobala!
I’m 15 years old and I have dream of publishing a book before reaching the age 20. Your article was great and really helpful.

I was wondering how can I self-publish my own book since I don’t know how to er, get along with publishing books business.

By: Ravi

Ravi — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:23:13 +0000

Hi gobala.. I have obtained a licensing agreement for a particular line of books from abroad for Malaysia, singapore, brunei – Children Illustrated books in Graphic/comics. What is the recommended process to go about it? Joint venture with an existing publisher or self-publishing ? Please advise.

By: wai2kit

wai2kit — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:26:32 +0000

Hai Wai Kit here,

I am wondering if i am planning to publish a comic book. How do i go about it?