The Hare and Tortoise approach to book writing by Guest Blogger: Lydia Teh

I featured Lydia Teh’s Blog “Life’s Like That” a while back. Lydia is a Malaysian writer and journalist based in Kuala Lumpur. She shares with us her approach to writing and gives tips on how to get published in Malaysia.

Lydia writes:

The Hare approach

I’ve been both a hare and a tortoise in my book writing ventures. The first book, Congratulations! You Have Won – A Guide on How to Maximize your Chances of Winning Competitions was written on a spurt. It took one year from research to the time it rolled off the printing press. But then it was a thin volume : only 83 pages, so it wasn’t that difficult a task.

I didn’t know it then but shortly after I started work on this book, I conceived my fourth baby. The accompanying morning sickness laid me off for a few months or the book would have been out even sooner. So I ended up having two babies that year. My sweet little bundle of joy was born in June 2001 and my first book two months later.

The Tortoise approach

My second book, Life’s Like That – Scenes from Malaysian Life was written tortoise-style. It’s a compilation of articles written over a ten-year span, starting sporadically in 1995 and gathering momentum in 2003. The book was released in September 2004. This book is a case of sedikit demi sedikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit, a Malay proverb which means bit by bit, after some time, it becomes a hill.

Both Hare and Tortoise

For my third book, a sequel to Life’s Like That scheduled to be released early 2007, I used a combination of tortoise and hare methods. Tentatively titled No Laughing Matter, the book is a collection of 50+ articles on being Malaysian. About twenty percent of the articles have already been published in the newspapers over a span of two years but the rest of the pieces were knocked out over an eight-month period.

I do not have a regular newspaper column but my articles have appeared in bursts and spurts in The Star for the past few years. Though newspaper rates are low compared with magazines (newspapers pay about RM0.30 per word whilst magazines pay from RM0.40 up to RM1 per word), this is compensated by the large circulation which translates into more readers who are familiar with my byline.

It is gratifying to have perfect strangers tell me they enjoy reading my articles in the newspapers. It puts paid to the lonely hours spent in front of the computer, shaping a piece of writing into something that will entertain and inform in a way that will connect with readers.

Publishing in Malaysia

How-to-write books usually recommend packaging a book proposal for an agent or publisher before writing the book proper. This is sound advice in order to avoid the rigmarole and heartache of writing a book that no publisher would take later.

However, the publishing industry in Malaysia does not work this way. There are no agents to help writers sell their manuscripts and publishers do not accept book proposals. Writers have to plunge in and write the book first, then only do they submit the manuscript directly to the publisher. So it behooves them to ensure their topic is sellable or no publisher would want to take a risk on their books.

What is a sellable book?

Every book is a gamble. How well it sells depends on a lot of factors, many of which are still hazy to me as an author who’s trying to achieve best-seller status. This much I can say though. In Malaysia, these are the topics that appeal to publishers because there is a ready market for them:

* How to make money
* Feng shui
* Cookery
* Language books
* Biographies
* Speeches
* Books by corporate figures
* Contemporary opinion pieces

In a nutshell

Choose a suitable topic, write it well, get it published, promote it vigorously. And start on the next book while waiting for the royalty cheque.

Written by Fusion View Guest Blogger: Lydia Teh