I’m excited to share that two of my self-published books are now available for loan at the National Library Singapore! You can borrow "Creative Art With Siblings" and "I Hear You", the latter of which I co-created with a friend by illustrating the book. These books have been close to my heart, and I’m thrilled they are now more accessible to everyone.
Discovering Self-Publishing
When I was choosing my university major, I never imagined I would end up publishing books. I majored in Social Work, not English or Literature, but I always enjoyed journalling and occasionally writing for magazines and church projects.
It was thanks to Pauseability, that I discovered the world of self-publishing. With the support of my dear friend Wendy and my sister Sarah, who helped with editing, I took on this challenge, and it’s been an incredible learning journey ever since.
Why I Chose to Self-Publish
Self-publishing allows me to have full creative control over my work, and it's a perfect fit for anyone looking to publish without securing a traditional book deal or incurring huge costs. While I don’t aspire to become a famous author or illustrator, I hope my books can inspire someone, somewhere. Self-publishing is a great option if:
You want to bring your book to life even without a publishing company deal.
Budget constraints mean you don’t want to pay a company to edit or market your book.
You want full creative control over your book’s content and design.
Small print runs of 1000 copies or less are what you’re aiming for.
You’re comfortable managing sales through your own website or social media platforms.
The Process: From Writing to Printing
From editing photos and learning Procreate to handling layout and printer communication, self-publishing has been a self-taught process. For those new to this, here are a few essential steps:
Layout: Mimic the layout of similar books, but make sure to include basic sections like an ISBN number (which you can get for free through NLB’s Legal Deposit), acknowledgments, content page, and copyright statement.
Photos & Images: Keep image resolution high at 300DPI, especially if you’re using Procreate for illustrations. When capturing images, it is advisable to refrain from excessive zooming in on the subject or making extensive crops during the editing process.editing.
Keynote for Layout: If you’re using Mac, I found that Keynote works best for maintaining high resolution in the PDF format needed for printing. This website, https://www.caseyprinting.com/blog/how-to-get-a-print-ready-file-out-of-apple-keynote provides guidance on preparing your Keynote document for printing, including instructions on setting bleeds.
Printing: Use local printers like Ho Printing for larger quantities (500 copies and above), or Gogoprint for smaller print runs, though they may require extra steps with file conversionsn (see tip below).
*Procreate Tip: If you're printing your book, Illustrations done with Procreate have to be set to CYMK colours. If you still find your image looking dull, then adjust the ‘hue’ and ‘brightness’. Also, always set the size of your image canvas size at least twice the size of your book. For example, A4 canvas for A5 books. |
*Gogoprint Tip: Gogoprint does not offer editing services, so the files you provide are printed as is, and the quality may not be as good as Ho Printing's. Recently, it's customer service informed me that I needed to use Canva to convert my files and resend them as PDFs. I don't understand why they couldn't work with the original PDF file. Ultimately, I had to save each page of my Keynote file as a PNG image, upload all the images to Canva, and then download a print-ready PDF from there. |
Sharing My Journey
Self-publishing has been a rewarding journey, even if the profits are minimal. It’s about the joy of seeing my ideas come to life and sharing them with others. I hope my journey encourages others to explore this creative path!
Visit your nearest National Library Singapore branch and borrow “Creative Art With Siblings” and “I Hear You” today! And don't forget to check out my other self-published works:
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