SINGAPORE — Ms Kyla Zhao felt terribly isolated and homesick during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as a student at Stanford University in the United States. 

In an effort to feel closer to home, Ms Zhao, now 26, sought solace in writing about Singapore.

That eventually evolved into her first novel, The Fraud Squad, a tale of a young woman who infiltrates the local high-society scene in hopes of getting a coveted writing position at a luxury magazine. 

“Writing about places in Singapore and Singaporean food was a nice way for me to think about home while I was halfway across the world,” said Ms Zhao, who initially had no intention of getting her story published.  

After connecting with US writing communities that encouraged her to get published, she searched for literary agents and contacted them through cold emailing. 

In June 2021, Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, picked up her book and published it in January 2023. Her second book, Valley Verified, followed a year later.

She is also set to release a chess-themed book in September, with a fourth book expected to be out in 2026. 

While authors like Ms Zhao may secure multiple book deals through traditional channels, an alternative path for Singapore writers involves winning competitions that often offer publishing contracts as prizes. 

Ms Zhao’s journey exemplifies just one of the various routes local authors can take in getting their work published. 

WHY IT MATTERS

In the last decade or so, some Singaporean writers have made a splash on the international scene. 

In 2017, Ms Rachel Heng’s first novel, Suicide Club, landed six-figure book deals with publishers in the US and United Kingdom.

Most notably, Ms Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows novel might make its way to the screen, with the film rights acquired by English filmmaker Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free Productions, and the UK’s Film4.

Separately, Ms Amanda Lee Koe's upcoming third novel Sister Snake garnered attention when it was sold at an auction, attracting bids from multiple publishers.  

Come Aug 13, Ms Lee Wen-yi’s young adult novel The Dark We Know will be published after being picked up by famous American mystery author Gillian Flynn, best known for books such as Gone Girl, which became a hit Hollywood movie.

The appetite for local literature has also grown over the years. 

Mr Alexander Chua, 37, who owns independent bookstore BookBar, which focuses on Singaporean and Asian literature, said: “I think there's been a growing interest in local literature. We do see more people willing to try a local book for the first time.”

Ms Seet Siew Ling, 34 and Ms Charmaine He, 32, co-founders of the online bookstore, Wormhole, have also seen an uptick in sales for local titles this year. 

Still, it is not all hunky-dory.

While there has been more local literature published and interest in the last 10 years, publishers such as Ethos Books and The Nutgraf Books told TODAY that it has been “challenging” of late, especially with the shuttering of retail stores and the loss of another local publisher, Math Paper Press. 

Mr Ng Kah Gay 44, Ethos Books’ publisher, explained that the local publishing scene is already small, and any significant development such as the closure of a prominent publisher has “an outsized impact”. 

Mr Peh Shing Huei, founding partner and publisher of The Nutgraf Books, noted that the dwindling number of bookshops here has also adversely affected the literary scene.

“Authors and publishers are finding it harder and harder as they have fewer and fewer touchpoints with readers and buyers because there are fewer bookshops,” he said. 

THE BIG PICTURE

The cost of producing a book varies for different publishers. For Ethos, it costs about S$20,000 to publish a book with a print run of 500 copies, said Mr Ng.

He added after deducting bookshop discounts, storage fees, and author royalties, a book that is priced at S$20 might earn the publisher S$8. 

“To cover the S$20,000, you have to sell at least 3,000 books.”

Ethos Books receives roughly 50 manuscript submissions per month and publishes just six to eight titles each year.

As for writers, given Singapore’s small market, they definitely cannot live by royalties alone. The standard royalty rate for a book published with 1,000 copies in Singapore is S$950. 

“There’s no real way to get paid to be a writer full time,” said Mr Max Pasakorn, 27, who is now writing a full-length memoir.

The Yale-NUS graduate had his debut chapbook, A Study In Our Selves, published in 2023 by Neon Hemlock Press, a small, independent press based in the US, with a run of just 100 copies.

A chapbook is a small booklet or pamphlet containing poems, short stories, or essays, typically produced independently or by a small press. 

While writers can apply for funding, such as the Creation Grant under the National Arts Council, there is always uncertainty about when their next paycheck will come. 

“Will I be able to feed myself next month if I really sit down and do a project uninterrupted without having to go back to a day job?” said Mr Pasakorn.

As such, many writers still keep their day jobs.

Mr Daryl Qilin Yam, co-founder of the literary charity SingLit Station and a published author, said: ​​“I wrote Kappa Quartet in a year. I wrote Lovelier, Lonelier in four years. It's still S$950 in terms of royalties.”

Additionally, his latest book Be Your Own Bae collects stories that were a decade in the making. 

“How can you compensate for all that time with so little money?… but we do it anyway because we love it.” 

For Mr Yam, “the true success of a book isn't necessarily measured by its commercial success, but by how it is critically received”. 

He added that how a book influences and shapes the way other people write in the country is perhaps a better way of measuring success. 

Balancing a day job with a full commitment to writing can be challenging, but writers such as Mr Desmond Kon, 53, finds it fulfilling and exactly what he needs.

“I feel it’s an indelible part of who I am. For me, it’s always been a labour of love.”

Over the years, he has authored 18 books spanning disparate genres, such as fiction, memoir, poetry, and experimental writing. His new poetry collection, Heart Fiat, is coming out in September. 

Local writers described Singapore’s literary scene as “healthy” and “energetic”. They highlighted the emergence of new writers and the abundance of content being published, pointing to a vibrant and dynamic literary environment.

In response to TODAY's queries, the Singapore Book Publishers Association said that the launch of the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2015 was a “meaningful turning point” that created a “substantial increase in the number of novels published here”.

“At the same time, more Singaporean authors (based here and overseas) are being published by UK and US publishers, either directly or after growing their career locally,” the association added.

“Still, the bulk of Singaporean authors are published here, and as a key English industry in the region, we also publish authors from around Southeast Asia.”

THE BOTTOM LINE 

With the Singapore literary scene in a generally healthy state despite some challenges, writers whom TODAY spoke to said more could be done to boost SingLit.

Poet and photographer Marc Nair, 42, who has self-published some of his work, said that while he and the literary community at large are happy for writers who have made it big overseas, he wondered why those same opportunities are not available in Singapore.

“Do local publishers need more support? Is it about the public? Or is our market just too small, and we cannot support writers?” Mr Nair said.

“If we can support creatives, artists and other fields, I don't see why we can't support our writers.”

Ms Lee Koe said that there could be more support given to writers in honing their craft, starting with better book advances so that more people can be full-time writers.

She added that the key is to enable more Singaporeans to produce high-quality and engaging works of art.

At Sing Lit Station's recent call for manuscripts for its annual Manuscript Bootcamp, Mr Yam said the numbers remained healthy, with 16 creative non-fiction scripts submitted.

The creative non-fiction genre is less popular than fiction, so Mr Yam was quite pleased with the turnout.

“In that sense, the literary scene is still very vibrant. It's still full of people with dreams, with ambition and the energy to match it,” he said.

To that end, Mr Yam believes that Singapore’s literary scene will never be short of good local works.

At the same time, there have been considerable efforts to encourage readers to pick up a piece of work by local writers.

These include initiatives by the National Library Board (NLB), such as Nodes and Read! Fest, where the public can engage with Singaporean writers through author talks, discussions and hands-on workshops.

Ms Raneetha Rajaratnam, NLB's director of Programmes and Services, said that one of the statutory board’s aims is to make every library a “Singapore Library”, where there are Singapore-related features.

She added that library patrons are expanding their tastes, reading widely across genres and borrowing non-fiction titles related to Singapore food, places, and history.

All said, writers like Mr Kon remain hopeful.

“When you look at what literature has been produced for such a young nation, it’s all very encouraging. These are very intelligent writers sharing intelligent narratives,” he said.

“As a people and as a culture, we always need stories. We desire the creative and the imaginative, that beauty. Our humanity will always have us look to stories. We will always keep creating and telling them.”