Some publishers do not accept these submissions at all, however, and require the author to go through an agent. Having a portfolio of your earlier writing fragments helps, as in Rahman’s case.

However, publishers can be quite picky about what they’ll accept, especially so with new authors. Traditional publishing is probably the simplest as you just need a completed manuscript and a willing publisher who will do everything else. By the time the second draft and publishing copy is complete, the whole process might have taken anywhere from two months to half a year. The publisher takes one to three months to review the manuscript and, assuming they accept your work, it will take another one to two months of working with an editor to prepare the first draft. You think that turning this into a real book would be pretty cool… so what then? How do you turn the product of your hobby into the real thing? (ps that’s our idea, we don’t mind if you wanna use it just make sure to send us a copy thanks) You think it’s a pretty awesome, and so do your friends (or at least what you want to believe). So let’s say you have your own little novel about… ionno… say an indestructible 93-year old bionic man that a nation is depending on bringing them out of slavery from an evil taskmaster. We also came across Suraya Zainudin and her website RinggitOhRinggit, in which she details the process of publishing as a means of passive incomeand the costs of doing so.Rahman Imuda, Cilisos’ very own published author, who wrote Mahasiswa Bukan Macai, Pendidikan Bukan Politik, a collection of his essays describing student activism, with a second book on the way.Catalina Rembuyan, editor and author of the Little Basket collections of Malaysian-English literature.At least, according to the authors we engaged with to help us write this story: Thankfully, there IS hope out there still! We’re not gonna sugar coat it – if you’re doing it as a business, it’s gonna be HARD but not impossible. Click here to read the whole storyīut here’s the thing… many aspiring writers struggle to write and publish their work, because let’s be honest, book reading in Malaysia isn’t as popular as it used to be. This writer is no longer with us but we miss her kookieness every day.

Little Basket 2017 by Catalina Rembuyan