 I have been asked by my friends on how did I get my book, The Stage Fright Antidote published. I thought, ya, why not I share this info for the benefit of others, who would probably like to know how or wanted to get their books published too.
One of the important things to note that writing and publishing are two different things. While writing is about having a flair and putting down your thoughts into words (I call this the Art of Writing a Book), publishing itself is the business aspect of it. For this case, I planned for my book to be published under my company's brand - The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd. Here I'll share the nuggets of activities which I summarised into "A 7-Step Process on How I Published The Stage Fright Antidote!" Step 1: Write the book! Of course, the first step to publish the book is to first write it. For my case, The Stage Fright Antidote was a result of my 1-hour talk I shared at SIM back in 2013. During the session, I shared the 7 ways on how to manage stage frights using theatre techniques. I already had the script for the session, so I expanded the content into the book. This saved me some time. (In a different post, I'll share other ways on how to create and write content for a book). Step 2: Edit the content! This is one of the most important parts in the publishing process. After you have written the drafts, get someone (who is good in editing) or engage a professional editor to work on the grammatical and typo errors. You need a second person to ensure the quality of the work. For me, I worked with a professional editor. Step 3: Designing of the book cover, caricatures for each book chapter & apply for ISBN. For the book cover design, I engaged a professional artist and designer. I am a big fan of his works and worked with him for this project. After a few consultation sessions, he shared with me a two different drafts of the book cover. I was wooed by his second draft. In The Stage Fright Antidote, if you noticed, every chapter of the book has a different caricature to represent the different topic/ area. For this, I engaged a another designer who specialised in caricatures. At this juncture, I also applied the ISBN (& CIP) from the National Library, which manages ISBN in Singapore. Once I have received the ISBN number, I informed my (book cover) designer who would design/ churn out the ISBN barcode to be included at the back cover of the book. Step 4: Send for typsetting Once I have done my step 2, I sent the edited texts and caricatures to a typesetter. It is important for the typesetting to match with the overall printing mechanics. The typesetter designers proposed to me the different typesetting layout for me to choose. Step 5: Printing This is where I put everything together. With the typesetting and book cover done, the printer would print a sample printout of the book. For mass printing, it is advisable to use an offset printing (vs digital print; useful for small scale volume) because the book will last longer (from some I resources I read, it could last for more than a hundred years! The book will be your legacy!) Step 6: Distribution To get the book out in the bookstores and for other people to purchase, it is important to plan how your book movements will be like. I worked with a local book distributor to get the book to be made available in leading book stores like MPH, Kinokuniya, Times, Popular. The Stage Fright Antidote also landed in Kinokuniya bookstore in KL. Step 7: Launch of The Stage Fright Antidote! This is the moment of celebration. I always believe in celebration once I have reached a certain milestone. The Stage Fright Antidote was launched at Bishan Public Library on 8 June 2013 - just a few weeks shy of my birthday. To purchase The Stage Fright Antidote, click here. Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
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Step 3 of "How to Publish a Book: 7-Step Process of how I published The Stage Fright Antidote!"17/3/2014
 The 3rd step is to decide if I were to send my works to a traditional publisher or publish it under my company brand. I have always been inspired by how publishers publish books; and being a hands-on person (and with my previous working experience from the information industry), i would like to explore the publishing process so I can understand how the whole publishing process works.
So I decided to publish it under my company's brand; that means I would have to take the full suite of publishing - which includes getting the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), typesetting, book cover design, editing etc. Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! Step 2 of "How to Publish a Book: 7-Step Process of how I published The Stage Fright Antidote!"25/2/2014
Step 2 of "How to Publish a Book: 10-Step Process of how I published The Stage Fright Antidote!"
Step 2: Naming the book - In between my writings, I toyed with the names of the book. A few came up: 1) Igniting the Stage: Your Guide to Public SPeaking 2) The Pillars of Speaking Confidently 3) Overcoming Stage Frights 4) The Stage Frights Antidote After careful consideration, I decided on "The Stage Fright Antidote!: How to Overcome Public Speaking Jitters using Acting & Theatre Techniques" ... mainly because of the concept that this book can serve as the 'medicine' (ala antidote) to the readers who is suffering from presentation anxiety. Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd Author, The Stage Fright Antidote! "How to Publish a Book: 7-Step Process of how I published The Stage Fright Antidote!" - Part 122/2/2014
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