Short answer: I wanted the book to have a global reach.
Here's the long answer:Pukul Habis was ready in early 2020 - pre-COVID. Before the pandemic shut down air travel, I had planned to fly to Bangkok to meet my publisher for what is called pre-press. These are the steps taken as a manuscript (usually a Word document) goes through final editing and layout before it is made ready for printing.
It was a go/no-go decision because Thailand signalled that it was tightening border controls. Many of you may remember those chaotic times in the first half of 2020.
Why Bangkok? Printing services are cheaper there. And my publisher offered to bring the manuscript to life for a friendship price. He's not a Thai national. He moved to Southeast Asia in the 1970s as a war correspondent to cover the war in Cambodia and has stayed there ever since.
He's an old hand in the publishing business. Met him twice in person in Bangkok pre-COVID. Under his guidance, I learned a lot about how books go through pre-press, how they are printed, marketed and sold.
When I couldn't go to Bangkok, I assessed his advice and decided that the traditional model - print the books, ship to the market, sell in a bookshop - would not work during the pandemic. Remember that this was during the height of the pandemic when businesses were forced to close and there were widespread restrictions on non-essential movements. In early 2020, nobody knew when these restrictions would end; we were warned it could take years.
So based on his advice and what I knew about the book trade, I went to Plan B. Amazon would print, marlet and distribute the book through its global network. Amazon is the world's biggest book seller and I wanted to leverage this global reach. Amazon's website gives the new war story a global shop window.
Brick and mortar
Without COVID, the book would have been printed in Bangkok. Printing a book needs an upfront cost, and we would have to decide how many to print. Small print run = higher cost per copy. Large print run lowers the unit cost but comes at a risk: what if nobody buys the book? You could be stuck with possibly thousands of unsold books.
That pallet of books would then be flown (expensive!) or sent by truck to Singapore (cheaper but need to factor in transport time for the journey). You would need a warehouse to store the pallet. You would need a transport service to send the books to the bookstore. By that time, the publisher would have negotiated with the bookstore to allow the book to be sold at its chains. Bookstores charge a high percentage: I heard it is a double-digit percentage of the book's cover price, and this would erode margins or result in higher cost per book for the reader.
That's not the end of the story for physical sales.
Bookstores sell books from various publishers on a consignment basis. This means the publisher takes all the risks for damaged or unsold books. If a book cannot be sold because it is torn or if the pages are damaged, then the bookstore simply returns the books to the publisher.
Before COVID, my goal was to see Pukul Habis sold at the Kinokuniya bookstore in Ngee Ann City in Singapore - which is my default bookstore when I am in the mood to browse and buy. Kino at Ngee Ann City was my pre-COVID gold standard.
It would have been nice to have a stack of books in the store. It would have been great to be able to do a book signing to meet you all. With the advantage of hindsight, and having seen the warm reception on Amazon Singapore, I think the stock of books would have been cleared out fairly quickly.
My Bangkok publisher could sell the books via his website and mail worldwide. But who would know the book even exists? Which means that apart from a very niche audience of military nuts like youselves, and random netizens who chance upon this blog kementah.blogspot.com, Pukul Habis would fall below the radar of countless readers who love war fiction.
Amazon changed the game. It has given the brand new novel a global stage which allows readers outside Malaysia and Singapore to consider if it is worth reading about.
Despite ongoing news reports and stories of a real war raging in Ukraine, and with competition from established authors who tend to write about wars in familiar places, Pukul Habis appears to have caught the attention of readers. Here's how it ranked yesterday for War Fiction New Releases on Amazon's global store (NOT just Amazon Singapore's sales):
I am grateful to all of you who, despite the abundance of choices in war fiction, have decided to give a story on the admittedly niche subject of an unthinkable Malaysian-Singapore war a chance to land in your hands. Much thanks!
Do enjoy the story. Pace yourself once the shooting starts.
How to get Pukul Habis:
Singapore: Get it from Amazon Singapore click here. Or at the Amazon site that serves your location.