Why my books are still not in Malaysia and other countries yet

After releasing my first book in late June, my distributor took 1000 copies from me to be distributed to local AND Malaysian bookstores. However after selling another 500 copies by myself through talks and conventions, they STILL have not gotten ANY of my books to Malaysia yet!

WTH!? WHY!?

Because after a bloody long 3 months, they finally told me last Friday that MALAYSIAN BOOKSTORES DO NOT WANT TO ORDER MY BOOKS! The bookstores feel that my books will not sell in Malaysia! The reason being my book is about my experience in Japan and cultural comparisons between Singapore and Japan. So they think nobody in Malaysia is interested to know how life is like at another country, not interested in Singapore and NOT INTERESTED IN JAPAN too!!! Wow, I wonder why there are books about US, Europe, Taiwan, etc. but not mine. Ok, I know...I am a first-time author with no track record, that's why. So of course they don't want my books and needless to say, no book-signing!

Truth be told, a Malaysian publisher wanted to offer me a contract last year but the condition was instead of me comparing between Singapore & Japan, it has to be MALAYSIA & JAPAN. WTH? Sorry, I never stayed long enough in Malaysia to observe the people and country carefully, so it is absolutely not going to be authentic. I believe people like my work because it is original based on my own experience, observation and research.

So to prove them wrong, here are my stats on Facebook:

Around 30% of my fan base is in Singapore and nearly 50% from the rest of S.E.Asian countries. Which means 70% of my fans are based overseas and find my content resonating with them despite coming from another country. I also have some loyal fans from France, Germany, Mexico, Australia and US. My work has a strong INTERNATIONAL appeal because of the cross-cultural aspect and Japanese content. My readers are mainly 1) fans of Japanese culture; 2) have experience interacting with foreigners, especially Japanese; 3) stayed at another country before; or 4) travel often. It is not limited to just Singapore like what many of the publishers and bookstores think. However because the number of likes do not translate to $$$ all the time, so everyone is skeptical if my book will sell and REFUSED to publish my book! (and now proven that foreign bookstores don't want to order too). Some people also questioned if I faked the number of likes, which is pure nonsense because if you have been following my comics for a long time, you know that I always work hard to update new content consistently, never pay for ads, and always do my best to reply to fan comments and questions.

So no publishers, not even LOCAL publishers accepted my proposal. I had 20,000 likes at that time but no publisher wanted to give me a chance! I was devastated because I thought I finally had a good content that people like to read after drawing webcomics for 6 freakin long years while working and studying full-time. I was about to raise money to self-publish until I met one fan from SG Makers who connected me to his investor. He was very moved by my passion so he provided me an interest-free loan with no deadline to pay a publisher to churn out my books first.

And well well well, who would have thought that my new book will become the #1 Weekly bestseller (non-fiction) at Kinokuniya during the first week of release, beating Mindcraft! Now take that publishers! And great thanks to my fans who bought my book! :)

No publisher wanted to give me a chance, I fought and finally got published and my books are selling well in Singapore (BTW my book is out of stock at Kinokuniya, Takashimaya at point of writing). Now I am facing the same problem again, no Malaysian bookstores want to give me a chance.

It is not that I do not want my books to be in Malaysia, but because the bookstores there do not want to order them! So if you want to see my books and have me do book signings, please EMAIL MPH, POPULAR or KINOKUNIYA bookstores to ask if they carry "Eva, Kopi and Matcha" and request them to reserve a copy for you. They need to know that there's a demand. Otherwise my books will not grow legs and run over the causeway to Malaysia (yes they grow legs when you're not watching).

Please BUG them until they say "Yes, yes I will tell the management". So now you know why my books are STILL not in Malaysia.

For fans in other countries like Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Taiwan and US: my books can't grow wings (not even dipping them in Redbull helps). So if no bookstores or distributors in your country want to order my book, my book won't be there. If your country has a Kinokuniya bookstore, please request them to order "Eva, Kopi and Matcha" (ISBN: 978-981-09-1068-6). Alternatively, if you are a publisher and interested to purchase rights from me to publish in your country, please contact me!!!

Here are some selected testimonials:

The complete list of bookstores in Singapore and online stores carrying my books can be found here:
http://www.eva.sg/EN/comics.html

Please help me create another miracle,
email your bookstore now wherever you are
to request that they bring in my book.

ISBN: 978-981-09-1068-6

My heartfelt THANK YOU!!!
Terima Kasih!!!
謝謝!!!
m(_ _)m

P.S. My book is already on

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