No cheap shorts
Local writers are publishing shorter works instead of full-length books, some of them homemade
By Akshita Nanda
The future of Singapore literature may well be short and sweet.
Rather than bring out full-length books of poetry and prose, writers and local publishers are now publishing more new work in chapbooks of 40 to 60 pages.
The length of a typical chapter - hence the name - chapbooks have traditionally been the 'singles' of the literary world, a quick and cheap way for poets and writers to bring out short new works or give teasers of longer books. Many are clearly homemade, hand-bound and stapled, such as comics artist Troy Chin's prose collection Trinkets From Another Life, which he self-published in October last year and sells for $4 each at local bookstores.
Local publishers, however, are now printing chapbooks as professionally designed and printed volumes that are complete in themselves and do not herald longer works. These chapbooks cost between $1.50 and $6 to print and distribute and are sold at between $10 and $18 each, compared with $20 to $30 for a full-length book.
At least 15 chapbooks of prose and poetry, designed and printed professionally, have been brought out over the past year by publishers Math Paper Press, Landmark Books and Ethos Books.
Math Paper Press, run by indie bookstore Books Actually co-founder Kenny Leck, leads the way with 10 volumes from established and new Singapore writers under the Babette's Feast series. The volumes cost $10 each, range from 48 to 100 pages and are usually sourced from writers who attend regular literary sessions at the bookshop in Tiong Bahru. About 1,000 copies were printed of each chapbook.
The idea is to raise awareness of Singapore literature by releasing new titles regularly, says Mr Leck, 33, who is launching another eight chapbooks this year.
'People think that there is no demand for local fiction. But there has to be impact. There has to be a certain amount of titles coming out for people to take notice,' he says.
Publishers Fong Hoe Fang of Ethos Books and Goh Eck Kheng of Landmark Books are also bringing chapbooks out for this same reason: if their writers do not yet have a book in them, they certainly have enough for a chapbook.
Ethos Books published a chapbook of poetry by Kirpal Singh last March, titled Shar(e)d Humanity, and another, Ajar, by writer Grace Chia in October.
Mr Fong, 58, says: 'Dr Singh, who is one of the earlier writers in Singapore, has been writing off and on, but his schedule has been very busy and a full collection of his poetry would take some time. So we thought that a chapbook for him would be useful.' He printed about 100 copies that were given to the writer to distribute and sell at literary events.
Ajar, however, was a free teaser for Chia's new collection, which will be published in June this year. Her last collection Womango was published in 1998, so Mr Fong thought a chapbook was necessary to 'reintroduce her' to readers. He printed 50 copies, all of which have been given away.
Mr Goh of Landmark Books published three chapbooks of poetry in October last year, two from established poet Heng Siok Tian and one fromwriter Angeline Yap. Each is fewer than 50 pages long.
'The important thing is to focus on quality instead of quantity. I would rather have them publish fewer poems of a higher quality than the other way around,' says Mr Goh, 57.
Heng's 28-page Is My Body A Myth retails at $14.98 and the 48-page Mixing Tongues at $17.12. Yap's 48-page Closing My Eyes To Listen costs $17.12.
Mr Goh says the prices are justified, as the books are about the same length as other volumes of poetry he has published. He does not think lowering prices will win new customers.
'You either want these volumes or you don't. We are addressing a market that wants Singapore poetry,' he says.
He is confident that there will be demand and has printed about 800 copies of each title.
While he could not supply sales figures yet, readers seem to be willing to buy the $10 volumes from Math Paper Press: Christine Chia's family psychodrama, The Law Of Second Marriages, has sold over 500 copies since it was printed last year, while writer Alvin Pang's $10 compilation of fiction What Gives Us Our Names has sold 300 copies in the same time.
Pang, 40, was a firm believer in chapbooks long before Math Paper Press published his work. In 2002, he paid a local publisher to print a short collection of his poems, Other Things. Over the last decade, he gave away or sold those 1,000 copies at literary gatherings here and overseas, and for up to $10 each. 'People are more willing to pay $10 for a chapbook than $20 for a collection,' he says.
He will publish at least three more chapbooks before considering anything longer. 'It may take five years to do a book but in between, you have enough material that your audience is willing to pay for,' he says.
'I have at least three chapbooks worth of work done. They don't belong together in the same book but as three chapbooks, they would be pretty coherent.'
akshitan@sph.com.sg
All titles mentioned in this article are available at Books Kinokuniya and Books Actually.
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