I sat in on the call, painfully listening to him share about his agency’s efforts to do a commemorative book for their big anniversary. They had been trying to find a writer, a publisher, a printer, but none of this seemed easy to do.
Their writer seemed lacking in terms of turning over a good manuscript. And the project coordination for publishing, seem out of touch with the actual realities of the job.
What could he do?
Well, short of entrusting us with the custom, published work, here’s what I would suggest.
Why are you doing this?
Let’s take for example Allkin, who entrusted us with their mental wellness book in July 2024. They were clear that the book was to:
- Give young adults practical handles, knowing that a lot of mental health information was often stuck in complex technicalities, or it was too simple to make sense of.
- Use within their mental health groups.
After 6 hard months of work, we finally completed it, and it was launched to great aplomb with President Tharman, at the new Allkin centre.
If you don’t know why you’re doing this, you won’t start with the right specs. You would either over-complicate things, or you might just underestimate the time taken for these projects.
Don’t get the people who just treat it as a printing job
As much as you might think designers and writers are passionate about their craft, there are many who just treat it as a job. Over and over again, we heard many talk about just how difficult it was for them to work with custom publishers like Partridge, who took their $1870, and then printed their book.
There was not much editing, structuring. It was just
give me your money, and let’s print it.
Find the publishers who can actually ideate and conceptualize
Custom publishing is not just printing. It’s actually trying to understand the ideas you have, and building something useful from it.
Take one of the first books we did, for social workers. We wrote out some ideas, but had to think of how best to present it in a way that would make it sticky, and good.
Take this idea of a feedback loop. The concept was simple, but showing it wasn’t. Writing is easy.
Thinking isn’t.
And what you’re paying your custom publisher for. To think.
| Agency | Pros | Cons | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gutenhag |
Youngest agency on the block with 4 years of publishing experience Has done for clients like ASTAR, Mac-Nels Has in-house designers | Might be less experienced than the rest |
Starts from 8k for publishing and printing 300 books, without design Will cost $18k with design and writing |
| The Nutgraf |
Biggest agency with 20+ staff Trained as journalists, and with big hitter experience like PM Lee | Starts from 30k for writing and printing, without design | |
| Word Image | 3 decades of experience publishing for Ethos Books | Might be more selective because of his lower energy levels | Starts from 8k for publishing |
| Write Editions | 2 decades of experience publishing | Starts from 20k for writing and eventual book printing |
Gutenhag Books for their value for money, great thinking skills and ability to ship
This is us. And far from just touting our own horn, we want to show you what we’ve done.
In 2022, I was approached with a strange proposition. Would I want to ghostwrite a book for a CEO? I was broke then. I had been going to the Coworking space everyday, tendering for strange projects, and hoping that someone, anyone, would give me a chance.
This CEO did. And over the next 3 years, we followed him across his conferences, warehouses, just to understand how the shipping industry worked. We didn’t know what would happen, but we wanted to do our best.
And so when the book eventually came out, we were very proud of it.
Take another book we did, most recently for ASTAR’s GUSTO. When we did the 15th Year Anniversary Book, we were stunned by the final visuals that came out. It was kudos to the team, who worked hard at suggesting ideas and graphics. They were involved in every way.
Hoe Fang from Word Image
I love Hoe Fang, and he has helped me so much as a publisher.
One thing I love about him is how he’s unselfish. He’s given me 2 projects so far, without asking for any money in return. Having been the founder of Ethos Press, the people behind prime bestsellers like You Yenn’s books, you know that he’s someone who’s experienced with the biggest of projects.
Don’t miss him with Word Image.
Write Editions with ChinKar, especially for healthcare
Another experienced hand in the field is Chin Kar, who has published multimedia projects for multiple big brands, like hospitals. He was the one behind the COVID book, introduced by the hospitals to celebrate their years of fighting COVID.
What I love about ChinKar is how encouraging he is.
One thing you might want to note though – he has a high bar for content, and wouldn’t just take any run of the mill project.
For example, you can see from the above that he’s done many books in the healthcare, social care, and mental health sector. That’s his expertise, and what I’d encourage you to look for.
Nutgraf Books if you’ve the budget to spare
Now, we have to give it up for the biggest of them all, Nutgraf Books.
Hear Nutgraf talk, and you’d quickly know that they are doing very well, primarily because of their connections as journalists. Just look at the big hitters they have brought in, and one would know that they aren’t just here to play.
They are here to make meaningful content, that makes a lot of money too.
They can do you a great custom publishing job, but it might just set you back by quite a lot. My advice? Go with the cheaper ones, unless you’re very sure you’ve a lot of money to spend.
Choose the ones that you vibe with
Over the years, as we’ve gotten more and more work, and seen more clients, we’ve come to see that the ones that come to great conclusions and outcomes are those where there are quick alignments with each other.
I like to think that we’re different because we’re better at repairing difficult relationships with clients. That skill hasn’t come about easily. In fact, we’ve had to go for multiple sessions with Tong Yee, learning just how to handle conflict, before I was able to do this.
Take the time when we had a client chuck out the whole work that we’d done, and constantly critique us for the work. I had to go there, apologise, and address the pain she’d felt.
We repaired the relationship.
But eventually we also knew we were not a good fit for her. And we moved on. Finding the right custom publisher for you is about learning how to find a good partner. Use more of that energy, and you would go further.