The Singapore Report
Hello everyone,
I’m currently sitting in Changi airport drinking a Thai milk tea, waiting another hour-and-a-half before I can have a shower in the lounge and then another hour or so before I board my flight.
Since Thursday last week I’ve been here in Singapore, primarily to exhibit at the Singapore Art Book Fair and, to be honest, it’s a mixed bag of a report.
Sales wise, the fair was an average result. I sold 26 books over three days, which is 2 books above my one-book-per-hour metric. However, given that this is an international location and I’m here once per year, I think that this was slightly disappointing and I would have been pretty stoked if I’d sold 30 books. Additionally, 6-7 books sold on the last day at a large discount, which cut profit by about $100, which isn’t huge, but does matter.
Singapore, as a market, is incredibly price sensitive - and realistically, the books I produce, while fairly prices for Australia and affordable by European and US standards, give Singaporeans a bit of sticker shock. I noticed this last year, and was hopeful that new titles would provide good value and customers here would respond. And they did, just not quite with as many purchases as I would have liked.
Overall, I sold about $1200 worth of books. However, I don’t have the exact figure because some of the cash I took in payments I spent on food, a book purchase and paying an invoice. However I’m confident I cleared $1200. That covered my airfare, accommodation and food, so I haven’t lost money, but earning money back isn’t really a living, is it?
Outside of the sales, though, there were positives.
I dropped off a stack of books to a local store I work with, shipping doesn’t quite work for them, but they are always happy to take books when someone passes through Singapore
I met with a printer we’ll use for a book next year AND had the cost of the book reduced. This was really advantagenous.
Today (Monday) the organisers of the Singapore Art Book Fair arranged for those of us from out-of-town to go on a city wide art tour - I visited art studios, a great printer, had a lovely lunch, etc - it was a good time.
So, overall, while I wish I’d had another 4-10 books sold, we did ok, and there was certainly enough other fun stuff that made it interesting.
Still, though, I feel a bit nervous and - in fact - today is probably the first nervous feelings I’ve had since I started this experimental phase.
I feel nervous because I look at the looking bills: deposits for book printing, payments for design work, air conditioners that need fixing, and I look at my savings and I want a bit more cash in the bank to cover these expenses. I can pay for them, but it’s the case where money is going out fast and coming in slow.
At the same time, my workshops have sold out, I have a bunch of invoices that are getting paid this week or next and I definitely will sell SOME books over the next few weeks in Paris and Taipei. So I don’t want to give in to my worrisome thoughts wholeheartedly. Additionally, when I return to Australia, I can certainly do fill in teaching work in December and then in February/March which is looking necessary to add some more cushion financially speaking.
We also announced our open call - which is our open submission for book projects which runs once every two years. This is also something where people have to pay a submission fee and will likely also net me some additional income, which is nice too, so perhaps things aren’t all that bad, or worrying.
Also, for some reason, I’m feeling a bit homesick. I still have three, or really almost four, weeks of traveling and I know I’ll enjoy it, but sitting in the airport, after sweating for a week straight, I kind of just want to head home, have a cold shower, eat something healthy and relax. Instead I have a red eye flight to Europe (and then I can relax, of course).
I find it hard writing about some of the tougher things because I’ve found people rush to reassure or respond, and I understand that, but it’s actually not why I write about the feelings of being a bit low or a bit worried. I write about those things to explore what’s going on and how I feel, and to share clearly. So please don’t feel that I’m sharing some cry for help: I’m very much not. I just want to share some of the ups and downs.
As mentioned above: Tall Poppy Press recently announced an open call. We’re looking for proposals for book projects and will select two to fund. If you, a friend or someone you know might be a good fit please pass this along. We’re looking potentially to expand what we do into another visual art medium, so please don’t feel restricted to just photography.
Till next week,
Matt