The Singapore Word Slingers Are Recruiting!

What Are We?

We are a mutual aid society for serious writers who want to get published. Ideally, you should already be working on your manuscript or have already completed your manuscript.

We Are A Human Library

If you are already working on your manuscript, then you should know the difficulties writers face when they need to do research for certain characters or professions. Suppose you need to write a scene where a security guard chances upon a crime in progress but you have absolutely no idea what security guards do at work? So what could you do to flesh out the character and the scene?

You could go pavement pounding and hope to run into a friendly security guard who might be willing to answer your questions. Or, if you are in a mutual aid society for writers, you could pose your question to your fellow group members. One of them might be a security guard or somebody might know enough about security work to answer your questions.

Or maybe you need to write a realistic fight scene for your protagonist. If you are not a martial artist yourself, you could go watch a Jackie Chan movie and prescribe flashy and unrealistic moves for your protagonist. Or, if you are in a mutual aid society for writers, you could interview fellow group members who do practice martial arts in real life.

There you go. A Human Library.

And A Marketing Team

What’s the point of a marketing team?

Well, if your manuscript has already been picked up by Penguin Random House, then you have nothing to worry about. But if you are considering self-publication, then you will have to worry about marketing. How are you going to get exposure without an established company backing you?

Since this is a mutual aid society for writers, members will be obligated to lend each other a hand. If a fellow member is having his debut, then you can lend a hand. Write a review and share it on your blog. Tweet it on Twitter. Share links on Facebook. Gather friends for the book launch.

And when it is your turn, the others will do the same for you.

For this reason, members will be expected to regularly maintain their blogs and social media accounts.

How Do We Function?

What is it that writers do? We observe Life and we write.

So we will be holding regular themed meetings that will allow members to observe multiple facets of Life through each other’s experiences. What it means is that we will select a theme for the meeting and invite members to participate in the discussion.

For example, a themed meeting like “Memorable Holiday Experiences” will allow members who have traveled overseas to share their holiday stories and members who haven’t (traveled overseas) can experience moments of life in countries they have never visited before.

Why is this important, you ask?

Because unless you are a technical writer, you will need a rich life experience from which you can draw ideas from. But at the same time, it is unrealistic to spend all that time and money to travel to Paris (if you haven’t already been there) just because you want to include one romantic Eiffel Tower scene in your romance novel.

So you make do with what limited resources you have. For example, the Human Library in the mutual aid society.

So Join Us!

Membership is free! Being in this group means your fellow members won’t charge you a single cent for promoting your book or critiquing your manuscript.

If you are interested, send me an email. My address is guardsgonewild@gmail.com.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Because our meetings will take place in meatspace, we are currently only recruiting members who reside in or who can travel to Singapore.

Loh Teck Yong

 

WANTED: Feature Writers Or Reviewers For Book About Security Guards

Hi, I am seeking some book reviewers or feature writers for my self-published book, Guards Gone Wild!.

It is a memoir of my experiences in the private security industry. There’s plenty to tell. Scams perpetrated by security agencies and guards. Intense confrontations with delinquents and work colleagues. Funny moments to make you laugh and frustrating moments that made me cry. And so on and so forth.

The short stories in my book also answer some questions that may help reduce conflicts between security guards and the general public. Why are some shopping malls are more popular with delinquents than others? Why do security guards get cranky when customers want to enter the department store at the very last minute? Are security guards overworked? What are the negative effects of sleep deprivation? The answers to these questions and more can be found in my book.

If you have an active blog or social media accounts, I would greatly appreciate it if you are interested in writing a feature article or review for my book. You can send an email to me at guardsgonewild@gmail.com.

In return, I will give you a free signed copy of Guards Gone Wild! and, if you are a published author too, I will gladly write a feature article or review for your book as well.

This free book offer is limited to residents of Singapore only as I am too poor to mail multiple packages to overseas destinations.

Loh Teck Yong

Guards Gone Wild! Is Now Available At LocalBooks.sg!

Hi guys! Just want to let you all know that my book, Guards Gone Wild!, is now available at LocalBooks.sg.

The book is a memoir of my experiences in the private security industry. There’s plenty to tell. Scams perpetrated by security agencies and guards. Intense confrontations with delinquents and work colleagues. Funny moments to make you laugh and frustrating moments that made me cry. And so on and so forth.

But I don’t want you to just laugh or cry along with me. In order to reduce conflicts between security guards and the general public, I think there are some serious questions that need to be asked.

For example, why are some shopping malls more popular with delinquents than others? Why do security guards get cranky when customers want to enter the department store at the very last minute? Are security guards overworked? What are the negative effects of sleep deprivation? The answers to these questions and more can be found in my book.

A copy costs S$20 before GST. Shipping within Singapore is FREE for all orders delivered via SingPost. For international shipments, shipping fees is a flat rate of $20.

Loh Teck Yong

This Is How I Am Thanking My Friends & Supporters

My book, Guards Gone Wild!, is currently available for sale via Select Books’ web store. It’s the only book store carrying my book at the moment.

However, after encouraging my friends to purchase my book via their web store, I have heard complaints about the steep delivery and shipping fees the store is charging. And I feel bad about this.

Therefore, before I can get another online web store to retail my book, one that specializes in fulfilling international orders, you can purchase Guards Gone Wild! directly from me. After consulting the post office, I have found out that:

The shipping fee for one copy of my book from Singapore to Zone 1 (Malaysia & Brunei) is S$5.80.

The shipping fee for one copy of my book from Singapore to Zone 2 (Countries in Asia & the Pacific. Except for Australia, Japan & New Zealand) is S$9.45.

The shipping fee for one copy of my book from Singapore to Zone 3 (Countries in the rest of the world, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Africa, America, Europe and the Middle East) is S$12.55.

If you are residing within Singapore, then you are in luck. Delivery within Singapore is free, because I will personally cover local delivery costs.

However, all this is a limited time offer. I will continue to personally fulfill both local and international orders until I can get another web store to carry my book.

My book is currently retailing for S$20 per copy. If you wish to purchase a copy, send me an email at guardsgonewild@gmail.com.

Loh Teck Yong

My Books Have Arrived!

500 printed copies of Guards Gone Wild! arrived at my flat on Tuesday.

These aren’t mockup copies! They are the real deal!

This is what 500 books look like. I stacked them up pretty good, huh? I even set Care Bears to guard them.

The bear on your left is Wish Bear, one of the original Care Bears. On the right, we have Good Luck Bear, another original Care Bear.

Why Wish Bear and Good Luck Bear? Well, Wish Bear because my Wish to become a published writer just came true. And Good Luck Bear was there to bless me with good luck.

Loh Teck Yong

 

 

This Is My Book

This is my book! There are many like it but this one is mine!

Yes, okay, I stole the quote from Full Metal Jacket.

And this is just a mock up copy of the book cover. But as you can see, my name is on the cover so this book is really mine!

And this is the blurb that appears on the back cover. Do you like it?

And check out my author’s bio too!

This is just a mock up copy but the actual copies will be printed really soon. Keep watching my blog. When Guards Gone Wild! gets published, I will brag about it here.

Loh Teck Yong

A New Chapter For My Book?

* The above image is from Quid Pro Quills.

So, I am already back from my job interview. It’s 1.35 a.m. in Singapore right now so technically, I am talking about the interview I attended yesterday.

It went well but, on the other hand, it didn’t.

It went well because I got the job the moment I walked in. I was told to fill in an employee form and that’s that.

They even offered me a salary that’s higher than I had expected.

So why, did I say, it didn’t go well when seen from another angle?

That’s because I was so nervous during the interview that I just signed everywhere they told me to, without reading carefully.

Well… That wouldn’t be as dangerous as some of you might think. The security agencies here use the same format for their employee forms and contracts. More or less.

There’s more. It was only after I left the office when I discovered that I never did receive my copy of the employment contract. Nowadays, most agencies do hand a copy of the employment contract to their employees. Maybe it’s not the practice of this particular agency? I checked their background on the internet, and according to their webpage, they were established back in 1970s. That might explain their way of doing things. Some of the agencies I worked for between 1999 and 2003 never did give me copies of my employment contract either.

But because I don’t have a copy of the contract and because I don’t recall signing anything that says how much I should be paid, I am worried.

Still, I did manage to wrangle a promise (verbal) from the manager to pay me weekly advances. $200 per week. Payable every Tuesday. So we will know next Tuesday if they are honorable and honest.

The job seems easy and will allow me to write on the job so I will gamble a bit.

I am also a little excited. Like what if they go back on their word and refuse to pay me my weekly advance? Wouldn’t that give me the opportunity to “promote” the agency on the internet? Guards Gone Wild! is basically a whistle-blower’s account of the the security industry. It’s unpublished because it has been rejected by the publishers in Singapore but if something like an agency scamming my pay comes to light, that might give me the chance to turn around and tell those publishers:

“See? I did say more people need to know about the scams going on in this industry. That way, less people will get cheated.”

And my book gains a new chapter.

Loh Teck Yong