SG Book Deals: Books Box Sale 2017

Hey guys! Guess what! SG Book Deals’s Books Box Sale is back for another year!

This is the third year that they are holding this glorious book sale and if you live in Singapore or will be in Singapore between the 4th to the 13th of August, you should check it out because this is the book sales of all book sales.

What will happen is that you will be given a huge box. You will then be able to pack in as many books as you possibly can. Once you’re done, you just go up to the counter and pay $50 for your giant box of books and you’re done.

How many books you take home completely depends on your packing skills and the size of the books you pick.

I remember I took home so many books last year that I couldn’t even count them.

Books Box Sale 2017 (Public Sale)

Date: 4-13 Aug 2017

Mon-Fri: 1pm-6pm

Sat, Sun, PH: 10am-6pm

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Free Books for Students:

This year, in an attempt to get people into the habit of reading, SG Book Deals is giving away 100 books per day to students. You can get one book per student and it can be redeemed using your student pass.

Book Genres You Can Get:

• Adult Fiction
• Young Adult Fiction
• Baby & Toddler
• Early readers for children
• Intermediate readers for children
• Activity/Novelty books for children
• Non‐Fiction
• Self‐improvement
• Business
• Health & Wellness
• Parenting
• Crafts & Hobbies
• National Geographic
• Cookbooks
• History
•  Music
• Academic
• Christian

For more information, you can visit their socials here:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SGBookDeals
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sgbookdeals

I will be down for the sale and I hope to see you guys there!

Guest Post: Putting the Readers Back in Charge of Publishing

Imagine a YA publishing process without gatekeepers.  One where editors and agents read the manuscripts that readers love, not vice versa.  One where anyone with a knack for writing, a passion to succeed, and a little flair for self-promotion, has a fair shot at being published.

All too frequently, this isn’t the case.  Books often get rejected for reasons beyond authors’ control.  One editor turned down an ultimately successful book by saying, “The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the ‘curiosity’ level.”  The book in question?  The Diary of Anne Frank.  Furthermore, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only about 10% of all YA books accepted for publication feature “multi-cultural content.”  Clearly, there are some blind spots that need addressing in the publishing industry.

It’s with this vision in mind that Publishizer is launching its YA book proposal contest called Plot Without a Cause.  Publishizer is a startup seeking to fill a hole in the publishing industry through crowdfunding.  It works like this:

You write the book proposal.  You know the book proposal I’m talking about.  The one you’ve been daydreaming about for years.  The one that just popped into your head last week and you haven’t stopped thinking about since.  The one for the manuscript that’s been dearly loved by you but maybe not so much yet by the publishing industry.  That one.  Then you register (for free!) on Publishizer’s website and post your proposal in the Plot Without a Cause section (again—for free!).

Now this is when you’ll have to start hustling.  Crowdfunding runs on pre-orders, so you had better start promoting that proposal.  Reach out over social media, post on your blog, email your old roommates—whatever it takes to start building buzz.  If you get the most preorders by the time the contest ends, you’ll win $1000 dollars.  And if you don’t have the highest number of preorders, don’t worry—you’ll still be queried to major publishers who fit your proposal.

Previous Publishizer contest participants have gotten interest and landed deals with a variety of traditional publishing companies, including Harvard Square Books, She Writes Press, and Weiser.  Publishizer takes a small commission on pre-orders when you choose a publisher at the end.

Every year, thousands of books are rejected by the publishing world for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book—they’re too mainstream or not mainstream enough, too similar to books already being published or too different from books already being published.  Or the literary agent just doesn’t stand to make much money on the deal so they pass on a perfectly good book!  Imagine how many brilliant YA manuscripts go unpublished every year thanks to frustrating rejections.  Imagine how many hugely talented authors quietly give up on their dreams, just because the gate to a traditional publishing path isn’t open to them.

With their new YA book proposal contest, Plot Without a Cause, Publishizer is seeking to level the playing field.  Publishing decisions shouldn’t be based solely on a literary agent’s judgement or how many friends you have in the industry. They should be based on quality of writing and how many readers the book attracts.

Great books get overlooked all the time, and this is an opportunity to show acquiring editors that yours is worth paying attention to.  Not to mention the readership and funds you could gain in the process.  Crowdfunding (or crowd-publishing, in this case) is growing in popularity and brings a personal touch back to book sales—for readers and publishers.  Are you in?

Product Review + Exclusive Discount: Maccessories MacBook Skins

Hi guys! Happy Friday!

Last week, I finally got my new MacBook Pro. I’ve had my old MacBook for about five years and it was getting very slow. So I decided to upgrade before I started university.

Of course, me being me, I had to deck out my laptop in some cool gear to personalise it. My old MacBook had a pink hard case and stickers. However, I was determined to make sure that this Mac looked like something a university student should be carrying.

I knew that I wanted something with a marble sort of design. Marble is very in right now and it looks gorgeous as well as professional. I also needed something that would protect my computer considering that I would be putting it in a bag every day and using it in class and in my dorm room. I am really not the gentlest of people with my things.

During my hunt for the perfect way to decorate as well as protect my MacBook, I got an email from Maccessories letting me know that they had a whole new set of skins for MacBooks. They invited me to check them out.

When I got on their site, I was blown away by the number of choices I had in front of me. They have so many designs to choose from. I struggled so hard to pick one guys. I’m not even kidding.

If you are searching for a unique way to deck out your Mac, this is completely where you should go.

What I Thought Of It

I put the skin on my laptop immediately after receiving it and I have to say, it was the easiest thing to do.

I am the clumsiest person ever and I can usually never get these things right without leaving at least five bubbles but for some reason, this just ended up sliding on perfectly.

Now one of my biggest concerns with moving from a hard case to a skin was the fact that I was worried it would not protect my computer as well as a proper snap on case.

Admittedly, the skin does not protect the bottom of my laptop and if I were to hit it against something accidentally, I’m pretty sure my laptop will still get dented. But, it does protect against scratches and dirt which is perfect for me and how I will be using my Mac.

I’m not totally secure in how safe it is just yet but so far, my laptop has been very safe and scratch free. Not to mention gorgeous and light.

Another perk of switching over to a skin is how light it is compared to a hard case. I really enjoy knowing that my computer is protected but that I don’t need to lug around a laptop that is twice its weight simply because of a case.

Finally, the shipping was lighting quick. I was so surprised when I saw it in my mailbox just a couple of days later. Usually things take about one to two weeks to get to Singapore so this was an incredible feat in itself.

Overall, while I’m not entirely sold on how well this skin will help me should I drop my laptop, I am very pleased with how well it has managed to avoid scratches. It’s kept my Mac looking amazing and I am very excited to be carrying it around campus in a couple of weeks.

Exclusive Discount

And now comes the fun part. The part where you get perks for simply being one of my readers (and making it to the end of this).

Maccessories is giving you guys a 15% discount! All you have to do is enter the code 23pages when you checkout an item. Yes, you’re welcome.

*The product was sent over to me for free. However, all opinions are my own.*

What’s Up Wednesday: I’m Back + Life Updates

Hey guys! It’s been a minute hasn’t it?

As most of you might know, I basically vanished for the last three or so months. I stopped blogging to a large extent and I stopped replying emails related to the blog (I’m so sorry. I’m working on catching up now).

I promised you that I would update you as to why I disappeared and so here it is as well as a couple of life updates so you can catch up.

1. My Internship + The Scholarship

I have spent the last six months working towards a scholarship. As many of you will know, I want to be a journalist and I’ve dreamt of working at Singapore’s national newspaper ever since I was 14.

So I was applying for the Singapore Press Holdings scholarship. It is an incredible scholarship that I have been eyeing for many years. I submitted my application in January and by March, I had passed the writing test and the first interview.

There was just an internship at The Straits Times, an appraisal and a final interview left.

So I started at The Straits Times in March. I was in Digital for five weeks and then I moved to News till I quit on June 16.

It was the most intense three months of my life. While getting to be published in our national newspaper was so incredible, the hours were often very tough. I never knew what time I would end so I could never make plans. I would frequently end at 11:30pm and I really had no life.

My weekends were spent making up for lost time with my family and friends and I had little time for much less including reading and blogging.

In the end, I was told through a short email that I hadn’t made the cut for the scholarship. This was a huge blow after working so incredibly hard and for so long for it.

However, I believe that everything happens for a reason.

I spent the day crying and then the next day, I went back to work. I still remember how drained I was. Like all the fight had left me. It didn’t seem possible that after working so hard and throwing myself completely into the internship, I had still fallen short. Don’t they tell you that you get what you work for? I worked so incredibly hard.

My future was hanging by a thread. I was supposed to get the scholarship and that scholarship was supposed to fund my education in the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Without it, everything would be very dicey.

Of course it didn’t help that an editor who I didn’t know very well, decided to sit me down and tell me that I would never make it as a journalist and that I should quit while I was ahead.

Remember that scene in Gilmore Girls where Mitchum Huntzberger tells Rory that he doesn’t think she “has what it takes.” to pursue journalism? Yes. It happened exactly like that and I felt exactly the way Rory did because I too have been working to be a journalist for what feels like my whole life.

So I went back to work the next day. I was going to tell my boss that I was going to quit by the end of the week. But then an email came in from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). I had somehow, by God’s grace, gotten accepted into their English programme.

Instantly, my whole life fell into place before my eyes. A year of stress and worry just melted away.

So I, who always makes very calculated decisions, jumped headlong into what has been the biggest decision of my life. I accepted the offer the next day and extended my internship by another three weeks and all was right in the world.

2. Starting University

So now, I’m on the cusp of starting a four year degree at NTU. I will be studying English and I hope to minor in Communications Studies as well. I start on the 31st of July.

As a reader, you can imagine how thrilled I am that I will be in a course where I will be studying language and books and authors. It’s truly perfect for me.

As for becoming a journalist, I still intend to do that. I’m still freelancing with Popspoken and I intend to continue as a journalist after I graduate. The opinion of one person is not going to push me off my path. I truly feel that I have what it takes to be a journalist and I love it more then anything so yes, I have taken his criticism and I have taken out what I felt was useful. But the thing is, no one is born into a career.

Lawyers become lawyers through law school. Doctors become doctors through medical school. No one is born a lawyer or a doctor or a journalist. You get there by working yourself to the damn bone.

If you aren’t struggling, you aren’t growing and you aren’t getting better.

3. I graduated

Yup! I graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic finally! Here are some shots from that day:

That’s it for now folks. By the way, if you want to read the articles that I’ve been writing during my hiatus, you can access them here.