2015 Book: "The Life of Place: Spaces, Places and Narratives"

Alhamdulillah, my first edited book has been published together with my colleagues as co-editors and as contributing authors. The book is titled "The Life of Place: Spaces, Places and Narratives". Here's an excerpt of the book synopsis:

The book is a collection of selected case studies predominantly in Malaysia and an international case study in New Zealand that examines people's experiences in public spaces. The public spaces gathered in this book include street markets, parks, historical sites, open spaces, coastal areas and cities. Written from the perspectives of people's experiences and responses towards the selected public spaces, the aim of the book is to share their narratives as users, as a way of guiding designers and planners how they might re-think about engaging with places and people.

The book is divided into two parts. Part I introduces open spaces, parks and the environment. Part II explores more on places and cultural experiences. My own chapter is in Part II on "Mapping Walking Experiences at Street Markets". Most of the contributing authors in this book are my colleagues from Dept. of Landscape Architecture, KAED, IIUM, with two of my other colleagues from Universiti Malaya (UM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).


Some experience to share on publishing this book...

Well, when the faculty members were encouraged to produce a publication in the form of a book or edited book back in 2012, I had thought of putting together a book that compiles studies done locally in Malaysia on people and places. There are numerous book publications out there on this topic, but most of them are from the Western side of the world. We still need a lot more local references so that we don't simply "adopt" findings from other studies without "adapting" them to our local context and culture. So in June 2012, I drafted a "Call for Chapter" with a brief synopsis of the book based on the title. Together with my co-editors, we managed to get five other authors who were interested in submitting a chapter. Nine chapters in total, sufficient enough to become a book.

Authors were given 3 months to submit their chapters. Then the manuscript was sent to an external reviewer who was an academician from another university. From the reviewer's comments and feedback, the chapters were returned back to the authors for correction and improvement. Then onward, the editors went through the chapters several more times to make sure that everything was alright before it was sent back to IIUM Press. This process went on for another 6 months before IIUM Press gave us the typeset manuscript. The book publication process went on for another year or so throughout 2013 and mid 2014 (considering that they have many many other books that are also in-press). Near the end of 2014, I was finally called back by IIUM Press to have a final look at the book mock-up and confirmation that it's final. And after a couple of months, in early March just last month, the book has already been printed and ready for pick up and sales at the IIUM Bookshop.

5 lessons that I've learned from this particular book publication process:

1. Being an editor is a lot of work. We want to make sure that the chapters are in line with the book theme. Editors also needs to work in line with the publisher's requirements, consider the comments from the reviewer, and also to communicate with the authors. Would I become an editor again? Definitely, YES, In shaa Allah :)

2. Publishing a book will (might) take a couple of years. This is from the point when we do a 'call for chapter' until seeing the finished published book in its physical form ready for the market. So bare in mind, a manuscript today does not mean a published book next month (but if you do know a publisher that is that fast, do let me know).

3. Images need to be in high resolution. If they are going to be printed in black and white, then ensure that the images are visible when they become gray scale. This is something that we've overlooked as we thought that the pages with images were going to be in colour. But fret not, they are still visible and legible.

4. Tell people about the book. In today's day and age, we cannot expect the book to magically promote itself off the shelf. What more if we are still new in the writing field among the many established scholars. While getting book royalty is a bonus or icing on the cake (after hundreds copies of the book are sold, that is), I believe that sharing the knowledge in it is our utmost priority as academics and researchers.

5. Writing and publishing is definitely a delayed gratification. Since the process usually takes many months and years, we (read: I) have to keep the motivation and energy to keep writing and editing. It's truly a joy to hold a physical book as a product.

All in all, it was a great learning experience.

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Get a copy of The Life of Place: Spaces, Places and Narratives from the IIUM Bookshop.