My daughter thinks her mother is cool to be an author. Apparently, none of her classmates’ parents has the same profession. The truth is: There is barely any local competition. The reason is: Unless you are publishing assessment books, you can’t make a living out of writing books in Singapore. Being an author is more a hobby than a job. After spending 15 months writing and editing a manuscript, I decided to do a pre-order for my new self-published book Behind The Scenes of The Property Market: Finding The Truths and Exposing The Lies of A Not-So-Transparent Industry – so there is at least some money to pay for layout and printing. Also, I could decide on the print quantity based on the number of orders. During the book’s pre-order from October 30 to November 6, I was like people falling in love: Checked my handphone restlessly whenever I had a minute. Then smiled at the screen when there were new messages (of orders) popping up....