I have already announced it on my social media but here it is again!
My first book titled “How I Make A Living Blogging” is out!
I have not mentioned anything about this until it is actually out in the bookshelves, because I didn’t believe that it would actually happen!
A million thanks to MPH, my publisher who made this a dream come true. MPH approached me in December 2015 and they were interested to publish my story on how I am making blogging a career. At first I was like, huh, the whole story is in the blog itself, why would anyone wants to read (or even pay money to buy) my story?
It was my childhood ambition to be a published author one day, but I thought, haiya… a moderately successful blogger is close enough!!! (Better even, considering how authors in Malaysia probably can’t make a living writing, ironically.) It would be quite nice if I can bring whole blogging thing to another stage, to have it actually be printed on real papers and be put on bookshelves. Sorry, trees.
So I said yes. My editor asked me how long do I need to churn about about 12 chapters? I said, 6 weeks…? Considering if I write two chapters per week. I mean, I have rushed 5 sponsored posts in 3 days before, so this is probably nothing. Plus I am writing about… myself? How hard is that? lolol.
Then I regretted immediately. Because my editor was like, great, if that is the case, you are officially my fastest writer to date.
So that’s the situation I put myself into: to write a book in 6 weeks.
Awesome.
And the reason I thought this book will never see the daylight is because: 1. Our family was moving back and forth KL and Singapore. It was the busiest time for us. 2. I was heavily pregnant and come on, writing a book is probably the last thing on my mind.
There were weeks I did nothing but curled up in the bed and watched Wheels On The Bus with Junya. There were days I wrote multiple chapters in a day.
There were also days I thought nobody would ever read this crap I write and wanted to burn the manuscript (except replace burn with a delete button, thought that would make me sound more author-ish).
But I did it. I completed the manuscript with pictures and sent it to my editor end of February. And I just didn’t want to think about it after that.
Two months later the book was out!
A very cheesy book indeed. Read at your own risk.
It is available at Malaysian MPH, Borders, Times and Kinokuniya.
I also know that I have a lot overseas readers who may be curious to read the book, or people who prefers to read an e-book. Since MPH do not have an e-book version, I have decided to self-publish an e-book version, of a different title.
How To Be A Successful Blogger (Cheat One™)
Understanding the publishing industry in Malaysia, they have certain policy to follow and also they will have to go through editing and proof-reading, etc before publishing a book. This e-book however, is the original manuscript, raw and unedited (and probably full of grammar errors).
If you can’t get hold of the print book or prefer an ebook, you can buy it from Etsy, which is the easiest way! (I tried Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc, they really are a headache.)
I’m also giving away this ebook for free for those who have already purchased the print book. Just drop me and email and ask for it! ^^
U r amazing! I am a mummy to a toddler myself, pregger with no 2, having a full time job and living overseas and I always feel I don’t have time for myself or do anything else and here you are, making everything looks effortless!
Congrats on ur no 2. She is beautiful. Take care and speedy recovery from your C-sec soon!
Thank you Pam! Good luck to you too! ^^
Just finished your ebook in one sitting. Really enjoyed it!
Thank you so much! Glad you liked it. 🙂
Just bought your ebook on etsy!! I was so excited when I read the forward!
Hopefully some day I can get the hardcopy…to read again and shelve it like a collectible haha
Cheers from US
Thanks Jessica! 😀
I want to buy the book! Hope it comes to SG!
You can purchase and download the ebook 🙂
Hi Cheesie! Greeting from China and congrats to your safe delivery!
The ebook was already purchased and will buy the printed form when visit our extend family in M’sia! Double support to you!!!
Cheers!
Thank you soooo much T___T
Hi Cheesie! Congratulations from Australia. I have been a silent reader of your wonderful blog for some time now. Very happy to hear your book is available on etsy! Can wait to read it
Thanks so much for your support!!! 😀
U r Such an inspiration cheesie! Gonna head over to MPH this weekend I get your book! Can’t wait,,
Let me know once you get it! I’ll email you the ebook 🙂
Oh yea I got it today from MPH! Just read the forefront but I can’t read the rest anymore coz its late now. Gonna read Tmw. Thanks so much Cheesie! Will wait for your Ebook now!
OMAIGODDD! This is the best news I heard today! I need to go find it now! Praying hard the book has reaches Penang!♥‿♥ Congratulations! On your book and your baby!
Thank you!! 😀 Let me know if you have gotten it! I’d like to send over the ebook too 🙂
I regret spending RM30 on this book because:
1) It really felt that you plagiarized your own posts. There’s not much in this book that readers haven’t read in your blog. I understand that the book is trying to appeal to the masses e.g people that have not heard of you before, but there’s no reason why you can’t write about some original, never before read content.
2) I immediately bought this book instead of flipping through it first, because I wanted to support Cheesie! However, it lacked the usual humor in your blog posts, and I felt like it was all thrown together. I was indeed disappointed when I read here that you thrown it together in the shortest time possible.
I really felt that you have so much potential as a writer, if you had planned properly what to write and how to deliver it in the best way, instead of limiting yourself to a time period.
Hi Sad Fan, first of all thanks for your support!
I suppose you bought the print book off the shelf, and honestly, most of the content has been edited by the publisher and the content is way shorter too (since I am not self-funded and that’s just now publishing works in Malaysia) and there’s nothing much I can do about it. Which is why I took two more months to come up with the ebook, which was the original manuscript with extra chapters and pictures, raw and unedited. I beg you to give the ebook a chance and read for the difference.
If you would provide me a valid email address, I will gladly email the ebook version over. 🙂
To sad fan, I beg to differ, I bought Cheesie’s print book and I totally enjoyed it. She has just sent me the ebook and I am a few chapters into it, I got to say I really love it, most of the time I laughed so hard my mom thought I went crazy.
To Cheesie, thank you so much for sharing your story and putting your life out in public like this. I think it requires a lot of courage, and totally enjoyed lal your puns and humor. You will always be my favorite blogger. Jia you and congrats on this new milestone!!! One day I’d really like to meet you in real life!
I was looking for it in Kinokuniya and MPH Singapore. Couldnt find it ): maybe not yet. But hopefully soon! 🙂
For now it is only available locally! You can try to get the ebook instead 🙂
Hey cheesie, are you still with Nuffnang? I saw this today!!
WHY AM I WRITING THIS ANYWAY? AM I GETTING PAID?
*disclaimer – you can continue to work with Nuffnang even after reading this, its just FYI only.
Hello…here’s a quick background about me. I was once a client and have gotten numerous proposals with ridiculous pricings. Nuffnang forces you to invest in their package.
So how does Nuffnang operate?
Now, let me explain the roles of every single person in Nuffnang.
Community Executive.
They are the ones that are supposedly in charge of all matters that are related to the Nuffnang “Community”. Ok so apparently Nuffnang claims that they have over 250,000 users in Malaysia. BUT the bigger question is, how many of them are actually even active? Very..very little to be honest.
Ok so back to the role of a Community Executive..They also write blogpost on the so called famous “Nuffnang Blog” which barely have any traffic. They also handle movie screenings and other “freebie” campaigns to the so called “community”. I mean WTF right, if your community that is active only consist of 100 people out of the 250,000, you get the same people over and over again.
But on a more positive side of things, they hold the friendliest people in the company, but sadly, they are probably going to regret spending time working in Nuffnang…. ☹
Ad Operations
Ok so these guys are the ones that spend most of their time connecting with the clients. They are the ones that reach out to the community or event “contracted bloggers” when it comes to advertorials or jobs or events etc. They are the ones that launch all the campaigns including the infamous Nuffnang “Banner-Ads”
Talent Manager/Executive
This is supposed to be a role of a celebrity agent la in the end. Just like a celebrity, each of the contracted bloggers will be assigned to one of the talent managers. They are the ones that are supposed to be the main point of contact of all these top bloggers or influencers or KOLs. So for example right if there is a blogger that wants a free trip, the managers are supposed to go and look for them. I don’t think the managers get a commission for a sale, only NomNom Media. FYL man.
Sales team aka NomNom Media.
These are the front line of the company, well technically they are the only official reseller for both Nuffnang and ChurpChurp. There are a bunch of people who sit in the Nuffnang office, we call them the SALES TEAM ! wooooo! They are the ones responsible for selling the bloggers/kols/influencers. Majority of Nuffnang’s clients are media agencies who are engaged by specific clients (eg; Nestle etc.)
There are a few other departments as well such as IT, admin etc, but they aren’t as prominent as the ones I mentioned above.
Now, the best part…how does the Nuffnang business model work?
As a media agency, you are entitled for a 15% agency rebate. Some agency get less or more, but I think these days all agencies get a flat rate of 15%. The logic for the discount is basically…err..that is how ad buy agencies make money la…they take commission.
As a standalone client, you are not entitled for a discount, because…you are a…direct client.
So how to count la, who get how much and all.
How much are you worth in the Nuffnang Network?
Hmm….rates if I recalled correctly start from RM920 for each blogger or slightly less..The more famous you become, the more expensive you’ll get. They can change the rates as they like. There really isn’t any system or a proper way to calculate influence. I know some bloggers who have lower traffic but cost higher, because they are more “POPULAR”
Ok here’s a scenario
Media Agency 1 would like to purchase 5 top bloggers in Nuffnang. The sales team goes back and open up their backend to look for the rates. Bare in mind, I have came across these sales team people (ok by now you must think I used to be a client or smthn) who don’t even know their brand. So most of the time, a “Talent Manager” would come as they suppose to know the top bloggers “better”.
(I cackled….)
Ok for example the rate for a blogger is RM4250 for an agency which is already discounted. Nuffnang claims that they give a 50/50 revenue share to all the bloggers, although there are some bloggers who get more (maybe because they are a favorite or some special treatment lah). They may have standardize the whole rev share thing these days but I donno la.
Here’s the breakdown.
NomNom Media -> Agency = RM4250
25% out of RM4250 goes to NomNom Media and Nettcentric/Nuffnang (commissions, buffer money, cash to do end of the year events and birthday parties for the “community” every year). So if you think they are actually kind enough to fork out their own cash to do events for you, no way man, it could’ve been yourssss!
So that leaves us with about RM3,612. Now the revenue share comes into play. Since it’s a 50/50 revenue share, the blogger gets about RM1806.25 as a payout.
Ouch…
So how much does the company actually make in total? RM2443.75 (approx.)
So technically, it really isn’t 50/50 revenue share la right in the end.
Here’s another scenario
Say for example if you are a direct client like some property company and want some “lifestlyle” bloggers to come visit your showroom to talk about it (which most of the time is useless because there really isn’t any conversion or awareness….) Nobody really cares about property companies on blogs anyway, unless you are some famous property guru.
Property Company 1 wants to advertise. The same RM4250 blogger would probably cost RM5150 (estimate).
NomNom Media to Direct Client – RM5150
5% of commission goes to NomNom etc, same thing as the earlier breakdown.
That leaves us with RM4892.50.
So they split once again…50/50 revenue share again…The blogger gets RM2446.25 which is quite a lot! So its quite ok lah.
BUT here’s the thing, direct client don’t come often because they would probably have their own internal marketing team which works with a media buy agency. I would think that 1 out of 15 clients are direct clients. So its very unlikely, and they don’t actually have big budgets to splurge.
So just to give you a rough estimate, if a top blogger in Nuffnang gets sold for 50 blogposts (agency) a year, Nuffnang would rake in approximately RM212,500 in revenue, commissions worth RM132,812.50 directly to the entire company, and the balance goes to the blogger.
Now the above calculation is actually an estimate and does not resemble the exact value or cost that Nuffnang charges to an agency. Sorry I’m just giving a disclaimer lah…just for the sake of it. 🙂
Well they always say that the Nuffnang platform is your stepping stone as a blogger to become more popular within the client. The commission/fees that they take are all being used to pay the staff salaries, sales team commission and of course to HELP THE BLOGGERS GROW within their respective genre. Sounds funny enough right?
They have recently came up with a variety of programs like the so called Talent Handbook which I know one of the blogger received and shared it with me. Damn, I must tell you it’s fancy as hell. Money put to good use I must say…(sarcasm intended). When you sign up yourself as a contracted blogger, which you must be selected (don’t you feel special), you will automatically sign a contract which ties you in to an unlimited amount of time. From what I heard, the contract is heavily bias to the company. There is an auto-renewal feature in the contract which allows Nuffnang to auto renew your contract unless both party agrees to dismiss the contract…or if you’re not worthy to them anymore, they will let you go la. Sadly I’ve been hearing stories about bloggers who want to leave the contract but are unable to.
As a contracted blogger you are obligated to direct all inquiries to Nuffnang an you are not allowed to take outside jobs. If you do, they technically can sue your ass and ask you for compensation. So Nuffnang automatically owns any of your social media accounts and your website.
IS NUFFNANG’S NETWORK TRAFFIC LEGIT?
No, Nuffnang uses their own method of calculating traffic and you can easily manipulate them. If you ask them from Google Analytics, chances are they will never give it to you because its not a common practice for them to do that. If you are a client and you want a blogger’s traffic, ask them for their Google Analytics. GA never lies but NN one raises a lot of doubt.
BUT ITS OK WE HELP YOU GROW YOUR TRAFFIC AND GIVE YOU MEDIA EXPOSURE.
Ya ok, what a load of BS. That never happens. They only prioritize those who are gullible enough to believe them. When you try to go against them, they will ban you from being sold to clients.
AND WAIT WHAT? I GET BANNED AND I CAN’T DO OUTSIDE JOBS? WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO?
You just got yourself into a big mess. You will no longer be able to generate income from your blog..Boohooo….Go cry a river la, they won’t care.
BUT WHY DID YOU SIGN THE CONTRACT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
To be honest, after hearing all the stories from some of the bloggers when I was working in a pretty big FMCG company (not telling where :p), they will give you all these sweet promises like free trips la, movie tickets la (who the f*** wants free tickets when its only RM10 each), some experience la, which most of the time is something that you can afford to buy with the amount of money you earn from outside jobs. It’s quite hard to say no, especially, when you have not read whatever I just wrote.
Most recently one of the bloggers showed me a website called bloggerati, its like a trophy site where clients can go and checkout all the bloggers that are owned by Nuffnang. The idea is basically the same lah, they want to entice people with pretty little things…
CAN GET MORE MONEY AH WITH NUFFNANG?
Here’s the truth, you surely can, they will pay you well and no qualms about payment terms, they are pretty good at that BUT you are as good as your traffic, the moment your traffic start to drop and clients don’t buy you, you’re probably just going to rot and finally decide to give up on your blog. Or unless you are a celebrity, which you have to be careful too! Nuffnang now charges client for an appearance fee for the bloggers. Last I saw a proposal they sent, a fee to get a blogger to come and post an Instagram upate is a whopping RM5k at least. Shouldn’t I spend the money on Facebook Ads instead? Or hire some dancers or whatever? LOL.
IT DOES SOUND LIKE NUFFNANG IS ON YOUR SIDE SO WHY AM I WRITING THIS
I don’t have a personal agenda la, I’m just so annoyed with how they expect every single one of us to fall for their ridiculous prices. Nuffnang wants you to get paid for every single thing you do including attending events or even going for a shoot, which means that every single ringgit you make, they make money too. So to them it’s a win-win situation…that’s until you know how much they charge….heh.
OK NOW I JUST GOT APPROACHED BY A BRAND TO GO FOR AN EVENT. SHOULD I?
Be very careful, big bad Nuffnang is watching you. You can go to an event of course but the moment you write about it on your blog or post it on your social media update, one of your Talent Executive is going to call you up an interrogate you like a police officer. Nuffnang now automatically owns the rights for your publication. If they want you to post about how good looking their bosses are, technically you are obligated to do so. But just don’t.
I MEAN WHAT THE F*** RIGHT? I CAN’T LIVE MY LIFE NOW?
Well yeah, technically you can’t unless they close one eye an let you go. You are supposed to direct the email to your talent executive and they will try to sell you at a super high price so that they can get a cut for whatever you are doing. Their logic is simple…I give you job, you get money, You get job, you give me money. It never ends dude.
Clients are smarter too these days including agencies as they realized that the ROI from spending in influencer companies like Nuffnang are super expensive. Nuffnang does not have any skilled employees to talk the digital business or even strategy. They are merely a company that sells “Famous” bloggers at a very..very high rate. And after knowing their unethical method of payouts, would you still invest in Nuffnang? Unless you are buddies with their co-founders or you find their personal lives very cute and are clouded by the extravagant working culture in Nuffnang.
This is starting to sound like a Global Warming or Animal Cruelty article…but what the heck right?
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?
You can start consulting a lawyer on ways to step out of the contract. Perhaps they can advise further. As much as I think the contract makes Nuffnang bullet proof, they are heavily biased. I have read one of the contracts before and it’s probably something that their lawyer wrote when he was half drunk or with a gun pointed to his head by the owners of the company. No sane lawyer would have written something like this. But then again, I’m no lawyer, so I wouldn’t be able to give you a professional opinion.
Some of the contracts have an expiry date, but they will actually ask you to come and sign a new contract way before it expires so that can continue to lock you down from doing outside jobs. But you can come forward and say that you have zero interest in being affiliated with them anymore.
WILL I DIE AFTER I LEAVE NUFFNANG?
A blogger once told me that she/he left Nuffnang to be independent and infact she is doing better and makes more money too! WHY? Simply because these independent bloggers charge way lower to the client and they still get more money in the end.
YOU CUT THE MIDDLE MAN, GOOD OR BAD?
Both, the good part is that you get more money and nobody bugs you anymore like an idiot asking if it’s a paid job or not for an event that you go to because you so happen to like a particular brand. The bad part is that some clients may take sometime to pay you or even not pay you. But pick your clients wisely and you’ll be fine, it’s not that hard to be independent, really
So just to sum things up, I really hope that every single one of you publishers, regardless of genre continue to work independently and if you want to work with media owners like Nuffnang, work with them on an ad hoc basis. Tying yourself to a contract which is biased to Nuffnang the worst thing you could ever do to yourself. Unless you are a damn influential figure both offline and online, then Nuffnang would never lay their hands on you.
Hi Alison, where did you saw this? I am a Nuffnang blogger and that’s really shocking to know. I want to know if the source is credible?
walaooooo, im an ex nuffnang worker and you say i got no skill… T_T
Very well put. If this was an article I bet you it’ll go viral!
Thank you for making it available to us international readers! I bought it on Amazon right away! 😀
I hope one day I can get the physical copy here in Australia 🙂 I’ve been following you for around 6 years and just want to say thank you for always making me smile with your writing!
Hi cheesie, I just got your bookmark from MPH today, finished reading it within a day. Actually no regret on buying it as its really inspiring. Been reading your blog since years ago, will keep supporting u! 🙂 hope to get the ebook version from you too!
Oops so sorry I made a typo on my comment, it’s your Book* instead of bookmark, this iPad auto correct my word. Paiseh hehe
Dear Cheesie! Thank you for the e-book! I bought your print book but i started with the e-book first. The first chapter i do compare the e-book with the print book, obviously i prefer the e-book better coz it is more like you in cheesy way!! I really love your commitment in this blog, continue to blog in here.
Hi cheesie,
Just finished your e-book and loved every page of it! Definitely felt like i was reading a well thought out diary, thank you thank you for sharing such intimate details. Support you all the way.
Lots of love from Australia ;))
Hi Cheesie,
I just managed to buy your book from MPH yesterday, and I really really love reading it. Especially when insomnia hit yesterday night, and I enjoyed it so much until I laughed out loud suddenly in the middle of the night because of your humour through words. You are always an inspiration to me and I hope that someday I can meet you in person <3. I would like to read your e-book as well.
Hi Cheesie,
First of all congrats on the launching of your first book (altho a bit late)
Bought the ebook on etsy, finished reading it and got curious how does the printed copy like.
So last weekend bought when I was in KL for a short trip, I went to MPH, borders and kinokuniya to search for the printed copy.
And luckily found 1 in Borders… Bought it and finished reading within the same day XD
Loveeeee every single page of the book!!!!
Lots of love from Singapore 😉
Thank you for the wonderful ebook! I absolutely loved every bit of it 😀 you inspired me so much and I see so much and I hope you’ll continue to be that awesome person you are today 😀 support you all the way from Australia!!
PS. Lol I actually love everything about Japan, and if I can I’d definitely want to visit there more often! Hope to see more posts about Japan too^^
Buku memang simple but true life story by Blogger.
It need a passion.
Sebarang liku dan haters kena hadap sambil menjana pendapatan.
Maaf BI belom cukup padu pada dikeliling rakan BM hehehe
Akan cuba cari i just can speak English
Hello Cheesie! are you sill giving away copies if I have bought the book?