NOW AVAILABLE HERE:
Paperback: amazon.co.uk
Kindle eBook UK
Paperback: amazon.com
Kindle eBook US
If you want to read the author page:
Amazon author’s page
Goodreads author’s page
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Everybody, it’s happened! Together we did it. We made Heart of Glass. Watch the BOOK LAUNCH videos and photos, now live. Thanks to those who attended and helped usher in the momentous moment. I know you’re really busy so I have cut up the evening into three videos of different lengths. They do not have to be viewed in order and each is a standalone.
I understand your copies are on the way. While waiting, check out the my tour merch too! Only £5 per item. As you know writing is a non-profit organisation. Everything that comes from my sales goes back into writing, the purchase of cosmetics and printer cartridges. The Park Tavern is an 18th century coaching inn. It is so perfect for a book launch. There are actually shelves everywhere for your shelfies! If you want a cake for any occasion, check out my cake genius friend Tina Foo’s cake below. I guarantee there is NO cake like this in the world. Chocolate with Kahlua butter cream icing. It’s pretty much heaven. Thanks also to Tina and Mary for being my tour merch managers and roadies. And so THE STORY HAS JUST BEGUN! And you thought we were finished?
Heart of Glass eBook now available now here. Paperback here.
BOOK LAUNCH PART I (Talk) 4min
BOOK LAUNCH PART II (Reading) 12 min
BOOK LAUNCH PART III (Q&A Sesh) 9 min
My tour merch has arrived-arrived in time for my book launch on Saturday 30 June 2018. Not only did I write the book, I wrote thesoundtrack and shot the trailer. And now it seems, I designed, curated AND modelled my promo merch. Why? Because a) I am a grassroots person. b) I make everything if I can and c) I cannot afford to hire anyone and no one else will work for free except me. Therefore I am my own asset and commodity.
There are many reasons why I chose this form of marketing.
Manufacturers of promotional products keep the prices very low for mass distribution. I learned everything I needed to know from when I was doing a band, Satsuma 2005-07. The difference was that in those days there was NO social media and very limited internet. The only way to reach people was to reach people physically, with real things they will touch and hold, and real people you smile at. Prices of the gift items are low but the impact is high. You cannot afford a huge scale advertising budget. Merch is cheaper than advertising. It is cost-effective for me because I am already a designer. I can design and curate and I can source products which I may safely say, are tasteful and funky. I have been designing for more than half my life, therefore the experience is there.
I designed the black and white line drawing pointed heart logo with H G monogram before I mass produced the cards on which they were printed with all my contact information. The brand is themed through my story. I am using cultural references, the period and the settings throughout my merch products. I am telling a story through these products.
My products are fun and eye-catching. A leaflet or advertising on the internet will pass before the eyes whereas a physical entity, I believe, is attractive, permanent thereby having gravitas and lasting impression on consumers. Let’s face it, readers are consumers, are we not.
Every themed product has been packaged with my contact information, thereby acting like a handmade business card.
I am building loyalty through merchandising because I am hoping that readers will not just read this one novel but my other future books too. I am hoping that Heart of Glass will achieve a cult following, not to mention the fact that each item has been individually packaged by yours truly in my cottage industry. This strange and unique story of branding, merch and the book itself which is deeply rooted in the 1980s reflects the obsessive, foolhardy and youthful nature of music and how it drives our passion, my passion.
2018 All rights reserved © Ivy Ngeow
Ivy Ngeow is an award-winning author living in London. Find her here. Read the latest interview here. Read a review of Heart of Glass here. Buy the eBook here, the paperbackhere.
Ivy’s tour merch has arrived. Featuring the piece de resistance 1” Heart of Glass cabochon pendant and silver chain necklace.
Wrote the book, wrote the soundtrack, shot the trailer and now designed, curated and modelled the promo merch. Each item 5£. To be launched on Saturday at #booklaunch #limitededition
Look. Writing is a non profit organisation. Anything I make from these goes into buying coffee, cosmetics and printer cartridges. #myrequiredtools
OK nevermind. Just admire my cheekbones. Thank you.
As you are hopefully aware, I’m currently crowdfunding my new Lincolnshire-set thriller East of Englandthrough Unbound Publishing. And I’m not alone! So, I’ve asked a few fellow writers on Unbound’s current roster to give a quick overview of their writing work, and the book they’re crowdfunding themselves in a ten questions format.
Today’s guest is Ivy Ngeow, the author of Heart of Glass:
1. Who are you and what’s your book about?
I am award-winning author Ivy Ngeow and my book Heart of Glass is a dark pacy tale about obsession, greed and music in 1980s Chicago and Macau.
2. Why should folk read your book?
My book addresses the themes of the Reagan era which are greed and success. The protagonist is an American girl of Chinese origin. She is a young, uneducated, pretty, and naive musical genius who happens to be an immigrant to the USA. She is blinded by her desire for fame, success, love, everything. She is an antihero and this is a story of an underdog and underachiever with hopes, dreams and fantasies usually squashed by mainstream society and realities of life as an immigrant.
I was interviewed on Jessie Cahalin’s Books in my Handbag Blog:
During a visit to Singapore, I arranged to meet Ivy at the East Coast Lagoon Food Village. We sat beneath a canape in the busy food hall. Although warm, there was a refreshing sea breeze. The aroma of fish oil, garlic and seafood combined to make my stomach rumble: the choice was overwhelming. I wandered from one stall to the next unable to make my choice. I ordered a prawn noodle dish and Ivy chose seafood laksa. She wore white shorts and a halter neck lime green top and her bag was a leopard print mini backpack…
In it I discuss how Middlesex University helped me find my writing voice:
Jessie: Growing up in Malaysia then studying in Middlesex must have presented a contrasting experience. What were the main differences?
Ivy: Middlesex University was an eye-opening experience. I went in there thinking I was going to be Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot et al but Middlesex made me who I am today. I found my writing voice there. I was given a reading list consisting of books I would never read in a million years. I became aware that I could and do have a totally unique narrative. I became Ivy Ngeow the writer. And this narrative was what has made me stand out amongst 1500 entrants to win the Middlesex University Press Literary Prize of 2005.
Read the whole interview here.
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Ahead of publication, the FIRST official review has come in for my FIRST novel out in the UK, “Heart of Glass”. And it’s SMASHING!
“This story is a fascinating literary thriller and incredibly original. I have never read anything quite like it before.”- #bookblogger Lauren Knapper
Curious? Check out the link! Headphones not required this time.
QUOTES:
“The twists and turns in the novel leave you shocked and desperately wanting to continue reading.”
“Ngeow writes in such a talented way that you are completely immersed in the time and setting of her book.”
Twitter- @laurenknapper
Instagram – LozzysThings
#HeartofGlass #MadeinGreatBritain #9daystogo #bookreview #Chicago #Macau #underdog #Chinatown #1980s #disco #JamesBond #music #crime #crimenoir #noirfiction #crimefiction #thriller
Fancy some big beats? Switch on your Bluetooth speakers and do yourself a favour: check out the TRAILER I made for Heart of Glass the Novel. Music written, performed and produced by me. Film production by Satsuma Music (which is my alter ego). Hell, I even wrote the damned book.
TIP#1: you might like to grab headphones if you do not have giant speakers. It would be a crime to miss out on my killer basslines.
TIP#2 : You might like to read the book! Pre-order now, out on 30 June 2018 on AMAZON.
