If you want to self-publish, there are some things you have to do yourself.
You will need to look for a professional designer to design your book cover. Don't go for a DIY kit. This is your first book. It is self-published and not backed by any major publishing house. So appearance is super important.
And here's a two-women graphic design studio based in Singapore:
http://www.sarahandschooling.com/
Get a quotation from them.
Next, it isn't enough to have a decent book cover. Your book has to look legit, right? So you need an ISBN (International Standard Book Number).
This is a useful link for you. Go through it thoroughly. FYI, the ISBN agency in Singapore is the NLB.
https://barcodes.sg/book-barcodes/
Oh, you will need to hire your own copy editor to look through your manuscript before it hits the press. And you can't just get a friend who's good in English or even your JC lecturer to do it for you. There are industry standards that must be met.
So depending on your word count (they charge by word count), you have to fork out anything between a thousand to several thousand dollars.
Last but not least, you need to find a reputable printing press to print your books for you. I suggest going to one in Malaysia to cut cost. But you will need to do your own research and find a reputable one.
What you can do is go to Popular or Kinokuniya and browse the shelves of local publications. Some books do list the printing press that did the printing for them. Check those out.
But before you take any step by yourself, you should know that self-published works never make it into brick-and-mortar bookstores. You have to sell your own books by renting carts at shopping malls or at indie art events.
What's your book about anyway? Have you tried sending your manuscript to publishers?
