1. 36 37
MA
HB
1. Boey claims that
he was fired after
standing up for
his team against
management. “I lost
a lot of friends that
day,” he says. But
with an increasingly
popular blog and
Styrofoam cup art
project, he found
that, wherever he
went in the US,
people opened
their homes to him.
“They fed me, gave
me their keys and
a place to stay, and
went off to work. Just
help yourself, they
said,” Boey recalls. “I
realised I was most
rich then.”
2. “On Kickstarter,
I asked for USD7,800
because that’s the
year (1978) I was born.
My mum and dad put
in the first USD6,000
and my uncle put in
USD1,000. But I was
very upset because it
felt like, without my
parents, I would fail.
In the end, they put
in USD1,000 for the
both of them.”
“I like Malaysia.” Lately, that’s not some-
thing you’ll hear locals say every day.
The words are uttered by Johor-born and
-raised, San Francisco-based Boey Cheeming, au-
thor of the series, When I Was a Kid: Childhood
Stories by Boey. Silver strands of hair and a lib-
eral beard gel surprisingly well with the youthful-
looking Boey, whose conversation with us covers:
[1] what it was like road-tripping across the US
after getting fired from his job in animation; the
best place to write a book (churches, even though
he isn’t religious); business lessons for art stu-
dents; and, of course, Malaysia.
“In the States, you’ll always be a second-class
citizen,“ he says, when discussing the difference
between life in the US and Malaysia. “Here, you
are still a second-class citizen, but opportunities
are available.” But in a slightly dulled tone, he
adds: “I wish that Malaysia will one day adopt the
concept of ‘this is everyone’s land.’”
More than 10 years ago, the now 38-year-old
Boey was inspired to pen his own comic after
reading a graphic novel by Scott Dikkers enti-
tled I Went to College and It Was OK. “It was just
simple stick figures and had stories like, ‘Today, I
went to school and had a peanut butter sandwich.
Then I went home and played with the cat.’ Little
did I know that it was all made up! I thought that
my life was so much more interesting and I didn’t
even make any of it up!” he explains.
For Boey, writing his first book was not diffi-
cult, but the road to getting the first When I Was a
Kid book published was anything but smooth. For
four years, from 2009, Boey contacted publishers
in the US repeatedly, to zero results. He received
the same response from their counterparts in
Singapore, even after presenting a self-published
copy of his comics. “No one wanted it, except an
independent place called BooksActually in Tiong
Bahru.” The problem? Boey was offered RM9,000,
but he would have to surrender all rights to his
cartoon character. “I did the math—for four-and-
a-half years’ worth of work, RM9,000 amounted
to like RM3 a day,” he says.
Acting on a random tip, Boey decided to try his
luck in Malaysia. He put his book up for sale online
while writing to publishing houses and editors in
the country, and this was when the tide turned
in his favour. “I wrote to everyone, and one guy,
Alan Wong, from MPH wrote back,” Boey elabo-
rates. “He said, ‘Hey, your stuff is pretty good. I
believe my boss has seen your stuff as well. Let me
take it up to him again.’” Wong convinced his boss
that if Boey supplied them with published copies,
Books: Boey done good
The short version of author and comic book artist Boey Cheeming’s long road
to bestseller success.
Words by Shermian Lim
MPH would distribute them on his behalf. “They
wanted 3,000 copies at first and I was so uncon-
fident,” Boey adds, recalling how past attempts to
market the book had hit a dead-end. “I sold about
USD300 worth in the US and, here, they wanted
3,000 copies. I asked them: ‘Are you sure?’”
They were, and since he had [2] crowdsourced
funds on Kickstarter, Boey delivered the 3,000
copies as requested. A few weeks later, he heard
from them. “I was in the States when they sent
me an email saying, ‘You are seventh on the best-
seller list.’” Eventually, the book topped the list
after just five weeks on bookstands. “Mahathir’s
book was below mine,” laughs Boey. “That’s when
I thought, ‘F**k! Maybe I can do it!’”
Fast-forward to three bestselling books and
multiple awards, and Boey offers up a titbit
about the When I Was a Kid series that may sur-
prise some—he didn’t have a grand plan for how
it would flow. With the first book, he admits not
knowing “what the heck” he was doing. “There
are a lot of places where it seems like I don’t know
what I’m writing about. I will never get that same
experience again,” he adds. The latest instalment,
When I Was a Kid 4, takes a slightly darker turn,
with a few stories tackling the topic of dealing
with a death in the family. “It wasn’t meant to be
(as) funny,” Boey insists.
And while each one has centred on one mem-
ber of his family, Boey also dedicates his books
to the underdog. “Because that’s what I felt like
when I was a kid. I wish that someone had written
a book like this and told me that if I failed, it’d be
fine,” he says. “But no one did. It was always about
being an A student. No one told me that if I didn’t
do well in school, it wasn’t going to impact my fu-
ture. It’s not the be-all and the end-all.”
Which is why, Boey, who is already looking
towards his fifth book, is planning to experiment
with a different concept and layout to produce
something “Malaysia hasn’t seen before.” He’s
willing to switch up the formula, despite the risk
that it won’t be popular. “You can put out bad
books once in awhile, but you shouldn’t be afraid
to explore. And if it doesn’t work, it’s fine. You’re
learning from it,” he says.
For someone who once worked in the US [3]
animation industry with a hefty paycheck, Boey
seems to have genuinely found some semblance of
contentment though his writing. Not only has he
[4] become a public voice championing the arts in
Malaysia, he realises how precious it is to derive
happiness from things that cost nothing while
knowing that his writing impacts many. “The
best feeling is when a kid tells you that you’re
his favourite author,” he muses. “That’s insane!
I’m someone’s favourite author! I never thought
about that!”
3. In California, Boey
worked for acclaimed
video game
developer, Blizzard
Entertainment. At
the height of his
animation career,
he estimates that
he was making
approximately
USD300,000
annually. “If you want
to see the epitome
of a douchebag, I
was kinda it. I didn’t
have to look at the
price tag to buy stuff;
I could buy a car in
straight cash.”
4. Boey has set up
programmes tailored
to educating artists
on the importance
of cultivating
entrepreneurial
skills. “Art schools
don’t teach you the
business aspect of
art,” he laments.
“Artists have a
saying: ‘Don’t sell
out.’ They think that
focusing on drawing
the best stuff ever is
going to change their
lives. How will you
make a living if you
don’t sell anything?”
A young Boey Cheeming (left) with family members. The latest in the series, When I Was A Kid 4, is dedicated to his grandmother.
Out now at MPH
bookstores.