By Lim Pow Hong

A YOUNG author has galvanised a network of students to sell his books.

Fiction writer Low Kay Hwa, 24, self-publishes his works through his company Goody Books. For each $15 book sold, the national serviceman pays $2 or more to the secondary or tertiary student who made the sale.

He estimates that between 20,000 and 25,000 copies of his works have been sold. These include You Are Here, To Forget You and Journey - mainly science fiction and romance books with teenage protagonists.

Secondary 4 student Lai Si Ying, 15, from Holy Innocents' High, bought four of the six titles from a schoolmate. He said: 'I like them because they are set in Singapore. It's hard to find local authors who write about teenagers.'

Direct buying gets teens past the need for credit cards to make online purchases. They can also pick up books readily from their classmates.

Mr Low's 90-strong student network does a brisk trade - it accounts for 40 per cent of his total sales. Last month alone, it made around $4,000.

In that same month, sales at Plaza Singapura's Toy Outpost and UOB Centre's Fashion Outpost made up half of his takings, while direct sales at his website - http://www.goodybooks.com - contributed the last 10 per cent.

The books cost $15.90 at retail outlets, but $14.90 from student sales representatives and off the website (excluding postage).

Sales people get a tiered commission.

A representative gets paid $2 for each of the first 20 books he sells, and $2.50 from the 21st book onwards, with commissions capped at $4 per book.

Most of the students sign up to sell his books by word of mouth and Mr Low pays a $2 referral fee for each recruit. 'Out of every 10 representatives that I have, two are referred by their friends.'

Realising that fans were buying his books for their friends, he began recruiting them in April last year, through instant messenger MSN and teen social networking site Friendster. He also advertised on his own website.

Mr Low's top sales representative, Sarah Mohd Sazali, started as a fan and earned $300 in commissions last October - her best month - when she sold more than 80 books.

The 17-year-old from Tampines Junior College was referred by a friend in June last year. Now, she says: 'I advertise the books on my blog as well as on the school website, and I spend about two hours each week promoting them.'

For Anne Neo, 15, selling is a matter of practicality. She sold about 50 books in a year, mainly to her peers at Holy Innocents' High. The Secondary 4 student said: 'I'm just doing this to earn extra pocket money.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.