Pro shopper a hit as rookie writer

Evidently her generous boss at Thai Beverage Plc, where Joom runs the “centre of excellence”, decided the travel-shopping guide’s Bt345 cover price wasn’t excellent enough. 

And he’s not the only generous reader. “I got Bt50,000 for another copy, and a lot of my friends paid Bt1,000,” she says. 

All that cash is going not to her bank, though, but to the disabled and underprivileged in Phuket.

Joom has been to the French capital eight times, spending nine days on the last visit doing research and laying down conditions for HM Publisher. “I said I wanted my book printed on quality glossy paper and all in colour – and I didn’t want any writing fee.” 

The printing costs would swallow a lot of the profits, even with 1,000 copies snatched up on Facebook and her husband Sampan taking all the inside photos, so that’s why folks got generous.

Joom might be our fastest writer too, completing “Bitch” in just four days. “I told the publisher not to do too much editing, so the writing style is my own.”

Unfortunately a leading bookstore chain found the cover price too high for an unknown writer and declined distribution, but Se-ed, Prae Pittay and Dok Ya Siam Square all have it and it’s on the social networks as well. 

Feedback on Facebook has been great, for both the book and Joom’s unique fashion sense, a little on the “crude” side, yet fun. 

So, yeah, she thinks she’ll do another book. “I’m thinking of a shopping guide to Tokyo, and I’d be sure to include the sex shops too!” All she needs to get at it, she says, is the passion and motivation. “First I’ve got to find a worthy recipient for the profit money, and then I’ll start the new project.”