By Deeba Varadaraju

EVER heard about a book that has gone into a reprint even before it is launched?

That's what is happening to volume two of the immensely popular Stomp book, English As It Is Broken.

Such is the demand for the book that the publishers have decided to up production in order to satisfy Singaporean readers who want to speak and write better in English.

The book's success has been nothing short of phenomenal. Ms Lim Geok Leng, Deputy Manager and publisher for Panpac Education, explained why the company made the decision to go ahead and publish a second reprint even before the first books hit bookshelves.

"Response from retailers has been so good. We are going to promote the two books as a bundle. The books will be promoted in schools as well, as they are used as teaching supplements," she says.

English As It Is Broken 2 will be launched officially on Aug 26, in conjunction with the Speak Good English Movement.

Like its predecessor, the book answers queries on English language usage in Singapore sent by the public to Stomp, Asia's No. 1 social-networking and citizen-media website. The questions and answers, plus photographs showing bad English usage, appear in the English As It Is Broken section in Stomp.

The first book was such a runaway success that it stayed on Singapore's non-fiction bestseller list for close to a year. Judging by the demand for the new book, history is set to repeat itself.

Mr Aloysius Yap, project executive for the National Library Board and a member of the panel of experts for the English As It Is Broken feature, attributes the popularity of the books to its appealing local context and Singaporeans' desire to improve their English.

"As English As It Is Broken is based mainly on English in a Singaporean context and contains queries submitted by readers, that makes it very appealing to Singaporean readers," he said.

Mr Felix Soh, Singapore Press Holdings' Digital Media Editor for the English and Malay Newspapers Division, hailed the publication of the second book as another milestone for Stomp.

He said: "Which website has published a book that's in the bestseller list for almost a year? I can't think of any. And now we've produced a second volume which has gone into a second reprint even before its launch. This is unheard of."

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