At UPSI, Ten Academics Skipped the Two-Year Book Deal and Published in 48 Hours Instead
TANJONG MALIM, PERAK, MALAYSIA – August 26, 2026 – The occasion was “Write Your Book In A Weekend,” held 1–2 July at Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI). Ten participants completed and published full-length books through Lulu.com, an independent international publisher, by the close of the two-day workshop. Several more from the same cohort have finished their manuscripts in the weeks since.
A Faculty Built on Innovation, Facing an Old Problem
UPSI’s Faculty of Computing & Meta-Technology trains people to build the systems of the future. But when it came to publishing — a requirement baked into most academic KPIs — even its own staff were stuck using a process that hadn’t changed in decades.
“As part of maintaining their KPIs, academics are expected to write books,” said Associate Professor Dr. Suzani Mohamad Samuri, Deputy Dean of the faculty, who organized the workshop. “What I kept seeing among my own colleagues wasn’t a lack of ideas — it was people sitting on research and expertise for years because no one had ever shown them a process that fit around teaching, supervision, and family life. That gap is exactly what this workshop closed.”
From Doctoral Thesis to Bookshelf
Dr. Thilaga Ravinthar, a senior English language instructor, was the first participant to publish. She built her book, From Silent Classrooms to Employable Graduates, directly from her PhD thesis on dialogic teaching.
“My thesis sat in a repository where maybe a handful of people would ever read it,” Dr. Thilaga said. “Turning it into a real book, something instructors could actually pick up and use, felt like giving my own research a second life — and I didn’t think it was possible to do that in a weekend, let alone see it live and purchasable by Sunday night.”
The Method: Structure, Content, Execution
The workshop was led by Dr. Izdihar Jamil, Ph.D., a 21x bestselling author and founder of Diamond Queen LLC (USA), using her proprietary Author Accelerator Method.
The method runs on three stages, known as S-C-E: Structure — mapping the book’s framework, reader experience, and central theme before a single chapter is drafted; Content — writing toward one clear question: how does this solve the reader’s problem; and Execution — preparing the manuscript for publication and getting it live. Every UPSI participant moved through all three stages inside the same two days.
“People don’t fail to write books because they lack ideas or expertise,” said Dr. Izdihar Jamil. “They fail because no one ever gave them a process built for how busy professionals actually think and work. What happened at UPSI wasn’t luck — it’s what happens every time someone finally gets a system instead of a blank page.”
Ten Writers, Ten Reasons They’d Been Waiting
- From Silent Classrooms to Employable Graduates by Dr. Thilaga Ravinthar — a PhD thesis rebuilt into a practical guide for instructors who want silent classrooms to produce confident, employable graduates
- So, You’re From Sekolah Agama? by Muhammad Hafiz Foo — for graduates of religious schools tired of being underestimated the moment they say where they studied
- From Cultural Shock to Confidence: Panduan Praktikal Untuk Hidup, Belajar dan Berjaya di Jerman by Dr. Robe’ah Yusuf — a practical guide for Malaysians walking into life, study, and success in Germany, written by someone who lived through the disorientation first
- Beyond the Classroom: A Nigerian Student’s Academic Adventure in Malaysia by Aishat Muhamed Yusuf Olakanpo — an international student’s honest account of building a life and an education far from home
- The Someday Problem: A Teen’s Honest Guide to Starting Before “Later” Becomes Never by Hamdalat Salamat — written by a teenager for anyone who keeps postponing what actually matters
- The Art of Noticing: Finding Peace and Presence in the Small Wins by Sil-houette — a case for slowing down long enough to notice the small wins that keep getting missed
- The Little Shorebird Finds a New Home: An Amazing Journey Across Beaches, Skies and Seas by Nur Munira Azman — a children’s story for young readers learning that finding home sometimes means leaving the one you know
- The Journey Continues by Nezirah J. — a personal account written for anyone who needs proof that a setback is a chapter, not the ending
Why a Faculty of the Future Chose an Old-Fashioned Weekend
For universities, the math is hard to ignore. Publishing typically pulls faculty away from teaching, research, and family for a year or more — sometimes longer. Compressing that into two days doesn’t just save time; it means researchers like Dr. Thilaga stop leaving years of work sitting unread in a repository. Publishing independently through platforms like Lulu also means every one of these ten authors keeps full control of their work and can bring it to readers immediately, without waiting on a traditional publishing house’s timeline.
Dr. Izdihar Jamil has now guided more than 300 leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics through the Author Accelerator Method to a finished, published book. Anyone ready to stop sitting on their own book can start with her free author checklist here.
About the Facilitator:
Dr. Izdihar Jamil, Ph.D. is a 21x bestselling author, TV host, and visibility expert helping leaders and organizations turn their expertise into books, media features, and stages that build trust and grow influence. A TEDx Curator, she has been featured on Forbes, TED.com, and FOX11 TV. She lives in California with her husband and children, where she spends her free time baking and reading fiction. More info on Izdihar here
Media Contact
Company Name: UPSI
Contact Person: Dr. Suzani Mohamad Samuri
Email: Send Email
Phone: +605-459 6200
Country: Malaysia
Website: https://www.upsi.edu.my/
