[Art by Kajo Baldisimo]

Tell us a little bit about Pelicula. Do you think it will appeal to fans of science fiction and fantasy, particularly the superhero subgenre?

Pelicula’s about a young up-and-coming actor, Luis Conrado, as he navigates the tricky and turbulent waters of the Philippine showbiz industry, something that’s already difficult under normal real life circumstances.

In the novel, I’ve populated the industry with supernatural creatures from local folklore, who are the movers and shakers of the scene, multiplying the difficulties exponentially as a result.

Luis also happens to be the star of the highly-rated and uberpopular fantaserye, Habagat, on which he plays the title role, the super-bayani of the Philippines, Habagat.

Given that’s there a lot of superhero stuff in the novel– with some of my thoughts regarding superheroes, and what they mean to us as individuals and as a society, and the potentials of their physicality in the real world, informing the narrative– I sincerely hope that Pelicula appeals to that section of the audience into SF/fantasy and superheroes, of which I’m a proud member of, if that isn’t too obvious yet.

Of course, one always hopes for a broader section of readership, so hopefully other sections are pulled in by the romance angle, as Luis falls in love with a mannikin, an actress created by occult means to be the ultimate movie star. (So, aside from my thoughts about superheroes, some of the thoughts and impressions of a lifelong film geek about the film industry also serve to inform Pelicula.)

[Art by Ian Sta. Maria]

You mentioned in your author’s note a love for “live-action superheroics”. Most people would have just said “superheroes.” What is it about the live-action adaptations that interest you?

That goes way back to my grade school days, when, while reading superhero comics, I’d be constantly fascinated by the idea of these heroes stepping out of the panels and into the real, physical world. Things like how would they carry themselves, what would their body language be, what would their costumes look like, how would they sound, kept me preoccupied long past the reading of the comic itself.

It was fascinating to see the ‘50’s TV Superman, and the ‘60’s TV Batman and Green Hornet, and even back then, somewhere at the back of my young head, I was beginning to understand that tone was something that affected the entire package, and that you could have wildly different interpretations of the same character and that was fine (certainly, Adam West was not the 1970’s comic Batman, and George Reeves seemed more interested in tackling gangsters and hoods than interstellar menaces like Brainiac). Perhaps more tellingly, I was also being taught, quite subconsciously during those early years, that budget also dictated how a superhero’s live-action adventures were approached and executed.

Then Richard Donner’s Superman detonated across my young geek psyche, and that was it. If I wasn’t a lifelong fan of the stuff yet, I certainly was when I stepped out of the theater. It was the greatest superhero ever to grace a comic book panel, in real life. Yes, a man could indeed fly!

From that point on, it’s been a constant search for all sorts and manner of live-action superheroics, from the low budget ‘80’s Marvel productions like Captain America (with J.D. Salinger’s son as Cap!) to the glorious cheese of the ‘70’s Superman rip-off, Supersonic Man (still a personal favorite) to the fantastic wire fu/men in rubber monster suits extravaganza of Guyver: Dark Hero, with David Hayter, voice of Solid Snake and Captain America, and screenwriter of X-Men and Watchmen playing Guyver when he’s out of the bio-armor (the mind boggles at the audacious level of that geek cred).

The Betamax era brought treasures like the Kirk Alyn Superman serials my way, while today’s internet offers all the episodes of the zany Japanese Spider-Man TV show on marvel.com (who can resist Amazoness with her pink hooker wig?).

There’s the fantastic world of the superhero fan film out there, and the amazing costume work being done on the cosplay scene.

Then there’s the maddening variety of live-action superheroics in non-English tongues: everything from Indonesia’s Panji Manusia Milenium and Superboy on TV, all the way to the big screen, where we find curious gems like Thailand’s Mercury Man and India’s Krrish, the latter complete with Bollywood-style song-and-dance numbers!

Not to mention the martial arts badassery courtesy of first, Jet Li, then Andy On in Tsui Hark’s Black Mask movies, or the killer moves brought to us by Marko Zaror in Chile’s Mirageman.

Plus the insane tokusatsu sugar rush of Ultraman or Kamen Rider. (And yes, at this juncture we can safely toss our own Captain Barbell and Darna and Zsa-Zsa Zaturnnah into the mix.)

Now, despite what it may sound like, it’s not just about the kickass action, or the amusement and laughs one can find in some of these titles (and there are those, believe me), but it’s about that universal feeling of hope inherent in the idea of a hero who can make things right by doing what he does best: getting into the spandex and kicking some baddie ass.

There’s something reassuring about that thought, that no matter where we are on the globe, no matter the geographic distance and the cultural differences, there is always that shared belief in the power of the hero to make things right. That’s what I try to find in any title I happen to come across, and it’s there, even if it’s in some tiny moment or throw-away line or some badly-written, awkwardly-acted, and terribly-shot scene, it’s there, and it’s honestly a really nice thing to see.

These days, when part of the definition of “Hollywood summer blockbuster” seems to be the word “superhero,” I’m like a deliriously happy pig at an overflowing trough. Now, it’s become about finding the off-kilter, the atypical, the ones that say more and delve deeper into (or even subvert) the material; the Hancock as opposed to the Iron Man 2, the Defendor as opposed to the Daredevil. (And looking back at that, I realize that I’ve singled out two titles that are actually original pieces, as opposed to comic book adaptations.)

But still, typical narrative or otherwise, original or adapted, it’s about that idea of how a superhero can impact on the real, physical world, and taking that thought all the way to its possible real world end point, how can I emulate the best about a superhero even if I’m not actually one at all?

Why do you think that fantaseryes have become such a staple of Philippine pop culture? Does the speculative/supernatural element add anything to these productions?

Well, it certainly increases the show’s budget.

Other than that though, I’d like to think that the speculative/supernatural element (or, what I lovingly refer to as the weird sh*t) affords another level to the story being told.

I’d like to think, if the writers and producers of these kinds of shows were interested and inclined to, the weird sh*t could serve as that additional level that can make the show be about something more; weird sh*t as vehicle for metaphor.

You could be talking about vampires vs. werewolves, but you’re also alluding to race relations, or the class divide. You could be talking about aliens arriving to invade the earth, but you’re also making reference to colonialism and the arrival of a new religion that drove the old one to near-extinction.

But, whether or not a fantaserye chooses to be more than simply entertainment, what is readily apparent is, the format does serve to put the audience in a different milieu from the usual domestic/board room/provincial/urban settings of the standard teleserye. We find ourselves in outer space, or under the sea, or in some fantasy realm, and that additional step into some colorful, foreign space makes for more interesting and intriguing viewing.

The fantaserye also mythologizes the tension and conflicts that are a staple of teleseryes. In fantaseryes, it’s not just sibling rivalry, but feuding princes vying for the hand of an exotic princess, one prince, now part of a nocturnal tribe of undead lords, the other prince, cursed to be the leader of a pack of shapeshifters.

Or the adopted child of a poor but humble family who happens to be an alien from another world, or an enkanto changeling.

Or the CEOs of rival companies who happen to be the superhero and supervillainess of the piece, who also happen to have some sexual tension between them as they clash repeatedly across the canyons and valleys of the sprawling urban metropolis.

And, just as fantaseryes mythologize the material, on certain levels, they also simplify the overarching narrative, transposing the story onto a more clearly-defined stage of Good vs. Evil, and thus, the show becomes something the entire family can watch, as opposed to the more traditional teleserye fare, which I imagine would appeal more to adults. (And, with their real world trappings, may actually give children the wrong notion that real life is meant to be filled with evil twins, histrionic monologues, and perennial bouts of betrayal and amnesia.)

I think that’s a major reason why fantaseryes have become a fixture in local pop culture. They’re something that can be enjoyed by families, a common point of reference and discussion between parents and children, between siblings, between relatives of all ages.

I also think they’re the latest step in the evolution of an entertainment form that traces its lineage back, through the Captain Barbell and Darna komiks of old, and on, back through the serialized radio adventures of characters like Kapitan Kidlat, on, further back, all the way to the ancient myths of our ancestors, to the tales told around campfires, narrated by the tribe’s wise, old men, stories that contained wisdom and knowledge, encoded into their words and rhythms and imagery, tales that did not just entertain, but also enlighten.

Fantaseryes are part of that long tradition that will, I feel, always find some fresh, new form in which to exist, affected and influenced by the constantly evolving face of popular culture.

Pelicula was initially available as a free online novel. What made you decide to go that route? How was this move received by peers/critics/readers?

That decision was pretty much due to the fact that Pelicula was completed and lying about, like a kid I’d dressed up in an awesome homemade superhero costume, but sadly had no party to go to. So Budjette Tan and Carl Vergara suggested we throw our own party for the little tyke.

The original intent was to have a website (davidhontiveros.com) that would contain the novel, as well as online comics– created by a host of our comic compatriots– telling stories set in the Pelicula universe. The online comics didn’t happen, and the website contained Pelicula for a time, before the online versions of Bathala: Apokalypsis issues eventually crashed the party.

As far as peer/critic/reader reception, I honestly don’t really know. I mean, I would get the occasional, Hey, I read your online novel and it’s great! and it got linked to by a number of sites that focused on online novels. Other than that, I guess the kid was just enjoying his own party in his little corner of the net.

You’ve recently released Pelicula as a commercial ebook on the Kindle and on Smashwords. Why the change, and why now?

That’s down to Budjette Tan, who pointed me towards Bronze Age Media, who were equipped to turn Pelicula into an ebook, and since I knew next to nothing about the platform, I asked myself, Why not? I was curious to see what the experience would be like, to be ebooked, so I went for it.

The idea seemed to present a broader canvas upon which the novel could be placed, where, hopefully, it could be available to another sort of audience, and that thought appealed to me.

And, in the end, it was just another sort of party I could throw for the kid, who’s still not tired of showing off his awesome costume.

You’ve made some changes to the text to make it more accessible to a non-Filipino audience, removing Taglish and tweaking colloquialisms. Was this difficult to do?

Curiously enough, I thought it would be more difficult. It was actually either a full-on English language translation, or cobbling up a glossary for the original version of Pelicula, defining all the Filipino terms and dialogue, including the context for these terms and lines of dialogue. That, to me, sounded like a lot of work, particularly since I needed to get into context for every entry.

So I thought we could have two versions of Pelicula, an English language edition and the original version (which will be ebooked at a currently undetermined future point in time). I sat down to translate the Taglish dialogue and the colloquialisms, and it proved to be relatively easy-going.

Still, I feel something really does get lost in the translation, some undefinable Filipino-ness that I’m glad still exists in the original version.

As someone who has been published both traditionally and on his own, in print and online, what is your assessment of the current state of publishing in the Philippines?

Sadly, unlike my translation of the original manuscript into its English language edition form, the current state of publishing in our country, as it reflects back on local writers, isn’t as easy-going as I’d have hoped.

If I could have a Big Dream for the local writing scene, I’d wish for a time when a writer can make a decent living in the Philippines by simply writing, without any need for either a steady 9 to 5 job, or sidelines and rackets and freelancing.

Thus far, that Big Dream still seems elusive. I don’t think local writers are racking up the kind of numbers that big ticket international titles like Harry Potter or Twilight are, and that seems a shame.

It does my heart good though to note some publishers’ more ready willingness these days to entertain the work of new writers, or to get into comic books, a medium that I think is still a little misunderstood and underappreciated.

What we really need I think is for the local audience to broaden, for more Filipino readers to pick up more Filipino novels and comic books, to show the publishers that there is demand for this kind of material.

Any advice for new authors trying to make it in this environment?

I suppose that would be: Know what you’re getting into.

I’m paraphrasing a famous writer here, but being a writer really isn’t a “want”; it’s a need. One doesn’t really “want” to be a writer. When you’re meant to be a writer, you’ll have no choice but to be a writer.

You’ll have this all-encompassing need to tell your stories, to share your visions. Those stories and characters will batter you from the inside, demanding release in words and sentences, and you’ll have to heed their call, or end up miserable or mad.

Now, I say “Know what you’re getting into” because, in all honesty, it isn’t easy, this.

Face it, we can’t all sell in the numbers a Stephen King or a J.K. Rowling enjoys. And, even if the work is recognized by critics and award-giving bodies, that also doesn’t necessarily translate into sales and the subsequent royalties.

It’s a groan-worthy cliché, “to suffer for one’s art.” But the truth is, if you aren’t willing to do that, then a life in the creative trenches may not be for you…

If you are willing to make a go of it though, then welcome aboard!

The world needs its dreamers, and we’re a ragtag and motley bunch of bizarros only too happy to make room on this ship bound for who-knows-where.

And who knows? You could be the next J.K. Rowling after all…

The kindle edition of one of the best books available for writers of science fiction–or anyone at all interested in science–is on sale right now on Amazon.com: Michio Kaku’s “Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel” for the criminally low price of USD1.99 (region dependent  assume). Even if you’re not one of the lucky folks to get a Kindle this Christmas, it’s worth downloading the Kindle for Desktop so you can read this. Mindblowing stuff from a scientist who is a true genre fan, and who is adept at making complex ideas comprehensible. I don’t know how long the book will be on sale, so best grab the opportunity now.

Via Bibliophile Stalker (specifically here), I’ve learned that Locus, the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, will now be available in digital editions beginning this year (and here’s more info). This is a great relief for those of us outside the United States–when I was trying to get a copy of the Locus issue with the reviews of Philippine Speculative Fiction IV and A Time for Dragons, a hard copy was the only option (and a difficult option). Locus is a quality magazine–the site gives you a good indication of what it offers–so if you’re interested in the SFF field, you might want to give those digital subscription options a good long look.

The first Future of the Book conference was held last week at the UP-Ayala Technohub in Quezon City (here’s a great overview of the conference at Coffeespoons), which brought together publishers, writers, teachers, readers – and yes, even lawyers – to discuss the changing aspects of publishing throughout the world, and in the Philippines in particular. I was there on the second day, to talk about how independent publishers can thrive in the digital age, and I managed to take videos of a few of the other speakers as well.

A few caveats though: First, the latter half of the footage of Charles Tan’s talk has atrocious video quality – my Vado is quirky that way apparently – but the audio is still good, so I uploaded it because it was a great talk, and you can at least still listen to it (or indulge in Max Headroom nostalgia by watching it).

The second caveat is that because of time constraints, a few of the speeches had to be rushed or cut short. After the videos, I’ll have the full text of my speech and links to a few others.

I’d like to congratulate the conference organizers for a successful conference, and I hope we can all work together to maximize the benefits of this new world of publishing for all interested parties. But I swear to God, the next time I hear someone say Filipinos don’t have a reading culture, I’m shoving a textbook up his ass…

And now, the videos!

First up is Charles Tan, (Bibliophile Stalker) prolific blogger and Philippine Spec Fic advocate, on the topic of the consumer experience in the age of ebooks.

More after the cut

Here’s a talk from the same panel, this time by Carljoe Javier, ubergeek, Metakritiko editor and author of “And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth” and “The Kobayashi Maru of Love“. You can read the full text of his talk here:

And who is this handsome, handsome man? (Hey, give me a break — I rarely wear a suit, so let me pretend it had some effect.) Many thanks to Charles for taking the video. As promised, I’ll put the entire paper at the end of this post.

Poet and critic Angelo Suarez was my counterpart for the panel, his talk showing, amongst other things, how digital space can be a home for works deemed “unpublishable”.

Gerry Alanguilan was supposed to be a part of our panel as well, but he had to bow out. He did upload his paper though, which you can find at his site.

Last but not the least, let’s hear a sample from one of the many foreign speakers at the conference. Here’s J. Kirby Best, e former president and chief executive officer of Lightning Source Inc.

And now, as promised, the full text of my paper/talk:

EDIT: Now with relevant hyperlinks

BRIDGES OF VIRTUE: INDIE PUBLISHERS AS THE GOLDEN MEAN

A Paper for the Future of the Book Conference 2010, by Paolo Gabriel V. Chikiamco

“Virtue, then, is a kind of moderation inasmuch as it aims at the mean or moderate amount.”

- Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics.

Being a philosophy major, I’m of the opinion that the great thinkers of the past have something important to say about every aspect of life, even our modern life. As such, I hope you’ll humor me as I open this talk on a decidedly modern topic – the opportunities for independent publishers in this digital book revolution – by talking about Aristotle and the Golden Mean.

For Aristotle, virtue or excellence is that trait which, when possessed in the right amount, keeps something in good condition, and allows it to perform its function well. One of the key phrases there is “possessed in the right amount” – Aristotle believed that virtue could only be found at some optimal point between two extremes, that of excess and that of deficiency. To use the most common example, the virtue of courage is found between the two extremes of cowardice and recklessness.

What does this have to do with publishing? Right now, publishing is defined by two extremes. First are the Big Publishers, the ones with substantial investment in the old status quo of print books, the entities with big-name authors, enviable capital and long-standing connections with distributors and media outlets. At the second extreme are the Self-Publishers, a class of authors which have always been with us – for authors, such as Aristotle himself, were releasing their works to the public long before third party publishers existed – but who have in the past been stigmatized, as well as sidelined from the most lucrative types of commerce by an inability to match the scale of access and distribution available to Big Publishing. (In the Philippines, the most visible form of self-publishing – social networking aside – is the burgeoning indie komiks [comics] scene.)

Of course, “in the past” here must be taken to mean B.T.I. – Before The Internet. While I would not go so far as to say that the playing field has been leveled – although I’d argue that it is on its way there – the fact that the publishing landscape has been irrevocably altered cannot, at this point, be doubted.

“Nothing endures but change.”

- Heraclitus.

During this conference, you’ve been exposed to the changing face of publishing, especially in the West, and the problems it brings for Big Publishing: issues with regard to ebook pricing, royalties, digital rights, DRM, and inadequate business models. There are opportunities for Big Publishing as well, but the simple fact is that, having reigned atop the Old World of Publishing, they have the most to lose by the transition to the New.

For self-publishers, it’s a different story. In the New World of Publishing, the Internet, ebook readers and print-on-demand outlets give authors the ability to distribute their work internationally, on a scale unthinkable even to Big Publishing (BTI), and at a fraction of the cost.  Having spent so long at the bottom of the barrel, self-published authors have nowhere to go but up, and hence the New World is nothing but opportunity. In fact, in an era of social networks and blogs (and just recently, plugins like Anthologize which can turn a WordPress blog into a functional and ready-to-sell ebook) where it can be said that we are all publishers, some wonder if third party publishers are needed at all.

If all that one wants is to make a book, as a text, available to the world, then the answer is no, you don’t need a publisher. On the other hand, if the goal is to make a book as a commercial product, one that is visible and viable, then – unless you’re an established author or are willing to put a lot of work into the book above and beyond actually writing it – yes, you still need a publisher.

But in the New World, the Big Publisher is not your only option – nor is it necessarily your best option. In a publishing world dominated by the two extremes, the most “virtuous” means to get your book to the market may be through an entity which can combine the strengths of Big Publishing and Self-Publishing, and in so doing (because the strengths of one are the weaknesses of the other) minimize their weaknesses. The best option could be an Independent Publisher and small presses: entities with more resources and business savvy than your typical author, but which retain a flexibility and personal touch absent from bigger publishers.

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood.  I’d type a little faster.”

– Isaac Asimov

At Rocket Kapre, I write and edit speculative fiction by Filipinos, and in that field, most of the authors I know are artists. They want to write stories – full stop. This paramount love of writing is the only reason we even have speculative fiction authors here – God knows that none of us, not even our best and most popular authors, are making a full time living out of it, even though that is the ultimate dream. Yet, while authors would love to have a bestselling book, very few have the time or inclination for the back breaking, non-writing work that is required to turn a well written book into a commercial success.

Publishers, on the other hand, even if they love their genre, always have an eye toward commercial viability. They’re the ones who study the market and how to market, who traditionally handle both big and little details from ISBNs to getting the book into retailers. While it’s easier to get a self-published book on the shelves of retailers in the Philippines, abroad the stigma still remains.

Also, while authors are increasingly being asked to share in the burden of book promotion, publishers still play a key role as intermediaries, since many authors, even avowed self-publishers, have an aversion to self-promoting. Publishers, on the other hand, don’t have to be modest when describing the genius of their authors. Nevertheless, the larger a Publisher grows, the larger the potential divide between the interest of the Publisher and those of the individual author.

Independent Publishers can retain the commercial savvy (and earn the credibility) of larger entities, but they also tend to remain small, and as a consequence, are usually very focused on a particular niche or genre. The smaller size (less red tape), fewer authors (more attention to each author), and greater focus will ensure that the individual author seldom feels that there is a conflict of interest between himself/herself and the Independent Publisher’s bottom line.

Having a strong online process can also make it possible to promote a book/brand well, even without the budget for large scale physical events, such as book launches: Rocket Kapre Books is a fledgling press, and yet free and easy access to content on the site, including our online zine “Usok“, allowed us to receive coverage on local and international websites, including Locus Magazine, probably the leading English language SF news/reviews magazine in the world.

However, it cannot be overly stressed that a Publisher not only adds value after the work is complete, but helps ensure that the book is the best it can be. While some self-publishers rejoice at the way the Internet has allowed for a circumvention of the traditional function of Publishers as “Gatekeepers” of the literary world, rare (if not non-existent) is the draft or manuscript that does not benefit from a close reading by an objective third party. Even the most critical author will have blind spots, especially when dealing with a text they have become overly familiar with, blind spots which an objective editor will not share. While the rigor of editing benefits the book and the author, it is this promise of quality control that benefits the prospective reader, who can be assured that any book released by a publisher was filtered by at least one objective pair of eyes before the reader spends his or her hard earned cash.

Here, again, an Independent Publisher can provide the best of both worlds, providing and guaranteeing editorial oversight, while the smaller size of Independent Publishers allows for a more personal relation with both authors and readers.  With capable and consistent editorial work, Independent Publishers can win respect and credibility at par with that of any Big Publisher – if not greater. Here, it again helps that Independent Publishers have a clearly defined niche or genre, as they can quickly establish a reputation amongst fans.

Fiction is experimentation; when it ceases to be that, it ceases to be fiction.

- John Cheever

You may note my repeated emphasis on the small size of Independent Publishers, and how this can give them the advantage, in some instances, as against Big Publishers. The reason for this is that small entities are generally more adaptable than larger ones, and during this period of transition to the New World – where we know the landscape is changing, but not what it is changing into – publishers need to be adaptable in order to survive; in order to thrive, they need to be willing to experiment. Many of the experiments they take when they test the waters will result in failure, but as Independent Publishers have less to lose and more to gain, they will be that much more innovative.

Keep in mind that the uncertainty of the current environment is about more than the format of the digital file, of PDF versus EPUB vs MOBI… Anyone who believes that the final form of the digital book will be static lines of text on a screen is fooling themselves. The book as a medium for delivery of content is in flux, and small, risk-taking ventures are at an advantage.

Lacking rigid corporate structures or the baggage of the Old World (huge warehouses, pile of returnable books), Independent Publishers are the publishers best poised to position their businesses atop the rapidly shifting sands of the New World, to grab opportunities as they present themselves – especially in the digital space.

Here’s an example of an advantage of adaptability: having a quick turnaround. After the devastation brought by Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng in late September of 2009, I decided I wanted to put together a small charity anthology. I pitched the idea to authors on September 30, and before three months had passed, Rocket Kapre books released “Ruin and Resolve: Pinoy SF for Charity“, with nineteen stories and five poems – many of them made specifically for the anthology – from Filipino writers here and abroad.

“To live alone one must be an animal or god.”

– Frederick Nietzsche

In speaking of opportunities, I cannot stress enough how the Internet creates and facilitates opportunities for collaboration, and how these collaborations can add value to your products. We saw that from “Ruin and Resolve”, where I managed to put together the book through email correspondence with authors and the cover artists. Filipino artists have also become key collaborators with me on Usok, the online magazine of Filipino-made speculative fiction which I host on site.

Kevin Lapeña, who I’d commissioned for the cover of the first issue of Usok, approached me with a proposal: he’d just co-founded a group for digital painters – CG Pintor – on the popular art website deviantart, and he wanted to know if I’d be willing to tie up with the fledging organization. Their artists get exposure on the website, and our stories for Usok receive artwork from some of the most promising digital artists in the country. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, and yet had Rocket Kapre Books been an impersonal corporate Big Publisher, I doubt that Kevin would have made the offer, or that he would have received his reply a day after his email. The arrangement has worked out well: the international exposure helped get an older piece of Kevin’s published in a German artbook, and I was able to renew interest in Usok #1 when I re-launched it with the beautiful artwork – an endeavor that would probably not have been financially viable with a print magazine, but was easily executed with an online zine.

The Internet also allows an Independent Publisher to collaborate with the most important partner of all – the readers. Having at least some of your content online can give a publisher access to invaluable data about who reads your products, and how they use them. One day, I was looking at the daily statistics for Usok when I saw a sharp spike in views – it turns out a high school class had used the stories for an assignment. The ease by which the Internet facilitates distribution of content means that the biggest problem a book will have is still discoverability, but a strong web presence will allow you to connect with your readers – compare sending a link to a class to forcing them to find copies of a book – and in the process discover what interests them.

As I mentioned, for an Independent Publisher, the means to distinguish yourself from other content providers is to clearly define your niche, and information about the readers who visit your site – which posts are most popular, which posts receive the most comments, which posts have the most links – can be important to fine tuning your focus, so that you can give your readers what they want. Big publishers tend to operate as a “Brand”, their communication to the consumer only one way, from them to the consumer. Independent publishers have the opportunity to go beyond the creation of a brand to the creation of a “Community”, one where there is a mutually beneficial two-way flow of information. Book readers are a passionate lot, and they want to be heard, want to be involved.

This is how an Independent Publisher can succeed in the New Era of digital and immediate content: by serving as a bridge between the author and the readers, adding value – in house or through strategic partnerships – to the work that passes its hands, and ensuring that nothing gets in the way of a good story.

I began with a philosopher, and now, allow me to end with a poet:

“We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.”

– T.S. Eliot; Little Gidding

Tell me a little bit about yourselves, so our readers will know the context from which you approach your writing.

EK: Call me EK, ee-kay.  My real name can be easily found–I have published and may still publish with it–but since I am using a professional license now, I prefer to use the online handle for fiction-related matters.  My writing background is hard-knocks, coming from school newspapers, stage presentations, fan websites, fanfiction, and some original fiction.

Kuyerjudd: I started writing when I was eight years old, because the worlds I made (or the worlds that made me) were the very things that kept me going. In that sense you could say I’m a hippy writer. I keep my head in the clouds, and not a lot of people who write Western fiction get published in the Philippines, so I constantly end up querying agents from Australia and the US—with no luck as of yet. That being said, I keep my heart where it is … where it belongs: in the Philippines. Other than that, I’m sixteen, live with my parents, and I dream big. More? I write comedy, I don’t use the QWERTY, and I’ll soon rule the world. With brownies. Lots and lots of brownies.

Raven:  Actually, what led me to write Crimson Skies were the questions that I used to ask older people as a child (even a priest and a nun): ”Why do we have to die? When is the end of the world? Where is God? How sure are you it‘s not the devil talking to you?” The characters (in the story) ask these same questions themselves.

Pauline: I’m a Psychology major with too much imagination, not to mention an inborn fascination with the occult and the paranormal, yet one lacking the perseverance to slave through blocks of texts that end with a question mark. Much of what I write are products of my imagination, since I like creating facts from theories and theories from facts.

Most of these stories started as your respective NaNoWriMo projects. How many NaNos have you participated in? Do you think the challenge is helpful to new writers (in whole or in part)?

EK: This is my second year as a Nanowrimo participant, and this is my first complete story using this method.  My opinion is that Nanowrimo is helpful to new writers, giving them a solid goal and solid objectives.  The website makes a community of similar-minded individuals come together, which makes you feel less lonely as a writer.

Kuyerjudd: This was my first time doing NaNo, but not my first to write a novel. I guess I could say, yes, NaNo is helpful when you’re a budding writer. It helps you develop your voice, discover who you are as a writer, and, most importantly, teaches you how to deal with a deadline. And that way, the writing becomes less cold, as you go by your gut and an “anything goes” attitude. You become in tune with the eight-year old aspiring novelist that you were…

Raven: This was my first time to join the Nanowrimo and this is the first novel unleashed from my head. One of the challenges faced by a newbie is realizing that writing a novel isn’t something you can just play around with. It’s a rollercoaster ride because there are so many things you can do, but you have such a short span of time to do them, thus adding pressure. Since this was my first novel, figuring out of how to do things and put them together, while at the same time trying not to copy another author’s style even by accident, was crucial. There are many things to learn still, and just because you‘re able to finish a novel doesn’t mean it’s done.

Pauline: I’ve participated in NaNo since 2007–though my first year barely counts since I joined on the second to the last day. The challenge of NaNo was quite helpful, especially when I was just a greenhorn, since it introduced me to the real concept of the Deadline. Perseverance and stubbornness are also traits that I picked up through the experience, and I always get to hone my knack of writing-without-an-outline each year thanks to NaNo.

What made you decide to take your stories straight to the market, without the intermediary of a third party publisher?

EK: Speaking at least for myself, there is no local market that I could see yet for my kind of writing, which is in between children’s books and the adult fiction. This is not to say there are no readers; the local success of international YA titles show that there is a readership. Rather, there are no publishers yet seriously considering the kind of writing that some of us make.

Kuyerjudd: Hey, any opportunity to showcase your work is an opportunity worth taking. I find publishing in the traditional sense difficult–and yet I still query agents and publishers… Sometimes you have to show the world you want it before it gives in to your wishes. Plus, this is a great opportunity for a fledgling writer like myself to show the world what I’m made of.

Raven: I consider this a “suicide mission.” Sure anyone can write a story; but not everyone has the guts to put it up for people to read. Some writers do, but staying on the front lines is a gut wrencher, especially without a third-party publisher to guide you. Going straight to the market is the ultimate test of how far one can personally go for this.

Pauline: I prefer seeing things to the end. I see all of my creations as my babies, so taking them straight to the market is like watching them march down the aisle during graduation. I mean, what kind of parent would rather ask someone else watch his kid graduate?

Have you encountered any of the stigma that allegedly colors perception of self-published books?

EK: This experience of preparing for Komikon taught me that paid editors and the traditional system [of publishing] are around for very good reasons. They provide objective eyes for a story, and harness the business knowledge to market it.  But if Komikon is anything to go by, a lot of independent works deserve a chance to be noticed, a chance they will not get via the traditional system.

Kuyerjudd: I’ve often thought about self-publishing and what its pros and cons were, but right now”it sort of branches out as to what form you distribute your work in—you could do e-books or PoD. PoD is okay, but I’d rather go with e-books, as it’s less costly for three parties—the author, the reader, and nature.

Raven: When people hear the term “self published book”, some will be amazed that we have the guts to do it, while others will think that no self righteous publisher would take the stories so we’re doing it ourselves. Having a self published book is a challenge for us: we call the shots, true, but how long can we hold on to that?

Pauline: From a writer’s perspective, I do. Thoughts like: ‘Will people even pick this book?’ and ‘Am I even making any sense?’ plague me–I don’t know if those count as real stigmas, but I definitely feel anxious.

How did you go about preparing your stories for sale, after NaNoWriMo ended? Did you do any tweaking of the text, show it to friends, read it aloud?

EK: Mostly I obeyed that suggestion to leave the text alone for at least a month, to step away from it. Afterward, I tweaked the text as best as I could, and sent it out to a friend to double-check and beta-read.

Kuyerjudd: I’ll be honest: I didn’t finish the novel by the time NaNo ended. Of course, when I found out about the Komikon, I worked hard to finish it, with my best friend handling editing duties.

Raven: I did a lot of serious thinking, because when I wrote Crimson Skies, it was just a novel for myself. Then I discovered I wanted to do more, and I want people to know my characters, their world and their stories. It sounded exciting at first: but again writing and selling a novel are two things–the latter is more nerve wracking. I’m still at the stage where I’m wondering “What am I doing here?! What was I NOT thinking?!“ I did serious tweaking with the text, and asked some friends to read it, but sometimes a friend will be too careful of what to tell you, and it becomes pointless when you hear “It’s OK.”

Pauline: Totally–a lot tweaking. I edited half of the first part of the story so it could match the ending better, and as I edited, I read it aloud to make sure it sounded plausible and sensible. Though a lot of my friends asked to see it, I don’t think I’m quite ready yet to show it to anyone outside my literary circle, at least not until it’s finally out as a self-published title.

What made you choose distribution through CDs, and through a booth a Komikon? What file format is your ebook going to be in?

Kuyerjudd: I read an article about the impending rise of the Era of E-books, and thought I should give it a shot. I’m more of a paperback person, but what the heck, right?

Pauline: Actually, I was offered the chance to be EK’s partner in this project, and then we thought of extending it to fellow PinoyWrimos as well so more people could be involved. File format will be in PDF to ensure protection and so that reading won’t be limited to just the computer–people can upload it into their iTouch/iPhone/iPad or PDAs or any ebook readers that supports PDF.

EK: Practically speaking, it is easier and cheaper to create and distribute a 150-page story through a CD. This also allows us to provide artwork, or to even consider adding music files. Komikon is primarily an event for independent comics, so I figured it would be a feasible venue for independent fiction as well. Also, the people who will be at Komikon will likely be young people acquainted with the works that influenced the authors (both eastern and western comics and speculative fiction), so I was hoping they would be a better market.

Raven: Having a booth in a Komikon will get us a chance to show people what we can do, and how far we’re able to take it. I, for one, also want to erase the concept that writers stay indoors in their “own little world.” Believe or not, we talk to people–not just because we have novels for sale, but because we want to share our stories with you. Getting more people to read my work is important, and having it on CD as a PDF file is the best way to achieve that.

Can you tell me a bit about the involvement of Ria Lu and Talecraft?

Pauline: Well, I’ve been using Talecraft since I was in high school to keep my brain churning, especially during Slump Season.

Raven: Talecraft is a story telling game that really suits our needs. What happens is that you need to create a story based on the cards that you pick, and it helps us learn which elements we can use to create a good story, and which ones we have to set aside, or mix with other elements–otherwise we lose the story, we lose ourselves. As for the Komikon booth, Ria Lu is taking a risk with us, and we don’t want to let her down.

Kuyerjudd: Ms. Lu and Talecraft have generously offered to sponsor a booth for us WriMos. I truly do believe in their Project 20:10 advocacy. Writing is all about taking chances: you don’t always know if you’ll get published or not, but all the same a writer has to keep writing. We hope other people will give our stories a chance as well.

EK: Talecraft has been a friend of the Pinoywrimos for several years. Since Komikasi initiated Project 20:10, I contacted Ria Lu in the hope she would be interested in supporting the Pinoywrimos as Pinoy authors, and that she would remember me well enough from previous meetings.  I was afraid of doing this completely by myself, because I am not a business-savvy person, so I am very grateful for the support of Ria Lu and Komikasi.

(To Pauline) Tell me a little bit about Ghost Café: Now Open? Is that the title of both the novel and the short story, or just the novel?

Ghost Café: Now Open is basically the first part of an anthology that I’m working on right now, about the life of people from the ‘otherworld’, or the paranormal, who live in the normal world. The first part, the short story, is about how Jeremy Reiner, the protagonist, returns to being an exorcist after four years of retirement. The second one, the novel, introduces the readers to the kind of job Jeremy really has. GC: Now Open is the title of both the novel and the short story–it’s like a bundle or a package name.

(To Pauline) Why did you choose to make your protagonist a retired exorcist?

It may sound a little cliché and a bit theatrical, but the idea comes from the concept of rebirth. It’s a rebirth for me, the writer, and the protagonist of my story as well. I wanted to show my version of how someone who has fallen from grace but who can still redeem himself–not to other people but rather in his own eyes. Choosing a protagonist like this is like going on a long journey of experiencing new things, re-experiencing the past, and at the same time, making peace with unresolved inner issues.

(To Raven) Tell me a little bit about Crimson Skies. The blurb on the Talecraft site labels it as “literary fiction” but goes on to mention angels and perhaps a transference between worlds.

At first I opted to label Crimson Skies as simply “fiction,” but then came a question: “What kind of fiction?“ Since Literary fiction is “not precisely defined”, Crimson Skies ended up falling under the same, but I hope to put an exact genre on it in the next volume.

(To Raven) What kind of world does the story take place in?

If you can imagine yourself trapped in a world where forgiveness isn’t handed out easily, where the creator you were taught was merciful is anything but that, that’s where Crimson Skies takes place. In such a world, how can one keep his faith? Crimson Skies is about dealing with questions that have bothered me as since I was a child.

(To Kuyerjudd) Tell me a little about Dragon Wars: The Dragon Slayer’s Heart? That’s the title of the novel I take it… so what’s the excerpt from? Is this meant to be the first in a series?

Yes, it is the first in a series, but whether or not I will write the sequel depends completely on the reviews the novel gets from the Komikon. I already have it outlined. (Writing is the only thing I’m organized at.)

My protagonist, Anthony Archer is the perfect student—honor roll, president of multiple organizations, well-rounded—but he gets caught up in the world of gaming and he starts becoming attached to it. Suddenly, he hears his avatar talking, and it reaches the point where he actually sees and feels the avatar. He loses himself to it.

In the story, I’ve tried to weave in the inequities of today’s society, so that more people will be able to relate with my protagonist and the story itself.

(To Kuyerjudd) The protagonist of the story is a gamer, and much of it seems to take place in a game world made real. Are you a gamer yourself? Did this influence how you approached the story?

Ooh, ooh! I like talking about this. I never start writing a story until I know what it will be about and until I know who my characters are–and, for NaNo, I sort of cheated, as the characters I used were characters I knew firsthand, taking pieces and traits of people I knew and putting them together to form an entirely different character, especially since I also put a little of myself in every character I write.

And no, I’m not a gamer (although I am a writer who easily gives in to procrastination—FarmVille or Tiki Resort, anyone?) but I had to do the leg work to create my characters. I hung out with some of my classmates who play DoTA and used that to my advantage as a writer. I wanted to find out what happens in the mind of a person addicted to gaming.

(To EK) Tell me a little bit about Activated. It’s labeled as a young adult story… did you initially set out with that target audience in mind, or was that simply how the story evolved?

‘Activated’ as a concept was originally born as a possible submission to The Farthest Shore. Unfortunately the concept refused to settle quickly in my brain, and the story began to demand space for its characters, and it refused to be a short story, or even a novella. Finally it became the Nanowrimo project. The story is about a group of young people, all skilled programmers—that is, element and attribute spell-casters—brought together and forced to help each other, in order to protect their home.

I’ve been submitting to online and offline markets just enough to know that my natural writing style results in pieces too long for children’s fiction and too simple for adult fiction Since my style seems better suited for young adult fiction, I might as well be true to myself and go on with it, and let the characters be the young people that they are.

(To EK) You’re a published short story author. How different is the experience, between working with an editor on a short story, and completing a novel on your own?

I am grateful to the people who have published my work (one of them being yourself), thank you.

I’m not sure they could be compared. Definitely a novel is a much longer story to edit, and needs to be checked for narrative continuity besides grammar mistakes and narrative development.  But editing is still editing, something needed by any story of any length.  Because the novel form is longer, large swathes of text gets taken out, rather painfully.

Truth be told, this is not my first time making a novel-length story. However this is the first time I wrote an original novel-length story in a straight line. I appreciated the elbowroom given by the novel form. I liked getting to know the characters better along the way, and watching side stories develop in the process.

(To everyone) In your own words, why should readers pick up your books at this weekend’s Komikon?

Pauline: Part of me wants people to see that self-published writers are not really that different from established writers. But honestly, I just want to share and let people have a glimpse of what’s been stuck inside my brain for eons. It’s like a one-sided conversation, perfect for anyone who ends up falling asleep while someone’s pouring out his drama over the phone.

Raven: It’s a major challenge for me, as a newbie to do this. I keep asking myself:  “Am I really doing this?!” But I am, because I want readers to fall into a world where people are questioning not just what is going on around them, but their very own existence. I would like to take the readers in a different reality.

Kuyerjudd: I think my story is easy to relate to, in a lot of aspects. I do believe readers should take a chance on it because we should all take chances on literature—the writer, the publisher, and as I see it, even the reader. Each book you read—or each novel you write, each manuscript you take a look at—tells you something about a person, about an era, about a country… and it tells something about you as well.

EK: There are no local equivalents for these stories, not yet.  We are hoping readers will like what we have to offer and want more of it. Please give us a chance, tell us how we can improve, and support our humble efforts.

[Cover art was provided by the the authors, via EK. Image of EK's character, Lan, in the title image and in the last picture was made by K. Pinoywrimo logo from Pinoywrimos.com, talecraft banner from http://talecraft.komikasi.com/ and Summer Komikon 2010 logo from komikon.org]

The latest online spec fic anthology from Estranghero Press has now gone live. Go check it out! From the site:

These are the Filipino horrors: the garden-variety demons from hell with plastic forks and spongy tails, the ones in your head that come out to play at midnight, the spirits that make up most of your lives like a Frankenstein monster. We’re letting out all of these things that haunt our days in 2010.

“Demons of the New Year: Horror from the Philippines, edited by Joseph Nacino & Karl de Mesa” is published electronically to make this collection of stories available to a wider international audience. Through this anthology we will be able to show the world that the Filipino writer can create horrors that can scare with the best of them.

• Dominique Cimafranca shares his presentation on Online Literature for the Tabaoan Writers Conference (yes, he does mentions us ^_^). The conference is ongoing at the moment, so do check Dom’s blog for coverage (he has Day 0 and Day 1 impressions up on his site.)
• Speaking of writers getting together, Ian Rosales Casocot has posted a call for submission of manuscripts to the 49th Silliman University National Writers Workshop.
• Ruin and Resolve contributor Catherine Batac Walder tells us she’s got a story out in this week’s Philippine Graphic. It’s entitled “Hey Soldier”. Congrats Catherine!
• In further congratulatory news, I’ve read that (via macoy’s blog) it seems that Gio Paredes’ Kalayaan indie superhero series might see some U.S. distribution.
• Via Yvette Tan’s, we’ve learned of Filipino Scares, a tumblr site with short (flash-length) horror stories.
• Over at the Philippine Genre Stories blog, Kenneth Yu has a post on ongoing local writing competitions, and another on a workshop for online writing from Luis Katigbak (the first is on the 15th).
• Kenneth also informs us that the launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. V will take place on April 24, 2010, 3 p.m. at the UView Theatre of Fully Booked at Bonifacio Global City.

Events:

• For those looking for a twist on typical Valentine’s fare, science writer and curator of the upcoming Mind Museum (and friend of the site) Ms. Maria Isabel Garcia dropped us a line to let us know of When Love Falls an evening of love and science on February 12, where psycho-analyst Dr. Agnes Bueno will discuss love gone awry. You can see the poster here.
• I think we’ve mentioned it before, but let me remind everyone that KomiksTrip, the first UPLB comics convention, is taking place on February 13.
• Speaking of comics, the Renaissance Project, a comics/komiks event for the benefit of Filipino artists who have fallen on hard times, seems to be pushing through on February 20 21 at the SM Megamall Megatrade hall.

Reviews:

• Some reviews of interest over at Metakritiko (which I’ll be leaving soon, unfortunately. Although I’m sure you’ll all be pleased with the new man at the helm ^_^). I take on Lola by J. Torres and Elbert Or  (it’s also been reviewed by Ruel de Vera)
• Also on Metakritiko, Fidelis Tan reviews Underpass. You can actually read her favorite story of the lot (by the Trese pair of Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo here or here). Also on the channel, Mighty Rasing reviews Legion and Marrianne Ubalde praises Kapitan Sino.

As a publisher (digital or not) avenues of distribution are key to any strategy. It’s our job, after all, to get the stories of our authors in front of as many people as possible. Smashwords.com is one of the more open and promising ebook distribution outlets at the present (it is DRM-free as well), and we’ll be releasing our ebooks and digital files of Usok on the site. Smashwords distributes through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony and Shortcovers as well (we’ll let you know when/if Usok pops up in those sites) so it’s a great place to be.

For starters we’ve got Usok #1 available as a single file download at Smashwords in a variety of formats, which I’ll discuss in a bit. Since Usok #1 is free, you don’t need to register at Smashwords in order to download it, but if you’ve got the time, feel free to go through the process so that you can review Usok on Smashwords (pretty please? ^_^), and so you’ll be all set when our non-free offerings come out.

Aside from reviews and helping spread the word, trying out the different formats and letting me hear your feedback would be of great help as well.  Which format did you prefer, and what would you like us to improve on in the future? There’s a bit of a trial-and-error type learning curve involved in Smashwords’ ebook formatting system, which is why we’re testing this out with Usok, a free offering, rather than with our first anthology, Ruin and Resolve. The good thing about Smashwords is that after you purchase an ebook, if there are any updates to the file made afterward, you can re-download it for free. (This also opens interesting possibilities for a book with constantly updating content that can be made available for a flat fee, but I’ll save that for another day…)

Note that none of the versions includes the new cover which you can see above (file size considerations I assume) but you can download the cover image here or from Smashwords, and certain readers (like Stanza) allow you to attack a cover image to the ebook file.

For those interested in the details/differences of the downloadable versions, I’ve got a breakdown of the versions, file types, and a few desktop readers after the cut.

Smashwords allows an ebook to be downloaded in the following formats:

• .mobi (for the Kindle [free desktop edition here])

• .epub (for Stanza and a few other readers)

• .pdf (Adobe Reader or alternatives such as Fox-it)

• .lrf (for Sony Reader)

• .pdb (for Palm devices, but Stanza can read this as well)

• . rtf

• .txt

Of course while the book is made available in all these formats, they are not “created equal” so to speak, and your choice of file will have a lot to do with the device or program you’re going to use to read the book.

While I don’t have a dedicated ereader device (so I don’t know for sure how Usok 1 looks when viewed through a Sony ebook reader or the Nook) many of the formats can be read from your PC desktop with the right program (I’ve linked to a few above). If you’re considering that route, here’s a comparison of the files for your convenience:

The PDF and RTF versions best retain the formatting of the source document, including the images such as the Rocket Kapre logo and scene-breaks. At the moment, I’m thinking that “Ruin and Resolve” might be limited to these versions, because of the need to retain the format of the poems in the anthology. If so, I’ll try to put in a hyperlinked Table of Contents (this was not recommended for Usok 1 since I was converting to all formats, and hyperlinks might have caused a failure to convert.)

The Kindle desktop app can read the .mobi file, and while there seem to be extra spaces added and the line-alignments and images have been stripped, I have to admit the interface is easy on the eyes.

The epub and .pdb versions can both be opened by Stanza, but they seem to be the most bare-bones of the conversions. The .pdb file doesn’t even retain the author data, although the epub version does. Still, the Stanza readable versions (Stanza can read .mobi, .rtf and .pdf files too, albeit stripping them of formatting and images) have the advantage that they can be read on the iPhone or iPod Touch using the Stanza mobile app.

We all knew it was coming: the Kindle is going international. A Kindle with international wireless whispernet (and yes the Philippines is covered) will start shipping on October 19 and is available for pre-order now. You can find more details at blogkindle and Teleread.

Not a bad time to be a digital publisher eh?