‘Crowdfunded’ titles at the 35th Manila International Book Fair
MANILA, Philippines - Do “crowdfunding,” will publish book.
The social media and the Internet have become the prime venues of crowdfunding”for the publication of books. Crowdfunding is synonymous to fundraising, kick-starter movements, donations, etc., although the term is now widely used to refer to internet crowdsourcing for funds to develop various materials.
The 35th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), slated on Sept. 17-21 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay Citywill host and make available books, novels, classics that were once crowdfunded or self-published like E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey.
Even the Bob Ong series. As the story goes, Bob Ong ultimately started as a blog in the very early 2000s titled BobongPinoy. When the people at the University of the Philippines saw how good the blog was, many of them motioned for its funding and publication in actual print-copy to Visprint, currently the publisher of the series. The Bob Ong series are just some of the books that started from kick-starting all the way to publication and success.
In indie music albums and indie literature, the practice is very common. It has long been practiced that authors solicit funds from the public through their interests; even classical authors had their own form of kick-starters in their public endorsements and solicitations to publish their works, when they didn’t have the means to self-publish. Recognizing the stringent costs of publication, artists and authors usually utilize these methods in order to minimize financial risks or losses.
The idea of funding from the source is usually conceived by independent individuals or groups, who have little means of making their product known or developing them on a wider scale compared to that of huge companies.
Today, Pubslush.com, Kickstarter and Indiegogo are some of the most widely recognized crowdfunding websites, endorsing literary works for funding by backers around the world. In the sites, a variety of new works of literature are available for donations.
MIBF is organized by Primetrade Asia Inc. in partnership with Asian Catholic Communicators Inc., Book Development Association of the Philippines, Philippine Booksellers Association Inc., and the Overseas Publishers Representatives Organization of the Philippines. For details, call 896-0661 and 896-0682, or e-mail bookfair@primetradeasia.com.
