United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon

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One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging much lately is because I was kind of busy ever since July rolled around. You know how sometimes, your love for something just extends out and makes you do things that you never thought you’d be doing? Oh, and it’s not in a bad way, of course. I just find it amazing that my love for books gave me an opportunity to be a part of things like these.

Anyway, this weekend is a big weekend for Filipino readers! It’s time for the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon!

United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon
August 18, 2012, 8:00am to 6:00pm
Filipinas Heritage Library

I realized that I didn’t have a proper blog entry for the ReaderCon last year except for this In My Mailbox post, which kind of makes me sad because I had fun at the event last year and I should have documented it. Nevertheless, this year’s event is bound to be bigger because it’s a whole day event, and we have more things in store for everyone! Like panels about Reading Everywhere, Book Blogging Ethics, Publisher’s Perspective on Readers, School Reading Programs, and Authors As Readers. There will also be Book Discussions in the afternoon, where our book club is doing a replay of our February book discussion, The Little Prince. And then the winners of the Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards will be announced too! :)

Since I’m in charge of online promotions, I’ll be busy live tweeting the event with my team, so be sure to follow the @PinoyReaderCon twitter, and/or like the Filipino ReaderCon 2012 Facebook Page since we’ll be posting some updates there, too. :)

United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon will be on August 18, 2012 (Saturday), 8:00am to 6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library. Registration fee is Php150, and you can pre-register for the event here. This event is held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB), and sponsored by Scholastic, Lampara Books, McDonald’s, Flipreads, Anvil Publishing, Hachette Philippines, Amici Philippines, OMF Literature and Adarna House.

If you’re attending the event, make sure you say hi! :) See you!

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Kwentillion Young Adult Readers Carnival

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Ah, so many bookish events in such a short span of time, are you excited?

If you’ve been following Kwentillion on Facebook, you would’ve read about this already, but in case you’re not, then read on! Presenting the 1st Kwentillion Young Adult Readers’ Carnival!

Kwentillion Young Adult Readers' Carnival

The event will be on July 21, 1-5pm at Bestsellers Robinsons Galleria. This is your chance to meet fellow YA literature fans in Manila, plus also meet Kwentillion contributors and other authors. :) If you have your copy of the magazine, you can have them signed there, or if you don’t have them yet, you can get yours (you should!) at the event.

There are other fun events, too, like the Author Cage Match, where teams will convince the audience that their chosen author is the best, and panel discussions with Kwentillion contributors and Philippine YA authors. Here are the panelists who will be at the event:

For the Kwentillion Panel:

For the Philippine Young Adult Creators Panel:

There will also be previews of current YA books on the shelves of National and why we think you should get them, as well as previews of the upcoming releases. If that’s not enough, there will be a YA Books Only Sale inside the store, and participants will receive a discount coupon as soon as they register which is valid for a one-time purchase inside the store.

For more information and updates, you can visit Rocket Kapre and Kwentillion’s Facebook page. YA fans in the Philippines, this is a must-go-to event! It’s really unfortunate that I’m out of town on the same weekend (without Atrix 4Gs), but I’m sure this will be a fun event. Is it too early to wish for a part 2? :)

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On Anniversaries and Book Discussions

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My April has been pretty packed, if you noticed based on my online disappearance. It wasn’t as busy as my March was (come on, birthday months are always busy), but April had a different kind of thing. I’m actually a little bit overwhelmed when I realized that April is ending on Monday. What happened to my month.

April is a big month for me, in terms of bookish activities though. I haven’t been reading that much, or reviewing, but I assure you, I’ve been doing lots of bookish things with bookish friends. And those are the best things, right? :)

Happy second birthday, book club!

Two years ago, my book club was born. Okay, it wasn’t really — the club has been online for how many years but they only started meeting face to face on April 2010. I wasn’t a part of the book club then — I only joined the group on their second official meet up — but looking back, it almost feels like I’ve been with them from the very start.

So on April 15, we all met to celebrate our book club’s birthday.

Happy second birthday, TFG!

Continue Reading →

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Flipreads: Filipino e-Books for All

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There were a lot of things that happened last Friday, and yes, I think people made use of the 11.11.11 date to make the day more memorable and all that. Other than the 11/11/11 Challenge for our NaNoWriMo region and lantern launches all over the metro, Flipside Digital Content also launched their e-bookstore, Flipreads.com. :)

I was supposed to be at that launch but alas, work called, so I had to pass. But if you also missed the launch, well, here’s some stuff on the launch and the bookstore for your information. :)

eBooks now made accessible to Filipinos through Flipreads.com

Filipinos can now have easier access to eBooks through the online eBookstore, Flipreads.com. Likewise, authors and publishers can now distribute their eBooks more widely and securely through the same website, which was launched on November 11 2011 from 4-7PM at the Celebrity Sports
Club Grand Ballroom.

Flipreads.com is owned and developed by Flipside Publishing Services, a sister company of Flipside Digital Content. Flipside Digital Content, previously just a conversion house catering to four of the top six international publishers, is responsible for publishing and co-publishing more than 70 Filipino and Asian eBooks on Amazon, Apple iBookstore, and Barnes and Noble just in its first six months of operation. Most of these international eBookstores, however, are not available to the local populace.
Filipinos can only buy from Amazon, albeit with an added cost of $2 per book.

Now, Flipside is making eBooks more accessible especially for Filipinos through Flipreads.com. Readers can download eBooks onto their Apple or Android devices. They can even download it onto their PCs or Macs. Whereas before, Filipinos could only buy eBooks legitimately if they had credit cards, but with Flipreads, they may use other payment gateways such as CashSense and, in the near future, Globe GCash, and Smart Money.

Flipreads also serves as a secure distribution platform for Filipino publishers, authors, and other content providers. Therefore, publishers can now sell their eBooks securely through Flipreads.com. Authors can also opt to independently publish their titles through the site. Other institutions and
entities can also distribute their digital materials safely through Flipreads.

eBooks distributed through Flipreads can be made secure through the use of Adobe Content Server’s DRM. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and is the means by which eBooks are protected from casual piracy. Alternatively, authors and publishers may choose to distribute their eBooks for free
through the Flipreads site.

Flipreads also hopes to provide a venue to publishers and authors to bring previously out-of-print titles back into circulation. Since everything is online, these titles will also be available to an international market.

For more information, email business@flipreads.com or call +632-5709255 or +63917-6206244.

I love the idea of this entire store, and I love that it makes books more accessible to people not only here but also in other countries. Of course, nothing still beats print books, but still, ebooks have come a long way and it’s really hard to deny ourselves that they are here and they help a book reach more people than a print one can. I mean, look: they have The Sky Over Dimas by Vicente Garcia-Groyon, and that was a required reading for me back in college. And they also have Blue Angel, White Shadow by Charlson Ong, which I reviewed earlier this year. And of course, they have High Society by Paolo Chikiamco and Hannah Buena (formerly known as Kataastaasan), which I definitely recommend. :)

Also, I love that this thing came just in time for NaNoWriMo. Who knows, maybe a NaNo novel will get published and sold through Flipreads.com sometime, yes? :)

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Filipino Readers Make it Social!

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My blogger friends have been posting about it since last month, so this is a late post…but you know what they say: better late than never! I christened the months of August and September as “book months” because of all the bookstores that go on sale during this month. It’s changed this year but around this time, all major bookstores in the country go on sale, and all of the sales culminate with the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), where I have been known to go crazy a couple of times because of all the books on sale in one place. :)

There’s more reason to be excited for this year’s Manila International Book Fair because of this:

The 1st Filipino Reader ConferenceIt’s the first ever Filipino Reader Conference! It will be on the first day of the book fair, September 14, 1-6pm at Meeting Room 2 of SMX Mall of Asia. I know, it’s a week day, but if there was any time to use a vacation leave for work, this is a good one! I already filed my leave! :) This is the first ever gathering of Filipino readers, bigger than all those meet-ups and book club meetings that we’ve been blogging about in the past year! There will be panel discussions on different topics like blogging and book clubs, social media and bookishness, and all sorts of fun activities made especially for Filipino readers.

And did I mention some cool prizes up for grabs? :)

My blogger friends have been making a lot of noise with this event in the past few weeks, so if you haven’t heard about it…well, now you have! I’ll be the live Twitter-er for the event, so follow @PinoyReaderCon for updates! More fun stuff and information on the official website for the conference, too :)

Ten days to go until this event, friends! Are you going? If so, I hope to see you guys there! :)

 

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