Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
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For those who are unfamiliar with MIBF, it stands for Manila International Book Fair and is an annual event that many Filipino readers and writers eagerly anticipate. As a reader and writer, I have always been excited to participate in this event, especially if I have the budget (haha).
And this year has been, so far, my best experience of MIBF. And good news for those who know me: I stepped out of my comfort zone, or at least I tried, even if only for an hour, and I want to praise God for that!
With the help of PaperKat Books and Ms. Kath, I was able to book an hour of meet-the-writer and a book signing event during the MIBF 2025.
Initially, I only planned to consign my latest book, The Restless Mind, and hope for the best of its sales. I am scared to be on the frontline of the meet-the-writer and a book-signing event. But then, there was this desire to try the book signing activity. I took the risk. I thought I had nothing to lose, and it was not like I was going to do something bad or illegal.
"I am just gonna put myself out there, and be a little vulnerable in the eyes of spectators." I thought to myself.
So, yes, I did! I had the book signing and meet-the-writer activity with PaperKat Books. I am really grateful for the opportunity and the experience, and I am so glad I got to experience MIBF 2025 as a writer and a reader.
Special shout-out to the readers who took a chance on my book, The Restless Mind, during my book signing: Ram, Grace, Zu, LJ, and Thine!💙 If you bought my book at MIBF 2025, and I was not able to sign it for you, I hope I get to see you at other events. SLMT 💙
I am looking forward to experiencing more of this event.
I am joyful that I did this. It was beyond my comfort zone, but God did it again! He helped me get through 🙏🙌
The Restless Mind, my latest book, is participating this year. The book event will run from September 10-14, 2025, from Wednesday to Sunday.
Ms. Kath Eustaquio-Derla and PaperKat Books helped me to make this opportunity possible.
I also have a Meet the author schedule at Booth #2-122, 2nd Floor Function Hall, SMX Convention Center Manila. So if you want to meet me or get your copies signed, please feel free to drop by. Other freebies are waiting for you. I hope I get to see you guys and gals!
The latest book that I read is To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I think it is the first time I have read a classic intentionally. I thought reading a classic would be boring, but I was totally wrong. To Kill A Mockingbird proved me wrong.
It is also my first time having a reading buddy with the same book. It was a fun journey as we shared our thoughts and feelings through a group chat.
This book brought hope to me, and I am sure to other readers. Though the resolution of the main conflict in the story is not favorable, I can say that the book teaches hope. That injustice does not have to be a dead end. The story setting is in 1930, more than a century ago, and the book screams RACISM as the main topic. It recounts a somber aspect of American history.
In the present, everything is better; not perfect, but better. The human race still has some improvement to make, and I hope that we are getting closer to it, rather than moving further away.
The book has a slow pace of telling, and that is what I like about it. I enjoyed how the writer built up the story by mentioning the neighbors, the town, and the point of view of the narrator in the form of a child. There is always hope; change might take a while, but it will definitely happen as long as we strive for good and the better.
So if you are looking for a book that will give you a glimpse of hope in humanity, then this book can be a good choice.
Tuesdays With Morrie is a book that I got to know through a friend. I saw one of his online posts, and didn’t waste my time having a second look. It was just one of the many passing updates on my news feed from my online friends which I rarely put too much attention to.
It started with curiosity and a book that was on sale at Goodwill. It was cheap and I could afford it hehe
The book left me with the impression that nothing is forever. Nothing lasts for eternity. Well, except for the One who is Eternity.
People come and go. They stay for a season and a reason. Some choose to stay, some choose to leave, and some just have no choice but to submit to the natural way of life, which one of them is death.
Humans die. Human death is a dead end, everyone must face it. To leave the physical world is something that no one could ever run away from.
But the memories we create with our loved ones, with the people who stay for a season and a reason worth all the struggle and pain we face in life. The experience of being alive and living and loving the moment is a gift from the One who lasts for eternity.
The present is a gift I am in the process of consistently trying to be grateful for. I can be an overthinker sometimes and that ruins the gift of the present. I am always praying to have a grateful heart, a heart that is overflowing with gratitude. In good times and bad times, I desire to be grateful to the LORD.
The attitude of gratitude is a good way of living a good life, of no regrets, of contentment, and of joy.
I hope and pray we also find peace as we journey to a life that is filled with gratitude to the One who stays and lasts forever.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
[18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This is the second book I read from Mitch Albom and I try to write a blog post about it makes me wander about the first book I read from him which is Tuesday's with Morrie. I went to the search tab and search for the title, but it didn't give me any. I tried the author name and it didn't also. I am surprised and I didn't have a blog entry for Tuesday's with Morrie. I was so confident that I had a blog entry for it. Oh well, I guess I have to read it again or I just have to remember what the book is about.
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?"
"It is a fiction, slightly non-fiction, and a little bit of self-help." And that's how would I describe the book, the five people you meet in heaven. It was easy and short to read. The length of the book is just enough for the story, no fillers, just the essential. My heart swelled in all the heartwarming parts of the book. I must confess I cried to most of the part of the book. I loveSo how picturesque the used words are, they tickled my imagination.
I took notes of the lessons I learned from the story of Eddie and how he came to know why everything happened in his life and learned their purpose. The realization he had about the things that happened in his life was comforting to a reader like me whose trying to find reasons and purpose why bad things happened even though a person isn't bad at all.
Lesson 1: We are all connected and affect one another by our actions and decisions in life.
Lesson 2: We all make sacrifices in life and it is for a reason, definitely not a vain reason, but a purposeful purpose and reason.
Lesson 3: We forgive. Hate is a double edge sword. We hurt as much as we hate. So, we must forgive instead. Forgiveness is much powerful, than hate.
Lesson 4: We move on. We don't get stuck in one place. We fail, we move on. We got hurt, we move on. We win, we move on. We move on with life, and we're always making progress little by little, step by step.
Lesson 5: We have purpose and we will serve it well by the end of our life. One way or another, our purpose will be served whether we are aware of it or unaware. We got purpose in life no matter how painful life has been.
I must say that this book is on my top good read books. I reall enjoyed and learned a lot at the same. A must read you have to try too, if you haven't.
Let's read more books! Tara!
Love,
Ang Pinay Manlalakbay
No post for June. It was a month of tears, heartbreaks, pain, and disappoinment.
But for the month of June, I finished reading the book Joyful Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot. I guess that was the book I needed that time. It was a good book companion going through the process of another surrender in my life.
There is nothing joyful in surrendering the fight to be with the one you love. Never in my entire existence thought of struggling to be with the one I love physically would come my way. I had this thought that it was something that could be won easily. Like as long you love each other, it will work out, and I am pretty sure it is going to be hard, but at the end of the day it is still going to work out.
I was never ready to give up. Though I had anxious thoughts, I always thought that if I stick with him through thick and thin, he will do the same too, and he did, but up to a certain level only. He wouldn't go down deep in the dirt with me, and I get him. I so get him that I tried so hard to convince him that we could make it through together physically, but he would not try it. And I still love him.
He was right it was a lot more complicated, but my simple mind saw it simple. It was simple for me.
Maybe he was right when he said everything was falling apart. On my side, I thought I was doing a good job trying to keep it together. I was breaking, falling apart, but I tried to stay in one piece to keep the relationship, to stay together physically, because distance, a long, long distance can bring loneliness in a relationship.
He decided to let me go and it was something I did not want him to do. I thought he would not want to be apart from me, as much as I hated the idea. But he made his decision, and I did not have nothing to change that decision.
I decided to surrender in hope that it would give him peace and joy. In hope that God will open doors for us. My heart was breaking, is. My soul was torn apart, is. It was the hardest decision I made in my life, to let go. To leave him, and be thousands miles apart from each other
I miss him every single day. I miss him in moments I am happy and in moments I am sad. I love him. But God should come first, and I guess that's the part that I missed, we missed maybe. He was the center of my universe. He was my world. I thought us going to church was putting God in the center of our relationship. But I guess, there were times we didn't put God above our relationship. We let Him down. I always pray that God will be glorified in our relationship and I still do. I pray that God is glorified in this season of my life as I wait again and try to live a life of freedom, joy, and faith all through Him and in Him.
Joyful surrender is hard at the beginning of letting go of the battle you have been fighting for to win. It is still hard and difficult during the process, loneliness is another constant battle I have to deal with. Only God can make it easy. If you let go, and let God.
Before the end of June, it was also a month of hope and new beginning. As what he said, hope keeps us going.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
This step is the part of self-publishing where you decide to have a print copy of your book. I have come upon this company that helps in printing self-published books. I am glad to find IngramSpark.
Now, here is the big question: Do you have a manuscript you want to print and an ISBN for your book? If your answer is yes, this might be the right time to try using IngramSpark.IngramSpark offers printing services. It is a company built by indie publishers, for indie publishers. Fully integrated print, digital, wholesale, and global distribution to help you publish like a pro.
You just have to prepare two (2) documents: a formatted manuscript and a full book cover.
1. Formatted Manuscript
For most of the books I self-published, the size I use is 8 by 5. I use Microsoft Word for the interior of the book or the manuscript itself.
2. Full Book Cover
The application I work with to make my book covers is Canva. The front, back cover, and spine are all created with Canva. Just make sure you use the template book covers for you have the right dimension. Since I use an 8 by 5 size for the interior, it is only right to have your book's front and back cover in the same size. On the other hand, the width of the spine depends on the number of pages of the book, and the height remains the same as the front and back covers.
To calculate the width of your book spine, you may use this tool from IngramSpark: Spine and Weight Calculator
Here’s a sample of the book I published on demand with IngramSpark. Behold! 😂
I hope this helps.
Self-publishing 101: How to apply ISBN for your self-published books from NLP online?
Thursday, May 8, 2025
Do you want to sell your books through a physical bookstore just like me?
As a self-published author, one of my dreams is to see my books in the shelves of many physical bookstores which seems like a pie in the sky for me before the boom of internet age. Right now, I can see light and hope for that dream. There are a lot of ways to make it possible and I am hoping and praying it will work.
But first, I needed that ISBN. So I did get it for my new book and good news just recently, I got approved of ISBNs for the book I have written entitled The Restless Mind. I got the ISBNs for ebook and print version and I did online.
The National Library of the Philippines (NLP) is the repository of the printed and recorded cultural heritage of the country and other intellectual, literary resources and information sources.MissionThe National Library of the Philippines is an ISO certified national repository of printed and recorded cultural heritage in the country that acquires, organizes, conserves, and preserves Filipiniana resources and provides equitable access to information resources on various platforms.VisionPremier national repository and gateway of knowledge, culture and innovation empowering Philippine society.
How to get ISBNs for your self-published books from NLP online?
1. First thing first, register as an author/writer with NBDB and here is how I did it:
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
and you can do it too, just click the link.
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| The confirmation email I received from NBDB. |
2. Create an account on this website: https://web.nlp.gov.ph/isbn/
3. Prepare a document that contains the full book cover of the book/s and copyright page. Remember, make sure you follow the prescribed format of the NLP or else they will reject it, but you can still revise your application.
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| The proof of work I submitted for the ISBN application. |
4. Submit a request by clicking ISBN Application tab and filling out all the necessary information about your book and uploading the document.
You will receive an email verifying your application and it may take up to two business days to evaluate your application.
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| This is the email I received when my ISBN application has approved. |
I hope for your success in your ISBN application.
Self-publishing 101: How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB?
Thursday, April 24, 2025
As a self-published author, I had a little desire of registering with NBDB. I thought the process was tedious so I decided to forego the idea of being a registered author despite free online registration the agency was offering. I thought I could not squeeze it in my busy schedule.
But these past few months, I got no more excuses not to consolidate documents required to be registered as an author in the date base National Book Development Board or NBDB. The best part is the whole registration process can be done online. Tada! Isn't that good news?
Another reason to pursue this author registration is for me to be able to apply for ISBNs of my books, since I also plan to sell my books in bookstores and they require ISBN on books to be sold at their store. There is going to be a separate blogpost on how to get ISBN for books, once I got my author registration certificate.
The enactment of Republic Act 8047, also known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act, was a clear demonstration of the government's attention to the important role of books in nation building. The law created the National Book Development Board (NBDB) which is tasked primarily to formulate and implement a National Book Policy with a corresponding National Book Development Plan geared towards the development of the book publishing industry. The birth of the NBDB was a long struggle that started in 1998 in the halls of Congress by men who shared a vision and the desire to see the growth of the book publishing industry in the Philippines. That remarkable struggle ended on June 7, 1995 when His Excellency, President Fidel V. Ramos, signed into law Republic Act No. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act which created the National Book Development Board. RA 8047 repealed Executive Order 492, series of 1991, as amended, the law which created the Instructional Materials Development Center, under the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).
How to register as an Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB? What are the requirements? How many days will it take to receive the author registration certificate? These were the same questions I had where started thinking about the process of the application.
Here is list the documents or requirements I needed to prepare:
1. One (1) valid government-issued ID. I submitted a copy of my passport.
2. Bionote. I limited my bionote to five (5) sentences, but I am sure you can write more than that. Here is a sample of my bionote for your referece.
3. List of Published and/or Unpublished Titles. There is a downloadable prescribed template by the NBDB that I had to fill out diligently and it looks like this:
4. Proof of Work. I consolidated the book covers and copyright of all my published books in Word document file. For my unpublished titles, I also put them together in a Word document file and most of my unpublished manuscript do not even reach twenty (20) pages, so I just put whatever I have. I saved the documents for my proof of work as PDF.
After I finalized all the requirements, I sent them to this email: registration@books.gov.ph. All the documents will undergo evaluation by the NBDB and it may take up to seven (7) days.
Please feel free to comment or send me a message if you have any clarification. This link will give you the full details of the registration process: NBDB E-Registration
Be a registered Author/Writer with Philippine NBDB and start your application now!
Good day y’all!
Good news, I just released a book for my birthday. I’ve been self-publishing for almost ten years. I am happy doing that, and I find purpose in all the books I write. I hope you’re having fun, too, doing your purpose!
Here’s the full cover for the print copies of my latest book, The Restless Mind:
The Advance Reader’s E-book Copy is now available for reviews and interested readers. Please feel free to message me or comment on my posts, so I can send you a copy of The Restless Mind. You may add the book to your Goodreads account.
Please don’t hesitate to post your honest review of the book on Goodreads:
If you’re interested, please send me a message via Messenger, comment on this post, or e-mail me: arlenemanocot@gmail.com. I will send you an e-book version of the book for review.
Your time and interest are highly appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day! 🙏🤗
As you all know, I am about to release another collection of poems. It is a collection of my written thoughts and feelings in the most creative way I can. It is also my way of releasing overwhelming or underwhelming positive and negative emotions.
The title of the new book to be released is The Restless Mind. You can know more about it from the article that I posted on this website. You may click this link to read more about the book: https://www.arlenemanocot.com/2025/04/new-book-reveal-restless-mind.html?m=1
So going back to the question, where to publish or to print book? This inquiry was sent to me privately by a Facebook friend and I was thinking maybe aside from him there are others who might want to know something about self-publishing.
In my ten (10) years of experience in self-publishing, I would consider that there are different parts of publishing: writing, editing, formatting, and publishing. I had to ask that friend of mine what specific part of publishing and it turned out, he wanted to print his own collection of poems.
There are two printing company where I can get print books for my self-published books, one in the Philippines and the other is in the US.
1. PH prints
I submit my soft copy and all the details of the books to JMD Prints. They have Facebook page, but personally I like to message Ate Joy on her Messenger account for every transaction I have with JMD Prints. They will ask you send the digital materials via e-mail. Here’s the link for their FB page if you want to get in touch with them and planning to print in the Philippines. In my experience they got the most affordable and high quality output.
JMD Prints Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/share/1C8RBXWX2A/?mibextid=wwXIfr
2. US Prints
This is the first time I am going to try printing in the US and also using Ingram Spark. I inquired to one printing company, but their rate was a little pricey. I have created an account on their website starting to format my latest book according to their requirements. Here’s the link Ingram Spark website for to explore and decide if it is the best option for you.
Ingram Spark: https://www.ingramspark.com/
I hope this article helps you to get an idea about book printing. Please don’t hesitate to send me a question about self-publishing or anything maybe hehe. Have a nice day!
I am the birthday girl!
I don’t usually celebrate my birthday and maybe never post something about celebrating my birthday. It is hard to remember. But this year, my heart is just overflowing with gratitude to God for giving me this opportunity to live and to have a life. Even though life hasn’t always been easy, I thank You God for this gift of life.
Well, now that I think about it. I never had a sort of celebration for my birthday. Usually, it is just eating together or going somewhere to explore, and I like that idea, that’s the kind of celebration I would prefer. Never had the cakes and balloons with lots of confetti, and it’s fine. I guess that’s kind of celebration is never in my radar.
Birthday gifts from my love 🥰
Thank you Angie, Savior, Jared, Nay, at Tay for the video greetings and cake!
Thirty five is the age now. I am in the middle of my thirty’s. Right now as old as I am, I am in the phase of my life where I know exactly what to do but I do not know how to do it. Like I know what I want, I know my purpose, but I am scared because I just got out of one of the many things on earth that makes me feel secured which like everything else is temporary and will definitely perish.
Thank you for all those who didn’t forget to greet me on my birthday! 🎊
I just have this thought that I have surrendered everything to God. My trust and hope is in Him. I always pray for provisions, safety, protection, wisdom, endurance, and guidance for me, my family, and loved ones. My prayer also is to live a life that is content and glorifying to You, my LORD.
And this is the birthday book!
I tried to release every year and during my birthday. The Restless Mind is the birthday book this year and it contains some of my confessions. Maybe, I wrote this book out of grumbling and complaining about life or a specific situation and circumstance I needed to deal with.
I just hope and pray to inspire other people specifically women through this book. Another prayer of mine for this book is to earn a living out of my books. Please get a copy of this book. You may order a print copy of The Restless Mind through this pre-order form: https://forms.gle/B2MrroFvYJCY5fnm8
Please don’t forget to tag me on a post or send me a message if you want to get in touch. Have a blessed day y’all!
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