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 RA 8047 repealed Executive Order 492, series of 1991, as amended, the law which created the Instructional Materials Development Center, under the Department of Education,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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