Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I wonder why

I was bloghopping as usual and was able to read some really, very beautiful posts. The writers were diverse, actually. Some are mothers, students, gay people, angry people, emo, lovers, etcetera. I just can't recall the names of these creative minds here. But these are all Pinoy.

First thing I'm wondering about is why, with all these great and unique written content in blogs, why do we have very few good Filipino books in the market? Sayang na sayang lang. (Wag kang kumanta.) Just look at the Pinoy literature section in your nearest National bookstore. Diba isang rack lang yung para sa mga serious books (I actually consider Bob Ong books 'serious' because they 'seriously' sell like pancakes). Tapos, the expensive ones pa are written only as textbooks. Have you ever seen a Pinoy book na makapal? I have never seen one. Only thin volumes are being sold. I am puzzled..are they saying that our attention span can only tolerate thin volumes of Pinoy creativity? Kahit English pa yan o Tagalog, if you have read what I have read in Pinoy blogs, I would definitely buy a book they would write.

E ano ba yung non-serious books sa kabilang rack? Yun yung mga pocketbooks. Yung mga romance stories. Naman mehn. Mas marami pang pocketbooks sa bookstore kaysa sa textbooks eh. Ito ang mga titles na nakita ko:

-Cuckoodoodleduo
-Pag-ibig ng kontrabida
- forgot the title pero La Tigra yung protagonist

Hanep. Yun na.period.. ay gusto ko pang magdagdag --merong bastos moments,so don't buy them. (bakit ko kaya alam?). Anyway, at least sila merong courage na magsulat ng magsulat.
Sa bagay alam nila na merong bibili. (hello ati)

Okay, so I guess the reason why would be "fear". Being a writer and selling what you wrote is like a boat ride into the ocean. Konti lang din siguro ang publishers dito sa Pilipinas na gustong mag-invest sa mga literature. Kawawang mga writers. Nagbabakasakali sila sa mga blogs. Sa bagay online journal din 'to. I'm happy cause I get to read them for free here in the net. But I hope our system does something to remedy this. Nasasayang lang ang mga utak at talents ng mga Pinoy bloggers na'to. Ang ganda talaga ng mga poetry at prose nila. Di bale i will list their names sometime. Sana meron pang hope para sa literature ng mga Pilipino.

--inhale--

Anyways. I just salute you all, dear bloggers.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

pwede , na pala ako maka-comment. hahaha!

madami ngang nakakatuwang blogs. ako, mas natutuwang basahin yung tagalog post kesa mga nose bleed na english post, ahahahaha.

canky.is.me said...

hahaha ok lang yan. kaya nga tayo may sariling mundo eh. tayo tayo lang nakakaintindi at nakakaappreciate hahahaha :))

Sendo said...

basta i so adore bob ong's works! simple, hilarious -- and sharp!

Anonymous said...

Aww sis, I agree with u, when I was back in PI, I never seen such thick books in National Bookstore, I wonder how is like that, Lots of comics, and esp pocket books, This post is really nice and very interesting ...

I am not really into reading books but I always check them when I am out of the bookstore,

Ehjayculate said...

oo agree ako diyan ... pero di ako umaasa or even sumagi sa utak ko na ako ay isa sa mga tinutukoy mo ... wahahaha

Anonymous said...

hahha!
ayaw ko ubusin ang pera ko sa mga pocketbooks.
ang gusto ko pinoy stories tulad ng kay bob ong!

BOB ong dabest!

Anonymous said...

i love reading books here in our office :)

gawa ng mga associates ng center's namin... ang gagaling nila!

pati yung gawa ni ate "wanda".. lam mo ba yun?heheheh...
(meron kc d2 sa office yun e..)hehehe

lucas said...

oo nga noh? napaisip din ako...4 mos palang akong blogero and i was very fortunate to meet and read amazing blog authors here... hmmm...

siguro may role din yung profession? parang ako...nurse but i like to write pero i can't be a full pledge writer, and a dedicated nurse...ahehe..sakin lang yun ah? hehe!

Anonymous said...

to everyone: let's support pinoy lit. by buying them

@ ronieluke: yup, me too, i cant be a full-pledged writer. kasi dito sa pinas, dapat laging may side job ka eh. thanks for commenting guys!

Anonymous said...

uy. sapol! haha. pero totoo nga ito, kulang lang sa support ung mga magagaling na writers/bloggers pero kung tutuusin astig ung mga gawa nila. super astig pa iba.. ang problema sa publishing ek-ek churva, kailangan dun may kakilala ka kahit papano.. di na yata mawawala dun. mas pinapayagan pa nilang mag-exist ung mga librong walang K. LMAO.

Unknown said...

baka ayaw nilang pagdaanan yung hassles of writing a book.. like beating deadlines, at yung pagpi-finance din.. di ba?

libre kasi mag blog at isa pa napaka-convenient kasi para sa writer at para sa reader nga anytime pwede kang magsulat o magbasa w/o any worries.. di ba? at updated pa.. di ba?

mavs said...

i agree with master turon...
blogging kasi ung pinaka accessible na medium so sell their pieces..
o kahit to publish their works lang..
at least sa blogosphere...
immediate ung pagbasa mo kaya immediate din ung feedback..
love the post...

Anonymous said...

@ ronturon and mavs: me too, im so happy i read them for free here in the blogosphere.

i was just hoping na sana one day mabiyan sila ng big break..

thanks for your comment!!!!

cbs said...

hellow...

dun sa huling "sana" mo, bakit naman wala?

the spool artist said...

very interesting observation... di kayaĆ½ most filipino writers trust iternational publishers than local? ive seen a lot of books by filipino writers but published in the US nga lang...

SPLICE said...

kailangan talaga ng suporta sa sariling atin :)

Anonymous said...

@ cbs: i dont get it.sorry

@ spool artist: really? meron writers sa US na pinoy. wow. sana sa philippines rin noh

gillboard said...

fact is, dito sa pilipinas, the book industry isn't the best investment. gustuhin man ng karamihan na magsulat ng aklat, hindi kasiguraduhan na kikita sila ng pera.

cbs said...

sabi kasi dun sa last sentence ng post, sana may hope pa para sa literature ang mga Pilipino, kaya sabi ko, bakit naman wala.

ikaw ba talaga nagsulat nung post? malamang sorry din.

Anonymous said...

@cbs: yup ako rin nagsulat ng post. i mean sana i hope na umayos na ang lit industry sa pilipinas dahil halos puro txtbooks at pocketbooks lng ang meron sa market.

Anonymous said...

di kasi ganun kalaki ang potential ng market sa atin. bukod pa sempre sa mentality nating mga pinoy na kapag imported, mas oks.

kaya yung gusto magpublish, di pa napupublish, lugi na.

siguro kung me OPM organization na nagpo promote ng local artists, dapat meron ding nagpo promote ng literacy ekek sa atin.

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