MIBF: ‘We’re not afraid of Big Bad Wolf’
MANILA, Philippines — “Big Bad Wolf? We’re not afraid of Big Bad Wolf!”
Such was the bold statement of Irene Lloren, President, Primetrade Asia Inc., organizer of the annual Manila International Book Fair (MIBF), when asked by Philstar.com about their rival book festival, Big Bad Wolf (BBW).
“Because they’re the wolf, we’re the sheep,” Lloren added in jest.
“No, no, kidding aside, Big Bad Wolf has own editions of books. We have the new ones. And this (MIBF) is an industry event. Big Bad Wolf is being controlled by, I think it’s a consolidator from Malaysia. And this (MIBF) has been going on for four decades already. Thirty-two years of MIBF was organized by Primetrade, which I head, imagine? So don’t anymore do your mathematics,” she laughed.
Like BBW, MIBF went online at the pandemic’s height to survive. Fortunately, only a small number of printing houses closed shop, said Lloren.
“Like everyone else… we were having a difficult time pivoting online because you have to have technology to be able to pivot online,” Lloren said of the adjustment they made when they held the fair virtually as big gatherings were banned during the pandemic’s onset.
“I tried, as much as possible, to make people experience what goes on in a physical event online. It was difficult because it cannot be replicated.”
But now that MIBF is back in-person, with a four-day run from September 15 to 18 this year in SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, Lloren is happy that the fair’s exhibitors, and their market of readers from different generations, have also returned to welcome them back.
“A physical event is much better than this online thing. We missed it for two years and we have to continue for the sake of our exhibitors who have been loyal to us during the past years,” Lloren enthused.
Though MIBF this year was smaller in contrast to its past editions – now with only over a hundred exhibitors as opposed to almost double the size or over 200 exhibitors pre-pandemic – and now down to three halls from covering eight halls before – Lloren said it was just to test if their market is still as big as it was.
‘Rock star’ authors return
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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, ABS-CBN Publishing, printing arm of media giant ABS-CBN, contributed much to the long lines of people going to the fair with its slew of star-studded book authors like Vice Ganda, Alex Gonzaga, Boy Abunda and Ramon Bautista.
But since ABS-CBN shut down during the onset of the pandemic in July 2021, among those that were affected was its publishing business. And so, ABS-CBN Publishing was not present in all its glory at this year’s MIBF return.
PSICOM Publishing, like ABS-CBN, was among those that drew large crowds to the fair pre-pandemic, thanks to its celebrity book authors like YouTube star Lloyd Cadena and cult young adult book-to-film reads like “Diary ng Panget” and “She’s Dating the Gangster.”
When singer-actor James Reid dropped by the fair to greet fans of “Diary ng Panget,” from which his Viva movie was based from, it was perhaps, among the longest lines in the fair’s history – with over an hour of waiting time to get inside the halls.
PSICOM believes that celebrity authors still have power to sell books, so even if the publishing house this year has a more modest booth in Hall H because they are again restarting and testing the waters, they said they would love to come back with a grander booth in the following years, and with more offerings for a wider audience.
Even without celebrities, there are still the likes of comic book artists Pol Medina and Manix Abrera – “rock star authors” who have returned to MIBF with stage activities and interaction with fans this year, said Lloren.
Hungry for education
Lloren saw no change in Filipinos’ reading culture amid the pandemic.
The big local bookstores, like National Bookstore and Fullybooked, were missed by printing houses like PSICOM because according to the publishing company, the big bookstores were among the ones that lure multitudes into the fair.
Now that they have tested the waters for the fair’s physical return, Lloren is excited for it next year because hopefully, the big bookstores would be back with their grand installations.
Even without the big bookstores this year, the fair shone brightly with its independent bookshops and publishers that were so aplenty, they occupy a huge chunk of the fair called the Indie Village.
About 98% of university presses are also doing well, with many people, even not graduates of these publishing houses, buying stacks of books from these campus publishers, said Lloren.
“Okay, there’s new technology, we have digital books and all, but there’s nothing like having the printed pa rin,” she claimed as to why many YAs (Young Adults), the fair’s biggest market, still prefer to have their books on print.
The young generations, from Generations X to Z, are also a big market for the fair, while children’s books and cookbooks are among the fair’s top bestsellers.
Rio Lim, Head of Marketing, Vibal Group, told Philstar.com that their company, at first, was hit by the pandemic as their main market then for textbooks, private schools, went online. But since being among the firsts, if not the first, in the country to shift right away into producing modules for public schools, the company was able to get through the worst times.
“We lost the private schools, but we gained the public schools,” Lim affirmed.
MIBF, she said, is the biggest industry event, so their company made sure not miss the fair since joining it in 2015.
For their physical return to MIBF, Vibal adjusted by highlighting general reference books instead of textbooks.
“This year, we focused on stories about the Philippines to highlight trade books that promote and preserve culture, art, history, as shown in our display panels,” Lim said, showing to Philstar.com their booth’s different art installations, including a big pop-up map book rendered by a Filipino artist.
“We will do it with maybe baby steps. People were estimating it, you know, the turnaround, to maybe three years,” Lloren said on when MIBF could fully recover.
According to her, their recovery would be hastened if only there would be government subsidy, like in Germany, Singapore and Malaysia.
“Well, you cannot expect us to be like pre-pandemic times, but slowly, we will be back to normal.” — Video by Philstar.com/Martin Ramos
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