November 13, 2011 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – Filipino books are made more accessible to the online market as literary works of renowned Filipino authors and publishers are now available at e-bookstore Flipreads.com. Developed by 100% Filipino-owed Flipside Publishing Services, Flipreads.com was launched on November 11 at the Celebrity Sports Club Grand Ballroom.
Flipside had been engaged in the business of converting print titles into e-books and is responsible for publishing and co-publishing Filipino and Asian e-books on Amazon, Apple iBookstore, and Barnes and Noble. However, Flipside CEO Anthony de Luna explained that most of these international e-bookstores are not accessible to the local market. Amazon, the only e-bookstore accessible to Filipinos, charges an extra $2 per book.
De Luna told philstar.com that Flipreads’ advocacy is to make e-reading accessible to the local market.
“Because of the difficulty of purchasing from Apple (iBookstore), or not being able to purchase from them at all, and from Amazon, you pay extra for just being in the Philippines, we felt that we needed a local solution to make e-reading accessible to the local market.”
Flipside launched about 70 e-books from Filipino and other Asian writers. Among the e-books available at Flipreads.com is Rose Fres-Fauto’s Raising Pinoy Boys, which paperback version was recently certified as Filipino bestseller.
For Fres-Fausto, Flipreads is more than enriching an advocacy, it is sharing a dream.
“My book is a work of love. It is the compilation of my two decades of parenting. It is really about savoring those wonderful years and trying to share the experience in the hope that other parents will get insights from it.
“I dream that all Filipino parents will raise their children so well that we will have an abundance of talented, honest, and competent Filipino children who will grow up to be talented, honest, and competent Filipino adults, who will always do the right thing whether someone is looking or not. I hope that this book will be my humble contribution to that.”
Flipreads know that most Filipinos either do not have a credit card, or are too anxious to use them for online purchases. To address this concern, Flipreads.com offers a cash purchase option through CashSense. Cash payments can be made through 7-Eleven branches, Cebuana Lhuillier and soon through Globe GCash and Smart Money.
