
Years ago, I dreamed to become a writer. I really love reading a lot. I’m abookworm. And I thought being a writer is a pretty cool career. But found out that it was not… hehehe… Now that I’m a writer, I know how it is to become one. I know what are their sentiments, especially for newbies like myself.
Writing is a very rewarding profession. I never regretted that I did write because I’ve met a lot of wonderful people. I gained a lot of friends. I’ve met fellow writers too. But then, it aint financially rewarding. My goodness, mas malaki pa ang kinikita ko sa CallCenter kesa sa pagsusulat. But I never have regrets that I am a writer. I have lots of responsibilities that I need to earn and work hard for money so I multitasked. I worked and wrote novels. But I aint a superwoman… huhuhu… but then I tried. Kaya naman kapag masyado nang busy, hindi na ako nakapagsusulat.
It is really hard to write a manuscript. You invest everything, effort, time and all for a story that may or may not be accepted by your publisher. MSV is already in the business for more than ten years. They had published a lot of novels and had gone through thousands of scripts. And for business purposes, they do not publish novels with similar plots. Kaya ang mangyayari, hindi nila ipa-publish ang iyong nobela kapag meron ng nauna. Kahit pa mas maganda ang sa iyo. It might conflict their business interest.
When I write, I don’t really think of plots na hindi pa naisulat. Kasi ba naman there are a fishbowl of ideas ang thousands of writers are getting ideas from that small fishbowl. For me, a theme is not so important but the story itself, the characters and the exciting scenes. I exert more effort in involving my readers as though they are the main characters because that’s my goal. But a writer’s belief will not be a publisher’s belief as well. So I had passed novels with MSV and was returned because of similar plots. Kahit pa sabihin ni Miss Apple na maganda naman siya kaso nga lang marami na silang napublish na pareho ang theme, still it did not make it. Napatunayan ko iyon when I racked through some books of MSV in NBS and found out that there are similar plots. Sinuwerte nga lang kasi mas naunang magpass sa akin.
But well, it’s always that things happen in a reason. That there was really a thing called destiny. I found this awesome publisher that earned my respect and admiration. In one fateful day, I stumbled to Eve Montelibano’s website, have scanned her pages and read her novels and bang, I fell in love with her books! It was marvelous! She was really a one caliber writer with the mixture of class and sensuality. Her novels are exciting and the love scenes are amazing.. haha! And I found out that she had her own publishing house, so she was a writer publisher. And she is rich! (*wink!)
Love Match (the brand of her books) is looking for writers and I got excited so I passed one. I passed Until Forever, the novel I dearly loved because of Mia… hehe… It was not actually rejected. May pinaparevise lang. But nawalan ako ng time at inspirasyon. I went home to Davao City and naging sobrang busy na ako. Tapos wala pang sariling computer. So I cannot focus on writing. What really attracted me with Love Match is the Royalty Payment… hehehe… So it means that you will get something out of your PB sale in case marami bibili ng novel mo no matter if you’re a newbie or isa ng batikang manunulat. Unlike in other publishing house na mura lang ang bayad at kelangan pa na magsulat ka muna ng napakatagal (like for eternity… haha) and you have bestseller books, saka pa lamang lalaki ang TF mo. Which is so frustrating for a pulubi person like me.
So I emailed Eve and passed Until Forever. I made a follow up email after a week, wala lang nangulit lang ako, if meron na bang resulata iyong ipinasa ko. Usually it may take 2-3 weeks for a manuscript to be evaluated. But I received her reply with just more than a week. Love Match has its own criteria in accepting a manuscript (pls click here) that Love Match aspiring writers needs to have. And my goodness, Love Match has a reputation for Intensity 9 or scorching love scenes!!! I received a favorable reply but I need to revise the manuscript to fit Love Match Ideals.
So I did revise Until Forever. It was actually just the same plot with the insertion of some scenes and Micheal’s thoughts or point of view and most of all, refined the love scene and add another one.. haha!.. And I need to make the medium 50% English and 50% Tagalog with cosmo, sassy and hip language. Love Match already carved a niche of elite market and is more expensive compare to other PBs. More than times two ang price kesa sa MSV. So hindi pwedeng so so lang ang novel mo. Dapat to the max talaga ang ganda!
I passed the revision and Eve answered ardently. After four days, I received her response and I felt so proud of myself for the first time. I was just expecting a so-so evaluation basta okay na siya. But Eve said she was impressed. And the manuscript is very good now. hehe… ang lapad ng smile ko. Coming from a high caliber bestseller author, I can just shook my head in disbelief. But I am jubilant of course. This was it. Another chapter of my life… another level of my writing career.
At isa pang gusto ko sa Love Match is the writer friendly policy and a writer friendly treatment. You will receive the result of your manuscript along with its evaluation. You will see where is your weak points that you need to work out with. No wonder because the publisher is a writer herself.
So guys, Until Forever will be published by Love Match. I ardently hope for your support. It will be released soon. I’ll post an update. Please check Love Match website to see where you can get their books. Here’s the website http://www.freewebs.com/perfectm/.
And you can also check out the excerpt. Please click here.
Thank you for all the support and for the wonderful friendship! Tc!