WHEN an aspiring author finally manages to fulfill a lifelong dream and write the last sentence of his or her first book, what then?
Not a lot of people are acquainted with the workings of copyright and intellectual property. Among them, she admits, is Big Bad Wolf Book Sale cofounder Jacqueline Ng, citing as example her difficulties in the past trademarking the name of the now global round-the-clock book sale.
“It was difficult even for a cooperation like ours with resources. What more to an individual without resources,” she said. “What is that individual going to do? Does she even know the first step? Is she supposed to stop the dream?”
The dearth of general know-how on intellectual property led Ng to say a quick yes the moment their group was approached by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for a collaborative project at Big Bad Wolf. The idea originated from former IPOPHL Director General Atty. Josephine Santiago, a fan of the book sale who wanted to utilize the crowd-drawing event as a platform to increase awareness and spread information on copyright system.
Copyright—according to Atty. Emerson Cuyo, director of the bureau of copyright and related rights for IPOPHL—is the economic right of people producing works in the literary and artistic sense, covering anything from painting to songs and, of course, books.
In December, IPOPHL signed a memorandum of understanding to partner with Big Bad Wolf for its run in Manila, which begins this Friday, February 14, and will run every minute thereafter until February 24 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. The two parties are set to launch programs and projects that will raise awareness and appreciation of the copyright system among authors, publishers, users and the general public.
IPOPHL will conduct information activities to enlighten authors on how to maximize the value of their copyright works. The creators and authors of various copyrightable works may register and deposit their work at the IPOPHL booth throughout the 11-day event.
“Most local authors in the Philippines do not possess the right knowledge to start their business,” Cuyo said. “One of our main goals is to develop the publishing industry in the Philippines by providing them with the tools and knowledge to jump-start their career.”
“I really hope that customers will be able to benefit from the partnership,” Ng said. “Whether you are an aspiring designer, artist or author, it’s all about getting your work protected.”
33,000 titles at up to 90-percent discount
THE Big Bad Wolf Book Sale was born in 2007 at a small space in a neighborhood mall in Malaysia. The mission was to dispel the notion that “anything important is expensive” by offering books at a price even lower-income families can afford.
The event only grew together with its mission over the past decade. Big Bad Wolf has reached 32 cities and 10 countries, selling more than 50 million books.
In Manila, the 24-hour book sale has been able to draw baggage-lugging bookworms by the thousands at even wee hours in the morning. The event returns this Friday for the third consecutive year with the biggest edition to date, with over 33,000 titles available at up to 90-percent discounted price. There are books available for as low as P60.
“We are hoping that you don’t just buy things for yourself,” Ng said. “Please buy for someone else. Let the joy of reading be able to spread beyond you.”
This year, readers can delve into an ocean of genres, such as literature, thrillers, young adult, romance, self-help, architecture, cooking, graphic novels and many more. There will also be rows upon rows of children’s books, including storybooks, activity books, board books, pop-up books and picture books.
Making a comeback at this year’s Manila run are the Magical Books series that incorporates augmented reality (AR) technology, which makes for quite a reading experience for children. The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is the exclusive distributor in Asia for the Magical Book series that engages kids to read, play and learn.
‘A book can literally change a life’
MORE than just selling books, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is a reading advocacy organization that aims to foster readership among the less fortunate through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm, Red Readerhood, and as a part of the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale’s long-standing partnership with Gawad Kalinga (GK) in the Philippines.
For the past two years, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale has partnered with GK to bring aid to communities in the Philippines. As one of the leading community outreach programs in the country, GK has spent the last 17 years helping improve the lives of underprivileged Filipinos nationwide.
“The partnership is really built on a common desire to inspire greatness from each other, as doing good is not good enough. We need to do good with others, so we can do greater things together,” said GK Executive Director Jose Luis Oquinena. “This whole idea of unleashing the imagination of the poorest was a critical step for us toward ending poverty—and ending the poverty of capacity. And we saw books as building blocks of that strategy.”
In 2019, a total of 16,123 books were collected from all four sales in the Philippines (Manila, Pampanga, Cebu, Davao), and distributed in Palawan, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Leyte and the Cordillera Administrative Region. The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Manila 2020 will be kick starting the donations with 1,000 books.
Visitors are encouraged to donate books at the Red Readerhood corner and the collected books will be distributed to communities, barangays and public schools in Mindoro and affected communities of the Taal Volcano eruption in Batangas.
“When we talk about empowerment and inspiring someone, the people with the least are the ones who need the most, right?” Ng said. “It could be just a quote, it could be just a verse, a passage. We must never forget that a book can literally change a life.”