My pal Gilbert Monsanto is entering the self publishing world with his own Sacred Mountain Publications. He has yet to announce what title(s) there would be and what they will be about, but he is attempting to do more than just comic books. He's come up with a cool strategy to find out what a lot of people in the Philippine comics industry is wondering about: Just how big is the audience out there for comics in the Philippines?
I'll let Gilbert explain...
We are coming out with a new title very soon under our very own SACRED MOUNTAIN PUBLICATIONS. The same questions always loom over every creator who has ever considered putting out a book from the deepest depths of their creative minds to the shelves for the people to read and enjoy Komiks. In the past, local publishers have no problems selling more than thirty to a hundred thousand copies every week through consignments, as newstands are so visible and scattered nationwide. However, distributing all the copies to potential buyers is now so limited that it usually takes a lot of time and effort before a good book gets to the reading public. During this time that there is a need to know the real state of the komiks industry, I would like to urge everyone who can read this to send us an email and tell us if you are among the existing local komiks readers of today. All you have to do is send us an email at smp_letters@yahoo.com and let us know if you still support the industry. Comments and opinions about the local komiks industry are also welcome. We'd appreciate if you can write your real name so that we can tally results correctly. You don't need to write your whole address but it is wise to do so, because I am going to send a little token to a lucky letter sender, just for writing to us. It is an original art pencilled on an 11x17 artboard of any character of your choice. Just don't forget to write the desired character you want me to draw if ever your letter gets picked. Please indicate "I AM A KOMIKS READER" in the subject of your email. Don't worry, this will be conducted under utmost confidentiality. Within a month I'll put here the number of responding letters for all to see, no names, just numbers.
Hope to hear from you guys soon. Please tell your friends as well.
-Gilbert Monsanto
Sacred Mountain Publications
I've worked with Gilbert a few times before. I inked him on a couple of issues of Hellcop, published by Avalon Studios. He also drew Houdini: The Man from Beyond. And of course, many Filipinos know Gilbert for his prolific work on Philippine comics, specially on titles like Kick Fighter.
And if there is something I know about Gilbert, is he is one of the most passionate about comics that I've met. He's been drawing comics practically all his life, and like me, I really don't think there's anything else he'd rather do. So I have no doubt that he will push through with this, and be really successful at it.
Check out Gilbert's blog here.
Good luck pare! Suportahan ta ka!
