Lumos Publishing

2006-10-13T18:51:00.000+08:00

So you want to publish a book

Now then, I may be able to help you depending if:

(1) You have the money for printing copies – I have a publishing house duly registered with the DTI and BIR: Lumos Publishing House. I can take care of everything, including looking for the printer and obtaining the ISBN for the book.

(2) You have the manuscript and you want it edited well – I can do it, electronically, and we can exchange notes and files through email. I have a 31-year experience in editing all sorts of manuscripts, from thesis to annual reports to books to manuals to newsletters to project proposals.

(3) You don’t have the manuscript but you want your book written anyway – By some extraordinary techniques that I have developed through the years of my writing life, since 1959, in the manner of interview, transcription and organizing materials, I can bring out the book in you. And it will be in your own way of telling it, your own words, your own style.

(4) You need to desktop-publish your book – You already have a manuscript but you don’t have a book design yet, and you want it done all the way to camera-ready pages. I can do it for you. I have so far desktop-published several books, including two of my own, and I should know all the problems attendant to book publishing.

(5) You’re looking for a PageMaker master – When people think of desktop-publishing, almost always they think of PageMaker, which is the most sophisticated software for the purpose that I have seen. A PageMaker master can come up with beautiful results. Sorry, I’m not keen on using PageMaker; I prefer to use Word XP or Word 2003 as my desktop-publishing software. I have been using this software as my desktopper earnestly for the last 3 years, with handsome results – look at copies of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (the image on this page shows the cover of the 2006 April issue, my design, not my logo).

(6) You want your book out in 3 months – If you’re that in a hurry, you’ve come to the right place. 3 months is all I need to work on your book from draft manuscript to camera-ready pages, or even from zero – in which case, I will help you write your book and will be ready to go to press at the end of 3 months. Now, you may ask: Really how fast, and really how good? About fast, you have to see for yourself. About how good I write, click any of the links on this page and see for yourself – click at least 3 links to get a good taste of it all.

(7) You don’t want your book reviewed by your peers – The usual protocol for books to be published is for the manuscript to pass through a review committee of peers or subject matter specialists. That is the reason some books take one year, even two years or more to publish – you can’t hurry up some of those reviewers. If you don’t want to wait that long, I can help you come out with a book you can be proud of by reviewing the book myself and discussing the content one-on-one within a month after you submit the manuscript. Nobody can be faster than that.

(8) Your book is highly original – If the publisher requires that your book be reviewed by a panel and if the content happens to be unusual or entirely original, you have a problem there: Expect lots of negative comments. If you can’t handle those negative comments; if you want your book to come out much like you wrote it, I can help you realize that dream – I am never jealous of new ideas coming from others; I welcome them.

(9) You need ISBN for your book – That’s the least of your worries when you publish a book. I can get your book’s International Standard Book Number (ISBN) in one hour or less.

(10) You can’t get started – You have a book in your mind and in your heart but not in reality; you don’t know where to start. We can talk about it and within the day, I can show you how the book can move along and even give you sample entries in your own words. How’s that for fast?

2006-03-07T20:18:00.000+08:00

Can a 66-year old writer like me type his own manuscript into the computer, edit and desktop-publish it himself, and live happily ever after? You better believe it: I've done it myself. I just published a book, an intellectual journey into the mind of the national hero: indios bravos! Jose Rizal as Messiah of the Redemption. Actually, I've been preparing for this one-man-band publishing act for the last 20 years, since I started learning about word processing in December 1985. I thank the Lord I am living in the Age of the Computer.

2006-02-06T18:25:00.000+08:00

Perfect: OpenOffice2 converts Word to PDF instantly

Finally, I finished revising extensively my manuscript of my first book indios bravos! Jose Rizal as Messiah of the Redemption, for the American edition, and I'm very happy to be able to submit it to a self-publishing Internet company today or tomorrow - one last check and I'm done. I have to submit my manuscript in PDF form and today I decided to do just that. Something happened, and I would like to share with you my email to OpenOffice.org which created the soft OpenOffice2 Writer I refer to in the item - it's free to download.

Word file to PDF via Writer: It's Perfect!

1812 hours 6 February 2006

I just finished experimenting with file conversions starting with Word 2003 going to PDF. That's about 2 hours of work. Lately, I have had problems converting from their Word to your Writer, especially with formats, so you understand I have forgotten all about OpenOffice.

A few minutes ago, I didn't know any better, or I thought I did, so I tried to open my Word file with Acrobat 5 – can’t. I tried converting my format-complex Word files to XML first before going to PDF. Wrong guess. I lost the page formats and many others. I tried to convert Word to webpage filtered. This is all experimental, you understand. What I’m doing is trial and error. I don’t mind making mistakes.

Then I remembered you, OpenOffice2. I opened my Word file with Writer, and it crashed. I repeated that and it crashed again. It happens. I understand. My PC is 512 RAM, Pentium 4 at 1.7 GB, my hard disk is 40 G, and I know how to set Virtual Memory to maximum, like 3456 MB, but it still crashes. It crashes with my Word files. My Word file is a book manuscript, 2.67 MB, 4 photos, lots of drop caps, 229 footnotes, all lines formatted using a Word template (stylesheet) based on my specifications, fonts GF Halda Normal for heads, American Typewriter Condensed for body text, countless text tables of 2 columns (left flush, right flush), chapter heads with bullet numbers set in fonts bigger than the head text.

Try and crash again. So, I opened Writer2 again, which of course looks like my favorite word processor, clicked File Export as PDF and, voila! I have a PDF file. I checked with Acrobat 5 and you know what? It’s perfect!

You just made me very happy because you have done a great job and with that, I can now submit my book in PDF format to any of the Internet companies that do self-publishing. I’m thinking Lulu.com. What happens to my book will be part of your story: indios bravos! Jose Rizal as Messiah of the Redemption (An Intellectual Journey). My first book. I’m a Filipino and proud of it; I’m 65 and now very happy with it. Thanks, OpenOffice!

The fastest writer/editor in town

2005-10-15T22:08:00.000+08:00

Lumos has the fastest writer/editor in the country, and that would be me. Is that a boast? It is. It also happens to be true. I have been writing and editing and publishing in earnest since 1975 when I began working as the Chief Information Officer of the Forest Research Institute (FORI) in Los Baños. With FORI, I have a speed record not surpassed since: I never missed a single deadline being writer and editor and publisher of a monthly newsletter (Canopy), a quarterly technical journal (Sylvatrop, The Philippine Journal of Forestry), and a quarterly color magazine (Habitat) all at the same time. This was all in the years BC: Before the Computer.

Since those years, I have worked with other offices and other publications and have learned, mostly by myself, to use the computer for writing and editing and publishing. In my present job as the Editor in Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science, working as writer (of the editorial) and editor and publisher, I have another speed record that will not be surpassed in this generation: I brought almost single-handedly a journal that was 13 issues late to up-to-date. That deserves a paragraph in the latest Guinness Book of World Records.

Neither the typewriter nor the computer is the secret of speed in information processing: it’s the hands and mind of the writer and of the editor and of the publisher. In Lumos, we have the hands and mind of a writer and editor and publisher that is fast, very fast. You could do worse than publish with us. Send me an email at lumospublishing@gmail.com. – Frank A Hilario

Publishing in the Philippines

2005-10-15T21:07:00.000+08:00

I have been writing and editing and publishing science for the last 30 years – for other people public and private. I have, of course, been dreaming of writing and editing and publishing for myself, but until now I’m still dreaming.

So you see, Lumos Publishing is the next best thing that ever happened to me. I am the Executive Editor, which means that among other things I have the power to ask peer reviewers to critique a book for publication, including mine and – and this is the best part – to overturn their rejection or override their objections to certain portions of the manuscript if I have to. I’m anticipating when and where critics don’t agree with the author and will recommend non-publication. I will be very glad to disagree with them if I believe they are wrong in their assessment.

There is a built-in problem with peer reviews: If your ideas are radical or different or unacceptable, your critics are likely to reject your book. In that case, the birth of new or different or radical ideas are entirely dependent on the approval of people who have old or traditional ideas. Now, that happens to be contrary to the principles of creativity.

I assure you that if you submit your manuscript for publication by Lumos, we will give it the respect that any intellectual property is due. We may not agree with what you say, but we will defend your right to say it. (In fact, I have already said something like that in one of my editorials in the Philippine Journal of Crop Science of which I am the Editor in Chief.)

Peer reviews are welcome, but unintelligent peer reviews is one thing that’s wrong with Philippine publishing. Another thing wrong is that it takes 1 year, or 2 years, or even 3 years before a book is published in this country. In the Age of the Information Highway, that is an unpardonable sin. We can do much better than that. – Frank A Hilario

How to set up a business: The legal steps

2005-10-11T19:23:00.000+08:00

It’s easy. Let me tell you how I went through the whole process in the name of Lumos Publishing. You can learn from the steps I took:

(1) I had earlier bought my Residence Certificate for the year. I lost the one I paid for earlier and I decided to just pay for another – anyway, the money goes to the treasury of my adopted town.

(2) Somewhere in town, I applied for a Senior Citizen’s ID as I didn’t have any ID. I got mine within 3 hours – that’s fast in this country. I paid the fee. Aside from the ID, I had extra 1x1 and 2x2 ID photos , which I would need in the next step.

(3) I went to the DTI Regional Office in Victoria, Laguna and applied for a DTI Certificate of Business Name Registration. Before I went there, I already had 3 names that were all acceptable to the owner (the Publisher) and to me (the Executive Editor, the virtual Chief Executive Officer). I also had with me ready 2 copies each of ID photos: 1x1 and 2x2, remember? I paid the fee. After 10 days, I got the approved name: Lumos Publishing House.

(4) I xeroxed my DTI certificate (with my 2x2 photo) and approved application.

(5) I went next to the Business Permit Section of the municipal government of Los Baños for the application form. It’s only a one-page form. But to get the Mayor’s Permit, I have to have the application supported with a few documents and a barangay clearance.

(6) So I went next to the barangay hall of Mayondon, the village where we have been residing for the last 14 years. I got my barangay clearance in about 1 hour, thank God, even if the lady clerk was still using an old typewriter. I paid the fee.

(7) Then I went to the Engineering Department for a notation for charges and signature. About 5 minutes later, I had what I came for.

(8) Next I went to the Fire Department. Again, in no time at all, I had a notation for charges and a signature.

(9) Then I went back to the Business Permit Section of the municipal government of Los Baños and paid my dues. Before noon, I had my Mayor’s Permit.

(10) Next stop, BIR Regional Office in the City of Calamba. I got the application forms (plural) and filled them up.

(11) I paid the BIR registration fee at the ChinaBank nearby. I went back to the BIR Office and paid for the receipts to be printed for the business.

(12) I went back the next day for a seminar.

(13) I got my blank receipts a week later.

We were in business!

All in all, I can say the DTI and the municipal government of Los Baños and BIR Calamba staff were all very helpful and efficient and professional. We can be proud of them.

If you ask me how much I spent for the whole thing, I’d say more or less 8K, including fare, food, a fire extinguisher, blank receipts of 20 booklets, and the signboard of my daughter Neenah’s design, which is a magna color printout on a 3 ft x 4 ft tarpaulin.

Mayor’s Permit: Empowerment on paper

2005-10-11T19:21:00.000+08:00

If you have doubts that local government units have been empowered by law, starting with the Local Government Code of 1991, you don’t have to go out of your own town or city to see for yourself. Enter a business establishment anywhere near your place in town and if the outside has a signboard, you can be sure that the inside will display the sticker that says ‘Mayor’s Permit & Municipal License’ and the assigned No. That’s for public display within the business premises. Privately, the owner of the establishment has on file a two-page document that says ‘Business and Mayor’s Permit’ which contains the business name and the name of the owner/proprietor/manager, among other things.

The piece of paper called the Mayor’s Permit is crucial because, in fact, it legitimizes a business. Without it, an enterprise is bogus, fly-by-night, fake, make-believe. In other words, what the Mayor’s Permit is telling everyone who cares is this: ‘This business setup is licensed by your municipal government and is being properly and regularly monitored. You can do legal business with it.’

To appreciate the power of the Mayor’s Permit, know that you cannot obtain it except with the prior knowledge and consent of many parties: (1) the Department of Trade and Industry first of all, of your village chief (barangay captain), (2) the town’s engineering department, (3) the town’s fire chief, (4) the town’s municipal planning office, and (5) the town’s treasury office. In other words, in the first place you can’t put up a legitimate business if your village chief has reasons to distrust you. Let me tell you that it’s easy to get it if no one has any reason to suspect your business intentions.

Considering all that, Lumos Publishing House treasures its Mayor’s Permit & Municipal License No. 1967 issued this year. There is concentrated power in this little document.

From insights to books

2005-10-10T21:14:00.000+08:00

‘From insights to books’ – that’s the official slogan of Lumos Publishing House. It’s not simply a slogan; it’s an entirely new paradigm in publishing, if you ask me, involving the publishing of books in the field of education in college (and beyond college). We are encouraging the writing of books that clearly are born from an insight or two into the ordinary. We are encouraging the authoring of books that are creative, not simply critical, books that asks more questions than there are answers.

Take the case of our first published book, Search For Sh@red Meanings, whose 1^st revised edition is edited by Rhodelia L Gabriel, PhD, a professor of the Institute of Community Education (ICE), College of Public Affairs (CPAf), UP Los Baños, ISBN 971-93354-1-6. It was her idea of a book in the first place. The insight which the book sprang from is found in the theory of shared meanings which is an original proposition. Simply stated, the theory is this: Teaching is sharing meanings. If teacher and student do not share meanings in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end, there is no teaching, there is no learning at all.

The 2^nd book published by Lumos is Theories & Principles Of Educational Evaluation: A Sourcebook, also by Professor RL Gabriel, ISBN 971-93354-0-8. This book is a product of many years of collecting data and information, of many years of feedback from and homework by the graduate students of the author as she taught in ICE at CPAf. Because of the passage of years, some of the materials can neither be properly acknowledged nor appropriately checked against the original. In any case, the book is presented not because the author owns all the thoughts and the words in it, but because she knows the book will be a single great source of information on the subject. While it is not perfect, there is none like it yet. It is a 1^st edition, and like all first editions, after the author has seen it in print, she is ready not simply to correct any errors there are or remedy any oversight committed, but to revise it at once using new data and information.

And the insight which this book springs from? It’s found in the 1^st paragraph of the Author’s Preface, and I quote: ‘To achieve academic excellence, my philosophy in teaching is to challenge students as far as they can be challenged and to provide them the basic materials they need to succeed.’ Insight clear, concise, comprehensive, coherent.

There are hundreds if not thousands of authors or would-be authors out there with their own insights that can lead into books, or have already written their books based on their own original insights. Why then did Lumos pick on RL Gabriel as the author/editor of the first two books published by the company? The reason is simple: Serendipity. Also, she is a lady who has been preparing all these years to publish her books and have been looking for an editor and a publisher who can help her produce those books and make her dreams come true. Would-be author and publisher met and, the rest, they would say, is history. She is retiring next year, but when it comes to publishing books, she is not at all retiring. Books, plural, will be her legacy to the next generation of instructors and professors in tertiary education not only in UP Los Baños but all over the country. She and Lumos jointly tries to see to it that when the ideas in her books are applied faithfully, they can work anywhere in the Philippines. At the very least, we wish to inspire teachers and learners alike. – The Executive Editor

Reliable vs reputable (From the Publisher)

2005-10-09T11:03:00.000+08:00

We are dedicating our publishing efforts in the field of education, especially college education. There is always room at the top. Proper education provides the proper light. The national hero Jose Rizal had said that the youth is the hope of the fatherland – that is true only if they receive a proper education. If our textbooks and reading books are inferior in content and intent, the youth we are banking on for the future of our country will have inferior thinking in their superior minds.

About thinking: We subscribe to the idea that there are two kinds of thinking: critical and creative. In the first, you examine the realities; in the second, you examine the possibilities. We need both kinds of thinking. An excellent example of both kinds of thinking is the theory of multiple intelligences propounded by Harvard Professor Howard Gardner. If you are always thinking critically and never thinking creatively, we are sorry for you. That’s what the antis are doing. Why can’t we be pros for a change?

If you're looking for a reputable publisher, sorry to disappoint you. Lumos Publishing House was born yesterday, 2005 to be specific, so we don't have a reputation yet. Still, you have to be careful with “reputable” – suppose the publisher demands that before you are accepted as an author to publish, you have to be reputable? No first-time publisher will ever get a book published; no first-time author will ever be published.

But if you're looking for a reliable publisher, you have come to the right place. We can talk face-to-face, if you happen to be in or near Manila, through my Executive Editor. I know the management of publishing as a business, while he knows the writing, editing and the desktop publishing business like he knows the palms of his hands. And he is a wide reader, so he can handle (almost) any topic. He can help produce your book from scratch.

My Executive Editor is a graduate of the premiere educational institution in my country: the University of the Philippines. He majored in Education; he has taught in high school and college. He has at least 30 years of experience in writing, editing, and publishing in both the government and private sectors – his expertise in desktop publishing first showed up in a book he worked on with Microsoft Word 5.5 sometime in the mid-1990s, a volume published by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). It took him 14 weeks (man-hours). Today, he can desktop-publish a book in 14 days (all hours), one-man-band, if he has to.

You can post your comments on this page, or you can send your questions and whatever via an email to lumospublishing@gmail.com. – Susan A Nicolas, Publisher