The Books Are Here!!!

Hello, Friends!

We hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer.

Finally, after months of traveling by sea, the Mama, Mama books have made it to Davis, California! We knew they were coming, obviously, but now that they're here we can hardly believe it. 

Before he rolled up the truck door, Al, the delivery man, told me the books weighed about a thousand pounds. I had trouble visualizing what a thousand pounds of books looked like. I didn't have to wonder too long. Suffice it to say that the cargo was massive- it took a bit of my breath away. It dawned on me (again!) that this is for real...

I still remember the night I got together with my friend, Jessica Egbert, who introduced me to her friend, Janet Del Mundo, and we talked about writing and publishing books that feature Filipino kids. That was way back in December 2013! Getting this book out into the world has truly been a journey for me.

We will be sending out reward copies in the next few weeks, hopefully before the end of this month, August.

We hope you enjoy the book. Should you wish to purchase a(nother) copy, please go to the small press' website at SawagaRiverPress.com and click on the link to the right of the home page.

We also welcome your feedback. If you would like to write a review, please let us know and we would gladly send you a review copy.

We are very grateful for your support. It got us here, with a tangible book in our hands, a book that makes visible to the rest of the world a day in the life of a Filipino American boy.

Again, thank you! We love you!

Justine and the Mama, Mama crew

Sample Copies

Hello All,

I can hardly believe it- the sample copies arrived!  

It looks just like a book...

(Charlie and Jack have been reading the book at night. They get a kick out of reading about their shenanigans. Charlie is inspired to write his own books. His current one is titled The Tale of Nine Fingers about a doll who has nine fingers.)

The books are on their way to the USfrom our Malaysian printer and should arrive sometime in July. In the meantime, please take advantage of our pre-sale which is ongoing until the end of June. Go to our press' site, SawagaRiverPress.com and either click on Our Books or find the link on the side. 

Keep you all posted!

Mama, Mama Arrives in July; Pre-Order Sale Until June 30

Hello, Everyone!

Happy May! It's starting to heat up here in Davis and the public pools are now open. It's going to be summer vacation soon. We hope you're ready for summer picnics as we are!

In the meantime, we would like to ask your help in getting the word out: Mama, Mama will be arriving in July! It has been quite a journey to get to this point and we are so looking forward to having the finished books in our hands and sharing them with you. 

To get ready for the books' arrival, we are having a Pre-order Sale between now and June 30, 2016. You can now purchase your copy for $14.99 (plus shipping and tax). Please visit the Sawaga River Press site at SawagaRiverPress.com to order.

Support us! Help us create and spread more bi/trillingual children's books that are diverse in characters and stories.

Thank you!

Justine (and the Mama, Mama crew)

Final Proofs; ETA July 2016

Hello, Everyone!

We are so so so pleased to let you all know that finally, after much back and forth with the printer, we have hit the "right" degree of brightness (I'm not sure what the accurate term is for that). It took three sets of proofs, some heated exchanges, and lots of patience on both sides. It also took an extra couple of months. Several times I thought about just approving the proofs even though I wasn't completely happy with them. When friends asked me how my book was doing, I felt the pressure to just be done! However, I think it was worth going through all of this. There were many good lessons to learn, for sure, and I'm glad I stuck with it.

So, barring any more issues, the printer anticipates being finished with production by the end of May. I will be sending the approved proofs tomorrow. It will then take about 4-6 weeks for the books to ship from Singapore to Davis. 

I'm still totally having a hard time believing we got to this point where everyone is satisfied. Today deserves a selfie!

Additionally, yesterday we received an invitation from the Napa Public Library to participate in their Filipino Month celebration in October. We are excited!

Now that we have an idea of when the book will be here, we feel more ready to market the book. Please help us out by letting us know if there's a space, event, place that you feel might be receptive to having us participate. We need to get the word out!

Thanks for your continued support!

Justine and the Mama Mama Crew

Finalizing the Colors; Kickstarter Rewards; Napa Asian Pacific Heritage celebration

Hello, All!

So, we're down to the nitty gritty. The pages are looking good...but the color is not right just yet. We need the book to be brighter and more vivacious. We're going back and forth with the printer on how bright the pages need to look. But we're hopeful we'll figure this out soon so we can have a publication date set as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we're sending our Kickstarter rewards. If you pledged via Kickstarter, look for either a coloring page or book or both in your e-mail.  Please feel free to share them!

Lastly, we've been invited to share our publishing experience at the Napa Asian Pacific Heritage Month celebration on May 14, 2016. If you're in the area, please swing by and show us some love. There will be food and presentations.

Thanks again for all your support!

Justine (and the Mama, Mama Crew)

Wet Proofs Are Here

Hi Everybody,

Over the weekend, we received the wet proofs from the printer. We are excited to be one step closer towards our goal!

(Charlie and Jack check out the wet proofs)

And now the hard work of marketing and selling a thousand copies of the book becomes even more real and pressing. We're reaching out to local bookstores, preschools, Filipino-American organizations, and other groups. If you know of a group or individual who might be interested in purchasing this book and adding it to their library, please let us know. Also, if you know of a venue (a cafe, a preschool, etc.) who might be interested in hosting us for a reading, please let us know. The book is slated to come out in 3-4 months, hopefully in time for Mother's Day. We really need your help in getting this book out. 

Thanks, everybody! We will keep you posted.

Justine and the Mama Mama Crew

Happy Holidays! We're Off to the Printer!

Hello, Everyone!

How did three months fly by just like that???

First of all, Happy Holidays from all of us here at Mama, Mama!  It's the season for scarves and (extra) good cheer. Stay warm and enjoy your time with friends and family.

After so much back and forth with Andrew, mainly over the page count and the title page, the file was finally sent off to the printer.  Which means things are set. I'm very relieved... but also freaked out!!!  What if there's a typo, or two, that we somehow missed?  What if, what if... Ugh!

Not much to report, really, except to say that the last few months we spent wrangling over the details have been trying.  We were so wrong to think, back in September, that we were "almost" done.  Ha! Little did I know that it would take a couple more months to clean up the files and get them ready for the printer. Just understanding the page count concept alone took me forever. Also, it seemed there was always one more typo to be found after every "final" draft that we did. We had many "final" files. 

And on this note, we want to say thanks to Tom McCarthy, Mike's law journal advisor at Hastings and my colleague from my Jossey Bass days, for doing one "final" proof editing round to "keep us out of trouble". 

While we wait for word from the printer, we're going to start looking into the Kickstarter prizes.  We know it's a bit late- thanks for the patience!

Thanks for checking in!