Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Three best-selling books, one feature film, and over six million followers on social media.
And he’s not even 25 years old.
Marcelo Santos III is a new breed of Filipino celebrity: He has never had a TV show, never had a song at the top of the charts, and – barring his brief cameo in the recent movie based on his first book – never been in films.
Like most young celebrities, his fan base is loyal and growing by the day – and Kuya Em (as he is often called) evolves right along with them.
Where it all began
It hasn’t always been a charmed life for Santos.
He is the second of five children, and he remembers that life wasn’t always cushy.
“We were not financially well-off when I was younger. My parents could not afford to send us to school, so we had to live with relatives while they earned a living.”
He lived with his aunts who expected him to take on chores and earn his keep.
Those early, difficult times inspired a drive in Santos and led him to a future he could never have dreamed for himself.
In December 2009, Santos uploaded a video on Facebook — a love story set to a song popular at the time.
He says: “We look up song lyrics online, so I wondered why not lines from a story?”
He added it was done just for fun and he never expected anything to come of it, and to this day, he has no idea why he even did it.
But that video, which he entitled “Bag at Folder Part 1,” got the attention of his friends — and then some.
He says: “The video got so many ‘likes’ and I wasn’t used to that. People were sending me messages, chatting with me online, and there were so many comments – most of them asking what my point was (for putting up the video).”
Friends who never spoke to him online, siblings of classmates — they all reached out to him.
He says: “Somehow, I got their attention and some asked me to do another video.”
But copyright issues forced him to take the video from Facebook and move to YouTube – and the videos that started him on his storytelling path remain there to this day.
The road to virtual celebrity stardom
His move to YouTube showed just how popular he could become. When the number of his followers grew, he decided to put up a Facebook fan page to keep everything organized.
His fanbase as well as the number of videos he produced grew and in 2012, he began his own blog.
But while the move was organic, it was also planned.
Santos has a degree in advertising, something that came in handy when he was still trying to find his way in the digital arena.
He says: “I took the time to learn how I could change with the times. I had been making videos for two years and the people who were following me had developed — they had grown older and changed.”
His first blog was hosted on Tumblr and there he shared quotes and gave advice on love and life.
Another blog — this time one he shared with blogger friends – soon came about. This time, he and the others reviewed movies, wrote entertainment and lifestyle articles.
He says: “I needed something new to offer my readers. I had to evolve as they did.”
The writer emerges
It was around this time that young adult fiction began gathering steam, something that was not lost on Santos.
He says: “I was a fan of the Twilight series and it was partly the reason why I began writing my first book.”
But the thing that set Santos apart from so many of his peers was that he chose to write in Tagalog.
His reason for choosing that medium?
“It’s who I am. I began writing for myself and it was the way I could express myself the best.”
He was 19, still in college at the time, but the stories he wrote start off serious, unlike other writers who take on humor to drive home point — that also is reflective of his personality. He says he writes the way he talks and the way thinks.
He added, he’s never been afraid of his readers being put off by the way he writes and he was never afraid of giving advice even if he was so young. He knew his market and adapted a style that was perfect for the people he wrote for.
His stories are always based on real-life experiences, whether his or his friends’.
“Almost everything I write is based on my own experiences, so it was easy to answer ‘what if’ situations. I think it makes things more real, more relatable.”
The published life
Despite having written for years, Santos says he never felt like he was a “real” writer, adding he thought that only published authors could call themselves that.
He says he would go to bookstores every day and look at titles from his favorite authors hoping he could do the same one day.
His motivation came from those bookstore visits, “I kept telling myself one day I will have a book that will be put right alongside theirs.”
In 2012, after college, he worked for the Department of Education — a job he left to work on his first book even without any prospect of a publisher.
That first book, Para sa Hopeless Romantic, came to be because Santos asked friends to help him publish it. The first print run of 2,000 copies were sold via word of mouth and through stores that had nothing to do with books.
He says: “I had to be creative in selling my book. I would tell people on social media where I’d be on any given day and that I’d bring along copies of the book if they wanted to buy. Social media was a big factor in ‘Hopeless Romantic’s’ success.”
It wasn’t long before his fans got a hold of it and the buzz surrounding the book grew loud enough that it became a best-seller.
In 2013, “Hopeless Romantic” was finally carried by a major bookstore chain and he held the top spot in the best-seller list for three months.
After Para sa Hopeless Romantic came “Para sa Broken-Hearted, and after that Mahal Mo Siya. Mahal Ka Ba?
All three titles were best-sellers.
In May 2015, Para sa Hopeless Romantic was made into a movie.
Never the end
The last two years have been busy for Santos, with three books and a movie, it would be easy to think that he would take time off.
He says he wants to take this year to rest, to travel, but that’s just to get more material for the next book.
Santos knows how much work has to go into making a success of something and he wants others to know this.
He says: “My life is no overnight success. I studied my audience. It took me years to get here and I know it will take more work to get to the next level — although, I’m not sure what that is just yet.”
He reflected that success has allowed him to help give his family a better life.
He says: “From living in a squatter’s area, we now have our own home. I’m able to save and give my family treats from time to time.”
Santos urges everyone to tell their stories.
