The ebook of Palaweña novelist was recently ranked number 61 in the Top 100 books under contemporary romance of Amazon.Com, a leading and pioneering e-commerce site in the United States. The book is entitled “All Wrong Places” authored by Jerilee Kaye, or Jerilee Antic-Java in real life.
This is not the first time that Java’s work made it to the list of Amazon. Last July this 2019 her other novel called “Intertwined” also appeared in the Top 100 under Young Romance category.
She already published 5 novels and these are available in different online platforms. Soon her books will be published and translated into the Hungarian language.
“For me achievement sya kasi you know there are hundreds or thousands of books in the Amazon, and to be found, yung para makita ka lang its difficult, people reading your works is a different kind of achievement kasi I wasn’t expecting it, because I wasn’t doing it for profit at first, because as a writer you want to be recognize, and one person to read your book is an honor, to be part of that list na naging Top 100 ka means people are buying your books,” Java said during an exclusive interview with Palawan Daily News.
Jerilee started writing novels in 2013 that mostly based on her close friends’ real life experiences. She first tried posting it on Wattpad for free to hear feedbacks from readers. It’s just a hobby at first since she has a regular work in Dubai as a vendor manager in Abu Dhabi International Airport. She was based there for more than 15 years with a license as Certified Senior Professional in Supply Management in Middle East. Wattpad is an internet community of readers and writers that started in 2006.
“In Wattpad it’s a free community, you will post your books for free or your works for free then people will comment, so far when I posted it the reception was very good, it reached more than 10 million readers, the following year I decided what if I try to publish it and try to sell it as an e-book and as a paperback,” Kaye explain.
Her first novel “Knight and Shining Suite” was officially published in 2014. Since then she made a huge following in the US and in India.
Other titles under her belt include “All The Wrong Reasons”, “All The Wrong Places” and “Wingless Beautiful.” The last was a paid commission gig as part of the promo for the international movie “Fault In Our Stars” that was adapted from a famous novel of the same title.
According to Kaye, she intents to write stories of other people rather than putting into words of her personal experiences. Her favourite authors that inspire her are Nora Roberts, Judith Mcnaught, Twilight series author Stephanie Mayer, and Harry Potter’s J. K Rowling.
“I cannot write about a personal experience, I don’t know why, if it happened to me I cannot write about it, its different parang masyado yata akong involve, but if it happen to another person or if I imagine it happening to another person, that’s when creativity starts for me,” Kaye explains.
Jerilee is an alumna of Palawan State University for her elementary and secondary in Holy Trinity University, where she was the class valedictorian. She has a degree of BS Legal Management from De La Salle University Manila.
Married to Alfred Java with two kids, Jerilee and her family is now back in Puerto Princesa for good and will soon open Kix Creative Media and Publishing House that aims to discover writers and help them penetrate a wider audience. This time she intends to write full time.
“I’ve published five novels. They’re successful abroad surprisingly, yung success ko is not here in the Philippines it’s actually abroad. I want to help other novelists, other writers to get their works out there. What I want to do with this new company is to get new talents and to help them. I will take my own experience, yung na-gather ko, how did I make it, then I want to help others to make it too. I will help with the marketing, I will help with the editing, I will help with the story structure, I will lend that expertise,” Jerilee added in closing.
Aside from Amazon, her ebooks are also available in Los Angeles base Radish Fiction and Chapter Interactive Stories, Singapore Dreame Fiction, and in some interactive game app like Visual Novel and so many more.
She was featured in publishers weekly in the US as an indie author who got a huge hit in Wattpad in 2015.