the book was a surprise hit in 2001, quickly selling out its first run of 500 copies. by 2013 it had sold over 240,000 copies, at which time a 12th anniversary edition was published. the success of bob ong's book among filipinos has been attributed to its conversational tone which uses humor to point out various absurdities inherent to filipino culture. the popularity of "abnkkbsnplako?!" in particular is attributed to an element of nostalgia. says university of the philippines literary professor, philippines free press literary editor, and award-winning poet paolo manalo about bob ong's work: "the materials he used in his books are those familiar to this generation of filipinos. one might even call them urban culture lore..."