Around the net

A roundup of recently-discovered links related to my books. Thank you, internets, for these little surprises.

Dementedchris over at Ficsation reviewed No Strings Attached: "There's a studied air in the way this whirlwind romance is written..."

- Singled this out because this captures how I felt when I wrote it. I don't want to talk about it too much, don't want to affect how people read and interpret it. But, yeah, this.

Holly at Book Harbinger got copies of My Imaginary Ex and No Strings Attached in the mail, courtesy of Chachic. I love Manila-themed stuff, and I want that little wallet!

Dear friend Mimi Tiu of Candy bought No Strings Attached but hasn't read it.

Janus at Goodreads reviewed My Imaginary Ex.

Lee at From Page One reviewed My Imaginary Ex, Fairy Tale Fail, and No Strings Attached. Also, he interviewed me! That's a lot of stuff.

Jenn, Michelle, Joane, Jo Mar, Fay, Ei, Gem, Ramon, Elaine, Tina, Marimel, JaNille, Jen, Desiree, Olib, Cecille, Princess, and Renz dropped by the Facebook page.

If you've got a Kobo Reader, Fairy Tale Fail is in Kobo Books.

peachblossom021 on Tumblr posted some quotes from No Strings Attached (spoiler warning!).

Filipino book readers, yes, do convene!

If you happen to wander over to this blog because you're a Filipino reader, I hope you click next to fantaghiro23's Filipino Friday post asking for suggestions related to a Filipino readers convention. It's an exciting idea!

As a reader I'm not very "social" about my hobby. I rarely blog or write reviews, am not as active as I could be in readers' groups... but I buy, borrow, and read just as passionately. I'm sure many people are like this too, and our tastes and interests are probably not counted because we don't speak up as much. Anyway -- if you're this kind of reader too, I hope you drop by that post and suggest something that'll make a Filipino Readers Convention great for you. :)

FTF Kindle Report Card: An update

I posted a few months ago this Kindle report card for FTF. At the time I was amazed at October's figures, but this update is just to show how November and December totally kicked October's butt. (And January 2011 has so far kicked December's.)

Fairy Tale Fail isn't a bestseller yet, not by Amazon's standards. On any given day it can be ranked anywhere between #1,800 to #8,000 on their list. I'm thankful for the buzz that book bloggers and reading groups have given it, which likely help -- along with Amazon's recommendations feature -- in keeping the book alive and thriving as it nears its anniversary on the Kindle store. I'm aware that book sales dip in the months after the initial launch and marketing push, but that's not necessarily true now. At least, not for Fairy Tale Fail.

The point of this? Go finish that novel and publish it on the Kindle. Do it do it! And when you do, don't be discouraged when the first few months are tough. It'll get better.

Coming soon: Love Your Frenemies on your e-reader!

Not exactly the first announcement, as I've said it already on Twitter, but here it is: my next novella, Love Your Frenemies, will be released on the Amazon Kindle Store first, and then Smashwords, and then Sony, Apple, Kobo, Diesel, and maybe Barnes and Noble. A print version (most likely through CreateSpace again) will come at the very end of that process.

At this stage I'm working on the cover with Bianca Pascual, who was responsible for the pretty of Fairy Tale Fail's cover. The undercurrent of anger in this manuscript is giving us a bit of trouble in the kikay department, but we'll work it out.

(If you ever want to try to publish your own work, I hope you have friends who can help you out at various stages. If you don't have any, find some new artsy friends now!)

2011 for me

Some resolutions:

1. This year I will write more.
That includes finishing the SG project first (and putting up a sneak peek on this blog) within the next few weeks. And picking up on the CM project that I abandoned a few months ago. I will set aside time each day to write, and I will finish things!

2. This year I will publish online more.
The CM project, once finished, will definitely be for the Kindle. The SG project is still on the fence, depends on what happens with LYF. I think I've spent too much time on Amazon with just one title to my name. If there's more, I should just publish it all.

3. This year I will help people get published.
After guiding my husband Mike to putting his book out on Kindle, I've started talking to a few more people I know have book projects but are too scared/overwhelmed by the editing and publishing process to do anything about it. My cousin has a lovely, inspirational project in mind, and I've committed to help edit and publish it -- as long as she finishes writing the book.

4. I will buy less paper and start going digital.
Thinking of buying a Kindle. Already subscribed to Cosmo Philippines on Zinio. One factor is that I don't have space to keep anything, and the other is I want to encourage digital publishing on different fronts.

5. I will try writing something new and different.
Not making promises here -- I tried, and gave up. But maybe I'll resolve to give up later rather than sooner!