Workshop: Print book formatting and affordable printing, February 28, 2015

Update: 3 slots left as of December 5.

Print book formatting and affordable printing
Venue: O2 Space Solutions, Milelong Bldg, Amorsolo St. Makati
Time: 8:30 to 11:30 am
Fee: P3,500 (includes snacks and coffee)

Facilitated by Tania Arpa and Mina V. Esguerra

What we're going to do is format your book for printing and upload it to a print-on-demand service during the session. We will also talk about print-on-demand services in Metro Manila and help you place your orders that day.

I would also prefer a small group, so please go over these requirements before you reserve a slot. You must have, by February 28:

1. A final manuscript, in Microsoft Word .doc format or PDF
2. A cover spread (front cover, back cover, and spine) in JPG, 300 dpi
3. A book description
4. Laptop you can bring to workshop (can edit .doc, save to PDF, and edit JPG)

Contact me at minavesguerra@gmail.com if you prefer a special session because you are available on a different date.

Title page appreciation: My Summit Books designed by Studio Dialogo

So this is what I learned over the years: When people say they love a book, but refuse to get the ebook, it means what they really love isn't just the author's words. They also love how the book was made.

They love the decisions your publisher made. Which paper to print on. The font used. Glossy or matte lamination on the cover. Cover paper stock. The skill of the artist/designer who put the pages together.

That has almost nothing to do with me, the author! 

This is a post in appreciation of the designers of my Summit Books, a firm called Studio Dialogo. I love the little details they pick up from the stories, that show up within the book pages and the covers.

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Title page appreciation #MyImaginaryEx Book design by Studio Dialogo Cover by @abigoy Summit Books

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Title page appreciation #NoStringsAttached Book design by Studio Dialogo Cover by @abigoy Summit Books (Dante's cellphone move! Don't try it unless you can live without it.)

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Title page appreciation #ThatKindofGuy Book design by Studio Dialogo Cover by @abigoy Summit Books

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Title page appreciation #FairyTaleFail Book design by Studio Dialogo Cover by @rommeljoson Summit Books

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Title page appreciation #LoveYourFrenemies Book design by Studio Dialogo Cover by @abigoy and Frances Alvarez Summit Books

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Love Your Frenemies: New paperback edition! (International)

Hi, everyone! If you don't have a copy of Love Your Frenemies in paperback yet, it's now available internationally, with a new cover:

Yes, Universe, Kimmy Domingo knows that you hate her. But she's a nice person, she really is -- as long as you ignore the stories of people she's bullied, manipulated, and annoyed in the past. She totally gets that you've gotten back at her by having her fiance' dump her a week before their wedding. Soon after, she quit her job, hopped on a plane, and just hid from everyone who knew her.

A year later and she's back in Manila to be maid of honor at a wedding she can't miss. She's home because she's ready to start over, but she also knows that some people at that wedding were responsible for the mess her life turned out to be. The first step to recovery? Cutting off the ones who caused her troubles to begin with: her best friend and her first love.

Love Your Frenemies is part of my Chic Manila series, standalone contemporary romance/chick lit/new adult books set in the Philippines. 

Get the paperback from CreateSpace. (Use code UFPAHLTE to get 20% off.) Links for The Book Depository and Amazon coming soon! Ebook editions here.

Icon of the Indecisive student edition (P200) available now

When is Interim Goddess of Love #3 coming out?

I'm not sure when the Summit edition is coming out in local bookstores, I'm sorry! Icon of the Indecisive (IGoL 3) has already been written, and available in its indie-published edition for almost a year now. However it was a bit expensive (P350) so now I've come up with this:

The Icon of the Indecisive (student edition)! It's the same book, but with a new acknowledgements page, and without the bonus short story that comes with the other edition. You can order it from me for P200, here at bit.ly/mvebooks.  

Student Edition in the middle!

Icon of the Indecisive
Book 3 of the Interim Goddess of Love trilogy (older YA/new adult/sweet romance): College student Hannah Maquiling, also temporarily working as the Goddess of Love, has had enough of everyone asking for her help when it comes to relationships. It's her turn to find romance! She deserves it, after serving as matchmaker and confidant to everyone else in Ford River College for the past year. She's had a crush on handsome senior (and God of the Sun) Quin forever, but he's destined to fall in love with an extraordinary mortal woman, so she's figured her chances with him have pretty much dropped to zero.

It's not like she doesn't have any options for a classic college romance though. There's Diego, God of the Sea and Quin's best friend/enemy. And regular guy Robbie is stepping up, making sure she knows how he feels about her. How hard can it be for a goddess to find someone to love, and be loved in return?

And when you're done, maybe you want to listen to the audio commentary we recorded about the series? Yay!

Playing Autumn (limited first edition) paperback giveaway

So here's the deal -- Playing Autumn, my novella included in the Rock Gods of Romance bundle, is going to eventually be released as a solo book. I delayed those plans because an exciting opportunity for the book popped up, but it required expanding the story, which I haven't started on yet. (Next month, promise!)

And then I fast-tracked the printing of a paperback because Dia Frampton and Meg Frampton are in town. I had the happy lucky chance to meet Dia last year, on her first visit to Manila, and gave her a copy of Fairy Tale Fail -- and she's been reading more of my books since then. So I thought that the perfect prezzie for her and Meg would be the book I wrote about musicians, right?

Tania Arpa designed the cover, and so quickly too. I owe her baked goods and perhaps fancy drinks.

Mission accomplished though! Meg and Dia got their copies on the night of their show at Hard Rock Cafe Makati.

(Dia's writing a novel too, and the bits that she's posted so far have been quirky and awesome.)

Some people have offered to buy the limited copies (thank you!) but since I don't know how much they cost yet (I pretty much just grabbed them from the printer as soon as they were done!), here's a giveaway for Philippine residents! Will post order details soon.

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Out in January 2014: Stories from Luna East Arts Academy, volume 1 (YA/English)

I'm happy to share that the first #romanceclass YA anthology will be out in paperback in January. Yay!

During one of the #romanceclass monthly meetups, the authors present started talking about what they could do next, after trying to write their romance novellas. And we started talking about our love for YA, which is how a lot of us started reading and writing.

So now we have Luna East Arts Academy, an ongoing project where participating authors contribute a YA romance/coming-of-age story set in high school. Volume 1 contains the following stories:

Be Creative by Stella Torres

Senpai's #1 Fan by Anne Plaza

Love Lies A'Bleeding by Alyssa Ashley Lucas

Picture Me Naked by D. R. Lee

Something Real by Miles Tan

Wouldn't Change A Thing by Jayen San Diego

You Are the Apple of My Eye by Addie Lynn Co

The Letter by M. Protacio-De Guzman

Where Do We Go From Here by Jen Carpio

The Rumor About Me by Kristel S. Villar

He Loves Me...Not? by Athena Claire Duenas

Sitting in a Tree by Chrissie Peria

Yours Is the First Face That I Saw by Ron Lim

Fifty-Two Weeks by Mina V. Esguerra 

What is Luna East, exactly?

A fictional Metro Manila high school that we’ve created as the setting for new YA fiction. Luna East is a co-ed non-sectarian private school, somewhere in the metro, a bit upscale but with a growing percentage of scholarship students. The school likes to focus on its arts education, but they have sports teams (Go, Wolves!), beauty pageants, and other things that private schools in the metro have. 

Basic rules of #LunaEast:

Luna East Arts Academy is a shared setting for our YA stories. 

Stories must be set in the present time or recent past.

Any characters in the story will become part of the “universe” and can be used by the other writers in their stories (informing the original author of your plans would be polite).

Who can write a Luna East story? Right now, we are fine with ANYONE writing stories set in Luna East, but to be part of the paperback compilation (and therefore being CANON) your story must be reviewed and checked for continuity against the other stories.

Holiday Giveaway: All of my books in print!

Who wants books? Here, have all my books in print!

Not in photo: The upcoming paperback for Playing Autumn, my first international release. But that'll be part of the prize pack too! And I will ship it free to the winner to a Philippine address.

To join, answer:
Who's your favorite guy? (via blog comment or a post on your own blog/social media)
Bonus question: Which main character reminded you of yourself, or a friend? (post on your own blog/social media)

More details here on Rafflecopter:
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Happy holidays! Thank you so much for making my year as an author the most awesome one yet.

Queen of the Clueless Summit edition: Cover reveal + Giveaway! [PH only]

 

In bookstores this month! The Summit edition of Queen of the Clueless (Interim Goddess of Love #2).

Things are not right at Ford River College. 

Stuff has been mysteriously disappearing and the dean cannot get to the bottom of it. Hannah hates how security is tightening around campus because it seems they're targeting the kids who are under scholarship--students like her.

When she figures out who is doing it, she tries to find a way to fix things. She is the temporary Goddess of Love after all. But when he can actually control her and make her say and do things she'd never intended to do in the first place, she has to get the other gods involved:

THE SUN GOD: the love of her life, the stickler for rules, the one who will never return her feelings

THE GOD OF THE SEA: the rule breaker, the one who takes her under his wing to learn things the Sun God wouldn't approve of, the hottie

THE GODDESS OF THE MOON: the one who totally disapproves of Hannah being goddess of anything, the most popular girl on campus

But when Hannah realizes she has to do things on her own, will she finally realize that being the Interim Goddess of Love is something she can't handle after all? Or will she finally prove that she is indeed worthy?

I'm giving away 5 copies of the Summit edition of Queen of the Clueless! Includes free shipping anywhere in the Philippines. 

  

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Welcome to Envy Park: Cover and Ebook Pre-order links

My new chick lit novella Welcome to Envy Park will be out at the end of October! Here's the cover, designed by Tania Arpa, featuring Dominique Tiu. (It's lovely!)

Moira Vasquez is a doer. A planner. A get-up-and-goer. At twenty-two, she left her hometown to work in Singapore, to satisfy a need to travel as well as give her savings account a boost. Five years later and she's back in Manila, with a shiny new apartment to her name, but no job, no career, no boyfriend. She meets Ethan Lorenzo, the quiet hunk of an IT consultant on the ninth floor of her condo building, and he's a welcome distraction during this period of having absolutely nothing going on in her life.

But she has a plan -- of course she does -- and this is just a short layover on the way to the next country, the next job, the next big thing. Or will she be missing out on something great that's already there?

Pre-order the ebook on Kobo (P43.15!): bit.ly/EnvyKobo
Pre-order the ebook on Apple iBooks ($0.99!): bit.ly/EnvyApple
Pre-order the ebook on Barnes & Noble ($0.99!): bit.ly/EnvyNook
Amazon price will be $0.99 on release day, October 30: bit.ly/EnvyPark

Pre-order the paperback (if that's your thing): bit.ly/EnvyOrder

Welcome to Envy Park: Paperback Pre-order time!

My new chick lit/new adult novella Welcome to Envy Park will be out by the end of this month. If you're in the Philippines and would like to be among the first to get the paperback edition, you can order it now using this form: bit.ly/EnvyOrder.

- This title is self-published. (For now!)
- Pre-order price of the paperback is P325. Regular price of P350 starts on November 5, 2013.
- The ebook edition will be released at the same time. (Release day price: $0.99.)
- People who visited my MIBF signings are getting the ebook free! I will be emailing you soon.
- People who are currently in Singapore will be getting the ebook free! Leave a comment, or email minavesguerra at gmail to get your copy.

Book Description:

Moira Vasquez is a doer. A planner. A get-up-and-goer. At twenty-two, she left her hometown to work in Singapore, to satisfy a need to travel as well as give her savings account a boost. Five years later and she's back in Manila, with a shiny new apartment to her name, but no job, no career, no boyfriend. She meets Ethan Lorenzo, the quiet hunk of an IT consultant on the ninth floor of her condo building, and he's a welcome distraction during this period of having absolutely nothing going on in her life.

But she has a plan -- of course she does -- and this is just a short layover on the way to the next country, the next job, the next big thing. Or will she be missing out on something great that's already there?

 Read the preview of Welcome to Envy Park on Wattpad.

Interim Goddess of Love trilogy: Sale until September 15!

Hi, everyone! Been getting a lot of questions about this lately, and yes, the entire Interim Goddess of Love trilogy is done, published, and available worldwide in ebook and paperback through Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository, Apple, and other sites. 

In the Philippines, the Summit editions are the ones that will be in bookstores, but I'm not sure when exactly Queen of the Clueless and Icon of the Indecisive will be released. (Sorry! Definitely this year for QotC though.) 

If you absolutely cannot wait, you can get the international edition paperbacks by ordering directly from me. And hmm how about a sale? Order and pay for your books on or before September 15 and get the entire trilogy for P950. (Regular price is P1,050 for all three books.) Claim them through a Libis QC pickup, or add P70 for Metro Manila shipping/P100 elsewhere in the Philippines.

Email minavesguerra at gmail dot com to get the payment details. :) Thank you!

Interim Goddess of Love, Queen of the Clueless (Tania edition paperback)

Now accepting Philippines-based orders for the Interim Goddess of Love and Queen of the Clueless international cover editions (aka the TANIA edition). Each book sells for P350, and I will buy you a cupcake per book you get. Am serious! But you have to be nearby (or willing to go to Eastwood QC) because I'd rather not mail cupcakes.

Also:
- Add P60 for shipping within Metro Manila, P90 for elsewhere in the Philippines
- Get an IGoL and QotC set for P650.
- Want to group order with friends? Order 6 books and the 7th is free. (And the freebie can be the NEXT book, IGoL 3: Icon of the Indecisive, when it comes out. Work out among yourself who keeps the freebie heehee.) Please note that shipping may be more expensive, but we'll have to check first.
- This is different from the SUMMIT edition (retailing for P175 and available in Philippine bookstores) and the KAMLA edition (P300, first paperback edition ever, available on request).

Email minavesguerra@gmail.com if you'd like to order. Specify please which edition you want, as this is getting complicated to explain. :) But - cupcake!

If you're outside of the Philippines, you can get the TANIA edition paperback on Amazon, for $8.99.

Thank-you cupcakes

Please allow me to thank you for insisting on getting paperback editions of Fairy Tale Fail, Love Your Frenemies and Interim Goddess of Love. With a cupcake!

Bring your copy of Fairy Tale Fail, Love Your Frenemies and Interim Goddess of Love to Gigi Coffee and Cupcakes on August 11 or 25 and I will buy you a cupcake!

Where: Gigi Coffee and Cupcakes is at the ground floor of the Felina Corporate Plaza, Eastwood City.

When: August 11 and 25, from 1:30 PM 

*1 paperback = 1 cupcake!

Email me at minavesguerra@gmail.com so I know you're coming.

Interim Goddess of Love - updates!

If you live in the Philippines and prefer paperback books, look here! Interim Goddess of Love the paperback (Philippine edition) is now available via my Multiply store. It's about the size of a Summit Book (4.25 x 6.75 inches) and is P300. (Add about P50-P100 for shipping.)

Last week, I experimented with making IGoL free on Amazon for two days, thanks to an Amazon promo. I announced it only to the mysterious mailing list, but eventually word got around, and more people were able to try out this little YA/romance/fantasy/Filipino novella.

How did it do? Amazing. It peaked at #5 in the Top Free Downloads for the Romance/Fantasy genre. Its 2-day download rate beat Fairy Tale Fail's best month. (And FTF is my achiever!) I'm still figuring out the lessons learned from this new experiment, but here are a few things:

1. The potential is huge for Filipino writers out there (in the Amazon jungle).
2. Free is another way to get noticed and "bought." Whether it leads to anything, will have to wait and see.
3. I will probably do this again.

PS. I'm writing IGoL #2: QotC now. Right now. There will be more.

Buy paperback copies through Multiply

Paperback copies of my ebooks are now available for purchase via Multiply. Was able to set it at the same price, P350, because Multiply isn't charging fees for sellers yet. So if you ever wanted your own paper copy of Fairy Tale Fail or Love Your Frenemies, now might be the time to click. :)

http://minavesguerra.multiply.com

Fairy Tale Fail and Love Your Frenemies - tiny paperback versions available now

Smaller versions of Fairy Tale Fail and Love Your Frenemies on paperback are now available! They are about 4.25 x 6.75 inches in size (I think) and more closely match the books published by Summit Media. I tweeted a pic of all of them side by side here.

The tiny versions are P300 per copy. (Add P50 for shipping within Metro Manila.) Ebook version is free if you buy it. If you already have the ebook, you can opt to have me send your free ebook copy to a friend. :)

For now, you can order by emailing (minavesguerra@gmail.com), tweeting @minavesguerra, leaving a comment on the Facebook page (facebook.com/minavesguerra) or this post, or hollering at me on the street, if you happen to see me.

Thank you!