That Kind of Guy

That Kind of Guy
Published by Summit Books


Good girl Julie never expected her hot former-player boyfriend to propose marriage. But when he did, she turned him down for reasons even she couldn't figure out. Will she settle for a nice, safe guy instead? Or will she let him find his way back into her carefully guarded heart?

Now in local bookstores! And Amazon!

Reviews
Goodreads
Girl Next Cubicle
One More Page
Perfect Nostalgia
Diurnalism
Chachic's Book Nook
Cookiecutter Caricature
Markings of a Dreamer

May is International Chick Lit Month

It's International Chick Lit Month! Visit this page to find out what chick lit is all about, and how diverse the stories have become over the years. I want to post about this because as an Asian and Filipino writer of "chick lit", writing about women in Asia/the Philippines, I feel like I should provide some context.

How diverse can chick lit be, you ask? Isn't that just about a shallow girl looking for love and buying clothes?

On being shallow
My book covers come in pink and other candy-reminiscent colors, and some of them have cutesy illustrations and photos. I've seen them called "shallow," "superficial" and "mindless." But because they were designed to be "light," "fun" and "unpretentious," I don't mind if some readers just get lost in the semantics. What I hope is that, maybe if they were paying attention, they'd notice that they now know about cognitive dissonance (from My Imaginary Ex), Vladimir Propp's morphology of the folk tale (Fairy Tale Fail), what happens during a despedida de soltera (Love Your Frenemies), new ways to do a class presentation of El Filibusterismo (No Strings Attached), and an alternate origin story for Diyan Masalanta (Interim Goddess of Love). It hasn't been that easy to take these concepts and not beat you over the head with them. Because who wants to be head-beaten really?

The way I see it, a woman in her twenties is shallow only to people who don't pay attention -- and then they miss so much of what makes her great.

On diversity
I've called my books "Asian chick lit." What does that really mean? To me, it means: expect Asians, and not as much sex. Not that everyone is a prude here (no not at all) but some things are just different, for better or worse.

This is the problem I have with choosing the categories for my books on Amazon. "Women's fiction" and "contemporary romance" sound like they should have more sex, which my books don't. "Teen romance" and "YA" don't seem like the right fit for stories about twenty-somethings either. ("New adult" is a term I've seen used to describe this in-between, but the online stores don't offer that just yet.)

As of right now, all my books are set in the Philippines. And yet they're not about politics or poverty or how we were involved in WW2. It is a totally different setting, and probably not what regular chick lit readers expect.

So for now I'm banking on these readers accepting that some of the details may change, but the story can be essentially the same, where it counts.

Yay to celebrating these stories! I hope more are told, from even more places around the world.

Author at Once, and again and again!

(Most of) The first batch of Author At Once participants, ever. Yay!

I did something really fun last Saturday.

For over two years now, I've been talking to people about how I've gone "indie" and published some of my books, making them available in ebook and paperback, in the Philippines and around the world. I've done it through this blog, and coffee shops, and classrooms. But all of that's been informal, casual "Hey, how did you do that?" "Well like this..." conversations, nothing really structured.

On May 5, we gave it some structure -- and opened it up for everyone. Author At Once, an indie publishing workshop by Bronze Age Media, featured me as the main speaker, and it was an afternoon of spilling "secrets" about publishing independently. From how to sell ebooks to getting an affordable print version out. And a bunch of other stuff in between.

A TV appearance on ANC's Future Perfect seemed to have been well-received, and we were nearly overwhelmed by the emails and calls from people who wanted to be part of AAO. And on the day itself? It was, as we in Bronze Age Media have been saying, our best workshop ever. (We've organized a bunch, none of them like AAO though.)

99% of why it was the best ever was because of you, the people who chose to show up. I personally loved your questions, your energy, your interest in everything, the fact that you took notes! and mingled among yourselves, made friends, and laughed at some of my jokes. (Maybe you shouldn't encourage me!)

We (at Bronze Age Media) are still regrouping and doing some post-workshop documentation and stuff, but we're already planning the next one. There will be an Author At Once repeat in June, for the people who weren't able to make it. And a Chapter 2 for those who have attended soon after. Because we talked about what's next, and it's a lot of work -- but all fun and exciting.

We will be in touch about the future plans, but don't hesitate to poke us if you haven't heard from us yet. Thank you and yay everyone!

Another winner! That Kind of Guy giveaway

One more person is getting a copy of That Kind of Guy!

I opened up the giveaway another week, and received these lovely entries. (Hope you take the time to check each out.)

1    Joie  Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 5:51 PM
2    April Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 9:48 PM
3    Ula Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 10:55 PM
4    Tricia Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 12:03 AM
5    Roseann Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 3:01 PM
6    Monique Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:03 AM
7    Agay Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:32 AM
8    Chris Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 1:31 PM

Random.org screenshot...

And then clicked on "Generate..."

Tada!

 

 

Congratulations, Roseann! Please email me your preferred mailing address!

Thank you all for participating. I loved reading your entries. (They were, in fact, very inspiring -- and that means a lot since I'm a romance writer. Not that I was planning to write my next story about any of you. Or if I were, I'd ask for your permission!)

That Kind of Guy - Cover Reveal and Giveaway winners

My new book, published by Summit, is coming out this month. And here's the cover!

 

That Kind of Guy

Good girl Julie never expected her hot former-player boyfriend to propose marriage. But when he did, she turned him down for reasons even she couldn't figure out. Will she settle for a nice, safe guy instead? Or will she let him find his way back into her carefully guarded heart?

As a treat for the mailing list subscribers, I also offered free copies of That Kind of Guy to people who blogged about their kind of guy. And here are the winners!

Lee, the kind of guy who never forgets

Leia, who likes them witty and caring

Tina, looking out for a reader (and that's not all!)

Chachic, whose kind of guy should know what to do with a bookish wishlist

Thank you for participating! I loved reading the posts. Please email me a mailing address. You're all getting the book as soon as it comes out. :)

But wait! I think I can give another book away... so I'm opening up the giveaway to all of you. Here's how!

1. Post something cute/interesting/revealing/scandalous (maybe not scandalous) on your blog about the topic "My Kind of Guy." Is he tall, dark, fictional? Have you met him? Are you already with him? Feel free to include That Kind of Guy's cover in your post! You have until April 16, Monday.
2. If you are a guy, by all means, post about what kind of guy you are. In a relationship. You know what I mean.
3. Email a link to the post to minavesguerra@gmail.com.
4. I will be sharing the links sent to me on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and picking a winner via random.org.
5. Winners based in the Philippines will get a copy of the book in print, when it comes out. If you win and you happen to be based overseas, I'll send you the Kindle version, when it comes out.

Have fun with it! I appreciate every post, I really do. :)

Interview with GMA News Online

Recently I met with Meann Ortiz (writer for GMA News Online), and then this happened:

Mina V. Esguerra: Young publisher in pajamas

PS. -

I've lost a few of those notebooks. :( Or rather, someone lost them.
Katrina Ramos Atienza's book that started it all was Pink Shoes.
Before I ended up on Amazon, I considered releasing the book as mobile phone content. (Still open to that.)
Interim Goddess of Love will be in other online ebook retailers in April.
More info about That Kind of Guy will be sent to my mailing list -- on Monday!
Based on my informal survey, half of my reader respondents found me through bookstores. (Still accepting responses. How did you find out about me? People who send in answers become part of a giveaway!)

Props to Barnes and Noble and Nook owners

I don't mention Barnes and Noble all that much, when I talk about publishing my ebooks. Even though some of my books have been on their Nook store for over a year, the sales weren't significant enough (less than 5% of total) for me to sing their praises.

2012 has been a different story so far. Without any special marketing targeted to Nook owners, my books have been doing very well on Barnes and Noble this year. On some weeks, even better than Amazon. A mere two months ago, I had all but written off my B&N presence -- I live in the Philippines, and we can't even buy books from the B&N site. Who else would buy a contemporary romance novel written by a Filipino there? 

I don't know the answer to that yet, but they are buying.

This just shows me, again, that I was wrong, but I am glad to be wrong in this case. Ebook publishing is still the Wild West in many ways. 

What I should do is give props to B&N and the other retailers. It cost me nothing to place my books on Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks, Sony, Goodreads, Flipreads... Even just one sale is a good thing. That means someone took a chance on me and my books, and that was the original goal, really. For people to read the books. 

So thank you, and here, have some hugs!

Love, 
Indie Author from the Philippines