I will never get tired of these posts I guess

November has beaten October as Fairy Tale Fail's best month ever. Amazon also launched (finally) a way to give Kindle books as gifts, even to people who have never opened a Kindle account, so this might even get better. (I hope!) If anything it's taught me that momentum is a big part of the ebook success thing -- a big promo push in the beginning helps, but also constant buildup.

That said, Amazon is a mostly American audience, and I'm never really sure how they'll react to a very obviously Pinoy story (though it's in English). This review by Holly of Book Harbinger came out recently and gave me an idea.

I also found out that FTF's older sibling My Imaginary Ex is still selling, more than a year after its release. Recent reviews by online communities and book bloggers have been significantly helpful.

Speaking of helpful online communities, a Goodreads page has been created for No Strings Attached. (Thanks, Chachic!)

Paper again, and word counts

FTF paperback update: Batch 1 is all out, but I'm expecting batch 2 to arrive in a few weeks. Sorry about the delay -- apparently I'm bad at figuring out supply and demand. (Good thing I'm not an economist!) Please be OK with being batch 2. :)

The books got some exposure on the interwebs this week by being featured on Chachic's Book Nook. It's always exciting, especially now that I've come out and started interacting with people who post stuff about the book. The reviews also give me something to think about, so here are a few thoughts to toss back out:

From Chachic's review of Fairy Tale Fail: "If only the paperback was as cheap as the e-book edition, I’d buy lots of copies and give them as Christmas gifts to my girlfriends. Unfortunately, the paperback is more expensive at P350."

I appreciate the thought, and I do wish the printing was cheaper. :( I got a great deal from CreateSpace, but it still can't beat the cost of distributing an ebook.

From her review of My Imaginary Ex: "I just have to say that I’m enjoying reading local chick lit. I just have a minor complaint – they’re all so thin! Small paperbacks less than 150 pages long. I’d be glad to read something meatier if the authors come up with something like that."

I had to learn to write with a word limit that would still make good business sense to my publisher. But to their credit, my next title's manuscript was 8,000 words over -- but they're still taking a chance on it. (Love them!)

BTW I just found out that that book now shares a title with an upcoming Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman movie. (Story's different, as far as I can tell. Unless they too meet on a beach in Batangas.)

FTF Kindle report card

This graph represents Fairy Tale Fail's sales figures on the Amazon Kindle Store in its first six months. It's not at all at the level of quitting my day job, but for an indie publishing experiment you can probably see why I'm excited. I don't know what accounts for the spike, but my theories:

- Changing the price from $1.89 to $0.99
- Tina at One More Page's review
- Joining Goodreads and the Goodreads Filipino group
- Amazon reviews from Laura and Vicki Tyley
- Amazon UK's Kindle Store opening in August (but based on figures, this isn't significantly the cause)
- Releasing a more expensive paperback ($7.99) drove people to purchase the ebook
- Amazon's recommendations algorithm

Maybe it's a combination of all of the above, only Amazon really knows, but this makes me want to release that next book project now. There just might be a market for it after all!

BTW - for FTF's early adopters who purchased at $1.89, you will be getting the next ebook project free from me. Working on it now. :)

Fairy Tale Fail paperback live in Manila - another experiment

A small batch of Fairy Tale Fail paperbacks are now here in Manila, and for sale.

Price: P350.00
Pickup point: Salcedo St, Makati City.
Email minavesguerra[at]gmail[dot]com for details and other possible pickup points. :)

The batch is small because, frankly, as a reader I am a cheapskate and I rarely pay P350.00 for books nowadays. I'm not sure how many people would buy it at this price when it's already on Smashwords and the Amazon Kindle Store for less than P100 or P200 (depending on your format preference).

But I was told that people love paper, let's see...

If you purchase the paperback, you will also get:
1. A free copy of the ebook version
2. A free copy of my next ebook (when it comes out)

If you've already ordered the paperback from Amazon, email me at minavesguerra[at]gmail[dot]com and tell me -- so you can still get the free future ebook. :)

Getting Pinoys back on more reading lists

There's some interesting talk going on at different Filipino book blogs about local publishing, genres, marketing books via social media, and then some. Jump in via Tina's post at One More Page and follow the links like breadcrumbs.

Their topics are things that have been floating around in my head for a while, especially in the past year or so, since I was first published, and since I started deliberately reading more work by Filipino authors. Others are finding it difficult to start the reading bit, because of a lack of variety in genres that interest them.

That's true in my case too -- I've read one generational epic (about oppressive landowners and oppressed workers and Martial Law and People Power), one drama about the immigrant experience and family, two classics about all our social ills, and the very modern-meta take on it all which won the Man Asian... so now I feel I've come full circle, and any books I find that are about any of those topics I wouldn't read unless highly recommended.

I do like contemporary lit though, and the way it's emerging in local publishing is via chick lit. I've voted with my wallet, and they seem to be coming out with more of it, so it's not just me telling people to read this stuff. (I also LOVE ZsaZsa Zaturnnah and Trese to bits -- buy them!)

In terms of new material, I do hope publishers explore this more. Like YA, which is the "gateway drug" for so many young readers (me included), and I've read a number of short stories that could have been their own cool Pinoy YA novel if someone just pushed and demanded more from the author.

For writers who encounter some resistance, please consider publishing for the Kindle. It's work (on top of the work of actually writing the thing, I know), but getting it out there is such a wonderful learning experience. If you believe in your story that much, then give me the chance to "sample" it! And by all means, find a way to promote it online, via book blogs and online groups. Summit Books did such a great job marketing My Imaginary Ex when it came out, but it's been a year, and if I get any new sales at all I believe it's because of the community of readers who talk about it online. They're a force!

Fairy Tale Fail on good old paper

Fairy Tale Fail [Paperback]
Mina V. Esguerra

Price: $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

It's here! It wasn't easy getting a paperback version out, but now it's here and it's pretty. Much as I love the ebook adventure, I did enjoy getting a paperback of FTF and placing it on my shelf.

The title's been up on the Kindle Store for almost five months now and the experience has continued to be a pleasant surprise for me. I don't know the effect that putting the story on paper (and consequently becoming more expensive by 7 dollars + shipping) is going to have on anything... but I guess I'm gonna learn this as I go along.

What's different in this edition:

There's a back cover! Which is actually the book description from Amazon but set to the same color background.

There's an excerpt on the first page. Not new material, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to pick a page to feature.

Notes on the Filipino words and general cultural stuff. Two pages attempting to place the Pinoy things in some kind of context. (Thanks for the idea, Laura Ellen and the people of Kindleboards.)

So far the paperback's being distributed only via Amazon and CreateSpace's estore. Kristeen and Sheela over on Facebook (and Cienne on Goodreads I think) have asked if it'll be out on local bookstores, and I don't have an answer for that yet! In any case there will be copies coming over in a few weeks, and I'll be posting here how much they'll be going for and how to get them. (Spoiler - the 99-cent ebook is so much cheaper!)

If you happen to buy the paperback, though, I hope you tell me about it. Email, post a comment here, or on Facebook, or wherever else, so I can properly send you my giddy thanks.

Heads up: "Mockingjay" (The Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 3) Book Launch

Found out about this via my Goodreads group. I haven't read any of the Hunger Games books (unless you count the few pages I browsed at a Fully Booked branch recently), but I support the idea of this launch.

I love that these books have enough of a fan base for a party. And that they're really excited about it. I wish them a great fandomy time. :)