Mina V. Esguerra's Blog, page 15

My books in libraries, 2021 edition

These are libraries in the United States, Canada, the Philippines, and Australia that have my books.

This is a bit of a zoom into North America, which has most of the libraries listed because their catalogs are searchable through WorldCat and Overdrive.

I’ve had access to this info for a while, and it’s always reminded me that there are people out there who care, and pay attention. Most of the books acquired by these libraries are my self-published titles. There are a few university libraries that have some of my Philippine trad pub editions, but they represent just 6 libraries that I’ve been able to find.

My publishing strategy as of a few years ago is to “go wide” as much as possible. I publish non-exclusively everywhere which means my books are likely to be available for libraries to purchase. I’ve set my library editions to be the same as my retail price (in some cases, cheaper), although there’s advice to do it another way. The lower pricing is…just a thing I did that I didn’t think too much about, when I set it up. Anyway, now we have this. Acquisitions that I’ve earned from, purchases of an entire series, sometimes my entire backlist. Even in cities and counties where I don’t know anyone. Because as a Filipino with lots of family in the US that’s something you think would be a factor, but eventually even I have to concede that I don’t have this many friends and family in these cities. Something else is at work here.

On a good day, I hope that the “something else” is good intentions in action—someone, many someones, in all these cities and counties, they’re the type who would actually acquire a self-published romance book by a Filipino author. Who are actively looking to diversify their collections, and somehow not just found my books but also allocated a portion of their budget to buy the books. I don’t have a publicist, I don’t take out ads, I’m unfamiliar with the library system and wouldn’t have known how to get my books noticed. (I still don’t, and it’s because we don’t have that kind of system here.)

Sometimes when I find my book in a library catalog, I see it’s been checked out. On a good day I think that someone, several someones, chose to pick up a book by a Filipino author and that’s so cool? I’ve tried browsing these romance collections, and there are endless choices. I wonder what made them choose to borrow one of my books, and I can only guess, but I hope it’s because I made a bunch of right decisions.

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A new (little) book from me in 2021, after all!

So the writing sprints with friends, and eventually with strangers via a Twitch stream…seem to have worked? I finished the first draft of my new novelette Your Place Next Year. Yay! 

I wrote a lot of this via a weekly #KiligCafe writing sprint on the RomanceClass Twitch channel. See, I suspected it would work for me. I’ve always been able to meet my own writing appointments if they were a manageable number of days a week, and a manageable length of time. One hour, one day a week is really all I can promise myself and other people right now. But it did what a regular writing sked usually does for me, which is keep the writing part of my brain warmed up. I did write in bursts in between, but told myself I only really needed to keep the Wednesday schedule. 

The other lovely thing that happened is seeing friends and fellow authors dropping by the stream, sometimes writing, or working, or making coffee, sometimes just waking up. Apparently that’s enough for me to make sure I get some words out. I also try to prepare beforehand what I’ll be writing, and I set little goals for myself during the sprints. It’s not like I finished the longest book ever but it works! I finished something.

A few things about the actual manuscript: It’s a novelette because after I plotted it out, I decided it wasn’t going to be longer than 15,000 words. It’s also a bit of an experiment, trying to write a story that is properly a romance but set in a time and space that acknowledges the pandemic in the Philippines, and the unique challenges the local lockdowns provided. Soon enough I also decided that I can’t spend too much time writing this, because we’re still in the middle of an ever-changing lockdown situation. It feels like writing a letter longhand, while in an airplane, during a bout of turbulence, to be honest. Something needed to be more stable so I can feel better about it. 

And so, here’s what I did: I’ve written it as if it’s set in a near, safer, vaccinated future. Here’s what I will do: I will publish it as soon as I can, so it can be shared while the feelings and hopefulness are still somewhat current. I will publish it with an introduction and author’s note providing context, knowing that in the future I can update it if I have to. I’m not going to wait too long, or as long as I used to when I would publish something. It feels like the ground keeps shifting beneath our feet and maybe this is just a story for now, and that’s ok.

Continuing a thing I’ve been doing recently, I will serialize the story on Wattpad leading up to its release date. It’s not officially part of any of my series, although the main characters here do have a connection to my previous work. Alia Monterojo is the older sister of Julio from Pleasure to Meet You, and Leandro Alano is Pascal’s boss from Totally Engaged.

Working on this, and then moving on to the next thing! I do feel all warmed up for writing. If this seems like it can help you, join us! We’re starting a night writing sprint starting September 24, also on kilig.pub/twitch, hosted by author Tara Frejas.

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#RomanceClass: The guidelines, an intro, a 2021 video lecture

It’s August 2021 and as of right now I know that we won’t be doing #RomanceClass anytime soon. But the guidelines “textbook” that I give to the class (that I use to write my own books still) are available, and I also did video versions of the lectures that can be viewed online.

Available at gum.co/romanceclass

Updated! 2018 edition, with revised and new lessons, and an accompanying audio lecture in MP3 format (24 mins).

A compilation of lessons from #romanceclass, a free class held in 2013, that has since helped over 80 Filipino authors write and publish over 100 romance novellas. Find the published books at romanceclassbooks.com. 

This book will help you:

1. Learn a simple plot structure for a romance novella

2. Set a reasonable and practical writing schedule

3. Finish the manuscript and prepare it for publication

Note: Best for self-paced learners who are familiar with romance plots and novels. Is not a grammar course. If you are entirely unfamiliar with romance/chick lit novels, best to read a few first before starting this.

This video is an introduction to the community, our books, how we make the books, how we help authors:

A more comprehensive video lecture about the community and how we write #RomanceClass books is available on Twitch, on-demand for subscribers. A subscription that unlocks all our videos and lectures costs P120 a month.

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If you’ve watched/read these and still have questions, you can drop them here in the comments. But I recommend that you check all of this out first, and definitely read our books, to determine if this is for you!

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January to June #MinaReadThisIn2021

Even though I’ve been sharing my reading year for several years now, I think this is the first time that I looked at it in terms of months. And whoa, I’m really seeing which months I had the energy to read. Months where less books were read match months when I’m doing work on my own books (or book projects), and that really does drain me a bit so my leisure time goes to other things.

At 45 titles from January to June, I think this is on track to be…an average reading year haha. I’m still reading mostly romance, but with one big difference. I started this year by getting rid of my TBR! I truly did. Meaning I freed myself from that list of “read this soon” books and decided I would read a book whenever I felt like it. This means people tweeting sales and links to their new or backlist books helped because it reminded me of something I could be in the mood for, and I would just read it. Well, if I were in the mood for it and it also fit some guidelines I’d set for myself (more indie, more AOC, try another genre sometimes).

What also changed (did it really) was I did not write reviews promptly, so now there are very few reviews posted of these reads. I can give quick thoughts or opinions though if anyone needs it.

If this seems like too many books, please know that: I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies anymore. I consider this part of my work, and not in a bad way, especially if a reader’s decision to diversify their reading benefits me. (If I wanted people to choose us first I have to be mindful about the reading choices I also make.) I enjoy this, I do. I also deal with a local literary scene where people like to say they don’t read romance and speak over romance authors anyway–it gets hard for them to do that when I say I read 80 new books a year at least. (Not that they will actually read or support or listen, but this has stopped some of the talking over us and that’s progress.)

If this seems like too few books: I know! There are so many books and I can’t read fast enough ahaha.

Links to purchase all of these are compiled in this thread on Twitter: https://twitter.com/minavesguerra/status/1345730556932198400

Read in January: Birthday Shot by Rilzy Adams, Ball Drop by J. Greene, A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau, Bright Lights by Katrina Jackson, The Liar’s Dice by Jeannie Lin, His Captive Princess by Kiru Taye, Ringing in the Lunar New Year by Isla Chiu, Let Me Hold You by Alexandria House, An Affair in Winter by Jess Michaels, I Met You For A Reason: An Illustrated Poem by Layla S. Tanjutco, Acting Up by Adele Buck, Things Hoped For by Chencia C. Higgins, Toxic Desire by Robin Lovett, Captive Desire by Robin Lovett, Stolen Desire by Robin Lovett

Read in February: Ante Up by Christina C. Jones, The Love Bet by G.L. Tomas, Deeper by Rilzy Adams, Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins, The Long Run by Ruby Lang

Read in March: The Lessons We Learn by Alexandra Warren, Three Little Words by Melissa Blue, If the Dress Fits (2nd edition) by Carla de Guzman, I Must Belong Somewhere by Dawn Lanuza, Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha, Alien Quarantine Rescue by Robin Lovett, The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

Read in April: To Buy a Vow by Chencia C. Higgins, Writing into the Wound by Roxane Gay, Sweethand by N.G. Peltier

Read in May: The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan, Trese Vol. 1 Murder on Balete Drive by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (re-read), Not Just Human by E. Xia, A Matter of Disagreement by EE Ottoman, I Think I Might Want You by Christina C. Jones, Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler, Secret Crush Seduction by Jayci Lee, The Doctor Is In Love: a medical romance anthology by Angeli E. Dumatol, EK Gonzales, Celestine Trinidad, Suzette de Borja

Read in June: How to Find A Princess by Alyssa Cole, Hard Sell by Hudson Lin, The Professor Next Door by Jackie Lau, Slippery Creatures by KJ Charles, The Sugared Game by KJ Charles, Subtle Blood by KJ Charles, The Companion by EE Ottoman

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#KiligCafe Aug 11 – Thinking about word counts

I did another #KiligCafe writing sprint today and look — it seems to work for me. I am always more ready to write when I share my schedule with people. I also explained why Wednesday 9 AM is my preferred time. My non-writing life completely determines when I write, and right now the perfect time to get anything done is mornings, right before the rest of this household gets going. I used to be able to sprint a thousand words in an hour, but that’s because I was probably in a coffee shop making the most out of the sliver of time I had. Recently I’m hitting anywhere from 400 to 600 words an hour, and that’s fine. Doing what I can.

If Wednesday 9 AM is not the best time for you, maybe we’ll have more sprint schedules! Follow kilig.pub/twitch to find out when they are. Or just hang out and have coffee while I write, that’s fine too.

I actually got the chace to join today’s #KiligCafe and there were legit tears. I haven’t written like that in so long that it almost felt like finally coming home.

733 raw but treasured words.

Thank you, Ms. @minavesguerra! Thank you, @romanceclassbks! #RomanceClass pic.twitter.com/F27wuaa2Ke

— Fay Sebastian | Deckerstar stan (@faynotfaye) August 11, 2021

Good morning. #romanceclass #KiligCafe #sprints pic.twitter.com/rNixLT0JHX

— Tara (@tarafrejas) August 11, 2021

#RomanceClass #KiligCafe writing sprint starting now! I brought my coffee. Watching @minavesguerra writing in real time.https://t.co/u2vuZ9bDRk pic.twitter.com/Ie91fpBpu1

— Ansela Corsino (@anselacorsino) August 11, 2021

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Writing regularly (I hope) with #KiligCafe sprints

I’m writing again! And if you want to write along with me, I’ll be live-streaming my writing sprints once a week. Go follow RomanceClass on Twitch at kilig.pub/twitch so you’ll be notified when we’re doing live streams. I happen to be available on Wednesday mornings, 9 AM Philippine time, but other RomanceClass authors may start their own #KiligCafe sprints at their own convenient writing times. Watch out for when another sprint matches your sked!

The project I’m working on now is #amwritingYPNY, another contemporary romance with 40-something main characters. I have a work-in-progress thread about it on Twitter too.

#amwritingYPNY Because starting a Pinterest board and thinking of the second sibling's name for an hour counts as writing pic.twitter.com/tZskwimN0P

— Mina V. Esguerra (@minavesguerra) May 24, 2021

So far the most reliable way I’ve found time to write was when I set a schedule and if other people know that I’ve set a schedule (haha). If this method works for you, join us at the #KiligCafe sprints!

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Pleasure to Meet You [short story]

As a favor to her sister (producer of cable dating show A Pleasure To Meet You), Natasha agrees to appear on an episode and discovers she’s going on a date with the creator of her favorite amateur pottery channel on YouTube.

This story previous appeared in the RomanceClass Tropetastic Kindness Bundle. It’s an adult romance at heat level 3 (on-page sex scene), set before 2020.

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Interim Goddess of Love 2021 edition

Interim Goddess of Love, Queen of the Clueless, and Icon of the Indecisive are getting new digital editions this year, featuring new art by Shai San Jose. These are special editions that will have same text, but have all-new art (one full-color “cover” and several b/w inside illustrations).

These will not replace what can be purchased right now on Amazon and all other retailers. I will be making these editions available on Gumroad for purchase, but if you own ANY previous edition of any book in the trilogy you can get all of this free. Just go to this form: bit.ly/igol2021.

This is the first illustration by Shai San Jose for Interim Goddess of Love. I haven’t planned a print edition for this, but I’m working on a #RomanceClass notebook collab with Viviamo and this was the sample notebook we did. And I love it! Watch out for more details about that project.

Interim Goddess of Love trilogy buy links: Amazon | Google Play | Kobo | Apple Books | Ko-fi Shop | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

Read the series on Wattpad: Interim Goddess series reading list

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Heat Levels (where we are in 2021)

We’re doing a #RomanceClass lecture on Heat Levels on Saturday, and I’d like to share a timeline of how we’ve started writing sex scenes. Just to illustrate that it’s good to constantly evaluate our position and advice on this and update ourselves based on seeing the response to the books we’ve written.

Previously on RomanceClass writing sex scenes:

– 2013, first ever romanceclass. No finished manuscript and published book had open-door sex scenes. Someone asked, was that a choice? Were they not allowed to write it? And there was no rule against writing open-door sex! But none of the authors wrote it. Why not? Answers ranged from they didn’t know they could, they weren’t comfortable writing sex scenes, they didn’t like sex scenes in books, their story didn’t involve sex, etc. Many of us actually read books with open-door sex scenes, so this required some unpacking as to why we read it but didn’t write it. Eventually some of us decided we would write it (and learn how).

– 2014, buqosteamyreads. With a corporate retailer sponsor, we did a class that required open-door sex scenes, and established our first guidelines: sex scenes must show consent, and “responsibility” (ie condom use, mention of testing, acknowledgement of pill, as needed). Personally I hadn’t been writing open-door sex scenes before this and only started with the class. Some RomanceClass authors did not participate in this class, and continued to write books with no sex scenes, because that’s absolutely ok.

– After 2014, the RomanceClass catalogue began to diversify from no books with sex to almost 50% with closed-door sex or open-door sex.

– 2017, Feels So Hot. We had our first adults-only event, featuring a live reading program composed of only sex scenes from selected books. The event tickets sold out in hours. Main takeaway: Contrary to what we had assumed, Filipinos are ready to write and read and buy (and also watch people read) books with sex scenes, provided we create a space where we can enjoy this without judgment and maybe make it fun.

– At some point within this timeline we introduced Heat Levels to RomanceClass authors. Sometimes our Heat Levels infographic will be seen by another romance community maybe in another country like the US, and it leads to questions that maybe inspired me to write this timeline so I can link to it. We developed this infographic for RomanceClass, based on our experience as Filipino authors writing romance and sex, and having to find venues to sell our books in the Philippines but also factoring in world retailers. Some countries have a totally different culture regarding sex, and what a safe environment to discuss sex looks like. What we designed has so far matched ours, and results may vary. We’ve also updated the infographic to make it describe only whether there is sex and how much sex you can expect. A previous version called a low heat level “Sweet” and a high heat level “Steamy” which over time we learned is entirely inaccurate because we’ve written books that have explicit sex where characters are very sweet to each other, and books that have no on-page sex but a character’s inner monologue is quite raunchy and steamy.

– 2019, Heat Levels. This has been mostly for authors who are still figuring out which heat level to write in. If an author already knows, this won’t be necessary or new even. But as we saw RomanceClass readers pick up on the heat levels and what they mean, and make reading choices based on heat level, we saw how helpful it is to have a shared vocabulary. Usually publishers establish this with imprints and cover design and author branding. In a community of self-publishers you’ll need to do some work to establish that shared meaning among authors and also readers. This is a straightforward way to do it, and when included in the book description and inside pages, helps a new author reach the readers looking for exactly that thing.

– 2020, Heat Level 0 Represent. As more books were written and more authors were choosing higher heat levels, we wanted to remind our community of authors and readers that low heat levels are absolutely still part of romance (absolutely still part of adult romance also). Again, over time, we saw that our lower heat books were being recommended for a range of reasons. We’re glad we can provide that for readers and will continue to support authors who choose to write lower heat.

– 2021. On romanceclassbooks.com you can sort our list of books by heat level. There are 33 titles under Heat Level 0. There are 47 titles under Heat Level 3.

– Maybe 2021. Author Brianna Ocampo wrote Truth or Dare, a short book that has a M/M/F threesome with M/F HEA, so far the first Heat Level 4. (It’s not available to purchase yet.)

And now you’re all caught up. Will be seeing some of you on Saturday! Don’t forget your earphones.

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#RomBkLove 2021 Day 19: Traveling Together

Yes, I do realize that “traveling together” is a plot device that’s used often enough in books and movies and series, possibly to the point that some people are tired of it, but I do love it. 

By “traveling together” I mean when the couple meet on a trip, or take a side trip in the middle of the book. I love how the trip’s unique challenges and unfamiliarity reveal things about the characters. Sometimes the trip is an escape from the present conflict, and others it’s to confront something head on. I enjoy both versions really. Apart from the stressful and/or fun boost to their story, I do think these moments tell us a lot about their upcoming HEA, how they’ll function as a team. (And sometimes there’s only one bed!)

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

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In this Courtney Milan historical, the trip is about what people are willing to do for each other. Chloe wants to help make her father’s sauce a success, and Jeremy is willing to take her to London by horse and by train. But they’d have to be together, and there will be nights at an inn. If this sounds like a lot is left in his power, Chloe actually does decide what happens at the inn. CW: references to racism

Love and Hiplife by Nana Prah

PhD student Lamisi meets hiplife star Bizzy while mountain climbing in Ghana–of course right when she’s not exactly in the mood for a meet-cute with one of her favorite musicians (even if he’s helpful during a mishap). Was also fascinated by the main characters being multilingual and how it matters in their work and life. Lamisi’s dissertation is about the use of mixed languages in music and was inspired by his songs! CW: blackmail, “evil” romantic rival subplot

You Out of Nowhere by Jay E. Tria

Kris and Ringo first meet in a stalled MRT car in Metro Manila, then again when they realize they’ve been set up on a blind date, but the romance really gets going when they find themselves on the same trip to Seoul. Kris is just a little bit older than Ringo and the overseas trip throws together someone so earnest (him) and someone so jaded (her). CW: alcohol/hangover bad behavior (in backstory)

Slow Moves by Elliot Junkyard

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Zachary is a pop star who has a sexy encounter with Gabe in the first class section during a flight. They try to reconnect while in London, but have to be discreet about it, because the industry Zach works in has made it difficult for him to just date. A take on the celebrity trope, told entirely in the POV of trans main character Zach. CW: references to trans antagonism, queer antagonism, and racism

Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali

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YA about two young adults who happen to be using the same kind of journal, meeting on a flight to Doha. But wait there’s more to it than that, because the reason why Zayneb is on that flight is she was suspended from school for standing up to her teacher, and Adam is heading back to Doha because he has decided to quit school after being diagnosed with MS, which his mom had. The trip in this one gives them a chance to be themselves, give a chance for romance to blossom, with less baggage. CW: Islamophobia, illness, death of parent

White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter

This is an arranged marriage between two rival families in the business of making moonshine, so Hannah and Javier are already kind-of together–but then they take a trip to Nashville, and a mistake at the hotel means one queen bed instead of two doubles. This one has a lot more danger than my other recs but the traveling definitely does bring them together emotionally, especially when they’re plotting against another rival moonshine family. CW: gun violence, kidnapping, death of parent

This week in #RomBkLove!

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