Mina V. Esguerra's Blog, page 26
January 22, 2017
January 18, 2017
Workshop: Romance Story Writing at Ayala Museum, February 18 and 25, 2017
If you have a story you’d like my comments on, bring it and present it. I’ll also talk about publishing options. Contact Ayala Museum for reservations.
December 30, 2016
Books by Filipino authors I read in 2016
Even established Filipino authors get only a fraction of attention, marketing, and readership that others do, so here’s my list and I hope you consider reading these too!
Bloodline Maharlika by Anne Plaza
Peyton Riley by Bianca Mori
The Duke Takes A Bride by Suzette de Borja
The Hometown Hazard by Dawn Lanuza
Plain Vanilla by Ines Bautista-Yao
Songs to Get Over You by Jay E. Tria
The Bye-Bye Bouquet by Chi Yu Rodriguez
Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa Kalakhang Maynila Blg 2 by Carlo Vergara
Beginner’s Guide by Six de los Reyes
It’s A Match by Ana Tejano
Maybe This Time by C.P. Santi
High Stakes by Chris Nava
Till Death Do Us Part by Irene Recio
When Sparks Fly by Ines Bautista-Yao
Prom Queen Perfect by Clarisse David
Prep and Prejudice by Miren B. Flores
Songs to Make You Stay by Jay E. Tria
Another Word for Happy by Agay Llanera
Settle the Score/Hustle Play by Tara Frejas
Dare to Love by C.P. Santi
If The Dress Fits by Carla de Guzman
The Last Time I’ll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza
Wired Differently by Chris Mariano
Make My Wish Come True: A #romanceclass Christmas anthology
Giveaway: For those who read romance and YA
I decided to do this, to help give back to the authors and readers who’ve been so supportive of our books.
BUY, then READ, then REVIEW any book listed here:
https://twitter.com/diversaesthetic
http://www.wocinromance.com
When you’ve bought, read, and reviewed 3 different books, post links to the GR or Amazon or blog or public FB or Instagram reviews here, as a comment, or email to minavesguerra at gmail.
I will send you a thank-you gift in the form of paperback books OR any of my ebooks OR a $4 Amazon GC, whatever happens to be available at the time. Some prizes may be better than others. Please be ready for awesome or so-so, haha.
Please buy, don’t pirate. The point is to support authors who might not have publicists or huge-publisher marketing reach. Let’s agree to buy the books so the authors can earn from them. Let’s agree to introduce these books to new readers, or be the new reader discovering these authors.
It has to be a new purchase, made after the date I posted this. #romanceclass books count if they’re listed on the sites mentioned above.
The sites are updated regularly, so check regularly too. Thank you!
December 24, 2016
The Future Chosen
The nation of Isla has a law: No two politicians from the same family. Two elected officials who marry make their families one; only one can continue to serve.
In the future, Maria Lourdes and Andres Miguel could very well be their country’s best and most influential leaders. She could be president one day, like her grandmother. He could be a senator one day, like his uncle. Marrying another politician is against the law, but why should it matter? Today they’re just young people who want to be together.
They’ll deal with the rest of it tomorrow.
This edition compiles the prologue short story and the three parts of The Future Chosen. Sections of this book were serialized and released on Wattpad, Clara Romance Journal, Radish, and Instafreebie. I’m grateful to everyone who read this three-year experiment as it was being written! To those just about to start: This story is happening right around this time, but not in the Philippines that we know. I thought it would be dystopian but it’s not–or it’s about to be.
Buy links: Amazon Gumroad Smashwords
Get it free here. Code is the name of the other country (lowercase letters).
December 15, 2016
SparkNA new books this month!
New stuff! This month! I’m so excited to see these. Spark Books is a new-adult imprint of Anvil Publishing, and they will have a LOT of new romance books in stores before the end of the year. These new releases were selected from the SparkNA class we had in 2015, where authors signed up to write a new-adult novel based on guidelines and a schedule that I set. As workshop sponsor, Anvil Publishing had first dibs on the submissions. December 2016, the first batch of books are coming out in print, and they look awesome.
Watch out for these in local bookstores! At least ten new books soon!
The theme of the class was “Let’s be brave” and I hope it shows through in all the books! The #SparkNA class had a lot of #romanceclass authors, but also first-time authors, and authors from other platforms and publishers, anyone really who wanted to try to write NA. While Anvil had first dibs on print publishing, we also provided support for authors who wanted to take their manuscript and go indie.
I’ll update this page when I get the other covers! Support these books and authors, and let’s push for the books we love to get noticed and read. Thank you.
December 13, 2016
2016 Year in Books: WOCinRomance
Books I read this year based on WOCinRomance recommendations!
Be Not Afraid by Alyssa Cole
Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole
Cabin Fever by Audra North
Under His Kilt by Melissa Blue
So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon
So Right by Rebekah Weatherspoon
So For Real by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Never Too Late by Amara Royce
A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres
The Infamous Miss Rodriguez by Lydia San Andres
A Right Honorable Gentleman by Courtney Milan
Perv by Dakota Gray
Be My Fantasy by Alisha Rai
Princess Shanyin: The Complete Obsession Saga by Liliana Lee
December 8, 2016
Podcast appearances: Smart Bitches Trashy Books and the Bookthingo podcast
I was in an episode of the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast that went up in October. Thank you, Sarah, for inviting me to do this. I woke up early Manila time (early is better than late because otherwise my daughter would be constantly interrupting) and we talked over Skype about a LOT of the things I’ve been doing. All documented on this website by the way. It was an honor, truly. I love listening to the podcast and it’s a must for anyone interested in romance.
Sarah asked me about my latest book and I got to talk about Iris After the Incident, and this is probably the most I’ve been able to discuss that book to anyone for any length of time. It felt good because the subject matter (sex scandals but not in a scandalous way) made me decide not to market the book the way I would my others. Getting to seriously talk about it with a romance enthusiast? Best thing.
I was also on this Bookthingo podcast episode, up in December. This was recorded when Kat of the Bookthingo podcast was in Manila, so we got to meet in person for this — and yeah my daughter was here and constantly interrupting. (Yay for editing!) We talked about how I got my start writing, the books that influenced us, writing in English, books that still influencing us, the cover photos project, and how to write about reality when romance requires HEA. Kat and I are collaborating on a project to help release more Filipino romance novels, and I’ll talk about that soon. At the time we didn’t know we were going to do it. 
November 28, 2016
6th Filipino Readercon
The Filipino Readercon was, for the first time, held outside of Manila (in General Santos City) and while I couldn’t personally be there, #romanceclass the community was able to participate as a sponsor. Congrats to everyone involved, everyone who attended!
