The Entropy Blog

I was super late to the Kwentillion Young Adult Readers Carnival. Because of the rain and flood and all that drama that comes with the opening of ticket sales for Big Bang’s concert in October, I got to NBC Bestsellers in Galleria around 4pm. I missed Mina and Charles‘s “Filipino YA Creators” panel and barely made it in time for the Kwentillion creators’ panel.

The talk was fun. It also gave us insight into what the creators were aiming for — showcasing local talent and giving kids and adults something uniquely Filipino to enjoy. During the Q and A, one of the people in the audience, a teacher, suggested that they try coming into schools to reach the magazine’s audience. Which I thought was a great idea. I hope this happens.

After the talk and the Q and A, there was a signing session. Glad I didn’t miss that.

Tomorrow, Saturday, 14 July, I’ll be giving a talk on social media at a writers workshop called “Author at Once Chapter 2: Marketing”. Author at Once is a workshop series by our company Bronze Age Media aimed at helping writers get published. Although the workshops emphasize indie publishing — publishing your work without traditional book publishing companies — we try to present material that will also be useful to writers who have already been traditionally published or are trying to get a contract with a traditional publisher. My talk on social media marketing is for both published and unpublished writers, and those who want to publish independently or through a publishing house. Even traditionally published and established authors do social media marketing, and tomorrow’s workshop will try to teach you how to do it as painlessly as possible.

“But I hate doing Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/etc.!” you say. We understand! Not everyone likes to be social or get friendly with strangers online.

No, I’m not not on the cover of anything.

I do make book covers, though. One of them was for Chef Theo Zaragoza’s cookbook titled Foolproof Favorites Vol. 1: Flavorful Heritage Dishes Done Right. The book was featured in Food magazine’s May issue.

The University of the Philippines is celebrating Pride Week 2012 from June 25-29 with forums and a film screening and a lot of other fun stuff. Join the festivities!

As the poster says, the Author at Once workshop will teach you how to be an independent author in one afternoon. You’ll learn the ins and outs of preparing your manuscript for publishing, how to navigate your way through Amazon’s direct publishing website, and some marketing basics. Mina V. Esguerra, best-selling author of Summit Books’ “My Imaginary Ex” and “No Strings Attached”, as well as an independent publisher of her own books “Fairy Tale Fail” and “Interim Goddess of Love”, will be the main resource speaker. I will be giving a short presentation on marketing basics. The workshop will be on Saturday, 16 June 2012 at Cafeccino by Dome, in Eastwood Mall. Registration starts at 1.30pm. Sign up at the Bronze Age Media website.