Hello again!
I thought I should post an updated beginner's guide to self-publishing for Filipino writers, since I've been getting Qs about this more often than usual lately, ever since quarantine started. 
And so without further ado...

So I was thinking of a way to pay it forward and I thought that for Valentines Day, I'd write some sort of Q&A post about self-publishing for Filipino writers. I need to emphasize the Filipino part since I'm Filipino myself. As such, I'm in a better position to share info, insights and stuff about self-publishing from the Philippines. 

On the other hand, I don't think I'm in a position to offer advice about self-publishing to authors outside the Philippines. Plus, a lot of more experienced authors have already offered really good advice about this so I don't think I'd have anything much to offer.

Anyway, if you've only stumbled upon my site or post and you don't read my books or you don't know anything about me, here's a very brief summary of my writing career so far---

• I worked as an online content provider / Internet writer for about 8 years. One of my articles was republished by Yahoo! Small Business (content syndication) and another by MarketingProfs.com
• I once had a literary agent in US but it didn't work out. 
• I have been rejected too many times to count by numerous literary agents and local publishing companies. 
• I write steamy romantic comedies. And YA horror when I have time. Oh, and children's stories, too, under my real name.
• I made the deliberate choice of rejecting certain golden rules about writing (e.g. head-hopping POVs, use of adverbs) when I started self-pubbing. 
• I get my share of one-star reviews. Most of it have to do with the fact that my heroines are so naive (but hey that's because I tend to be naive IRL too and I keep forgetting to take off my rose-colored glasses) and my heroes are jerks (what can I say? I also believe that reformed rakes make the best husbands). Oh, and that I have too much sex in my stories (errr...no comment. :D).  Lastly, there would occasionally be reviews that say my stories - ex: The Werewolf Prince and I & How Not to be Seduced by Billionaires - are Fifty Shades copycats. However, that's not true and my long-time readers over at Girltalk (a forum on Female Network, owned by Summit Media) will be the first to tell you that my stories were completed way before FSOG became viral.
• I know for a fact that I have more US and non-Filipino readers than readers here in PH. 
• I currently have almost 2000 subscribers in my mailing list.
• I have one traditionally pubbed book here in PH - a chick-lit novella pubbed by PSICOM. This was back in 2007 or 2008 I think. Can't remember now.
• I now have almost 20 books available on Amazon and other e-retailers. 
• My best ranking books are The Werewolf Prince & I (Top 250 on Amazon US) and Nick & Lilac (Top 220 on Amazon US and Top 200 on Amazon UK)
• I became a NYT bestselling author when the Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set (multi-author anthology) hit the COMBINED LIST OF BESTSELLING EBOOKS AND PAPERBACKS on its first week. The boxed set made it to NYT for two weeks.
• Two of the boxed sets I'm a part of made it to the USA Today - Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance (3 weeks) and Tangled: New Adult Romance Boxed Set (1 week).

If you want something more extensive, I have my Road to Publication story posted here somewhere. 

So basically, that's it. If you think I can answer questions you have about self-publishing then you can post it here as a comment OR if you want to ask anonymously, then you can email me at [email protected] with SELF-PUBLISHING QUESTION as subject line. Feel free to ask anything that concerns you as a self-publisher (e.g. marketing your books, connecting with an international audience, royalties, etc. - anything goes!).

I'll also go through my older emails and share relevant questions (and answers) asked by Filipino readers. 

Expect the post to be up on V-Day. :) 

I am not supposed to be up at this time - I actually just woke up to open the A/C but since I am, I might as well post this. I was struggling the whole day about what to write for this blog until a conversation with a great author friend gave me this idea.

In my other blog, I posted my first ever published book. Looking back at it now, I still love the story but I do wish I could have written it better. You see, I wrote that book without any input from critique partners / beta readers and I certainly didn't even do research about the dos and don'ts for the technical aspects of writing a novel - with the exception of researching a teensy weensy bit about the finer points of grammar. So end result: not my best work. It's a fun and frothy read, I can promise you that - but the writing could have been better. I admit it. :)

Of course as years went by and I realized that writing is something I would really like to do - maybe even earn money from - I gradually found my way to reading "how-to" books on writing. Now, some of you may say, "But I already know how to write. So why should I read those books?" Well, yes, I get your point, but you see - there's a special kind of writing involved when you want to write your own book / novel and that's the kind of writing you'll learn from these how-to guides. Plus, you get tons of advice from the best in the industry, thus allowing you to avoid the same mistakes they did. 

And so without further ado, here are links to some of the books that have helped me improve in my craft.

• Escape the Slush Pile by Mary Janice Davidson - MJD is my idol. I love her Undead books and when I was still in school, I spent my entire allowance snapping up her books. This particular book is more for getting published, but it's still worth reading and can still help you improve your writing. At the very least, it will help you take rejections (whether it's from a publisher who turned down your manuscript proposal or a one-star review) more easily. 
• On Writing - It's Stephen King. 'Nuff said. I know that he's a very outspoken character and because of that he's picked a lot of enemies along the way. I know he may not even like the books I write because he may consider them fluff. Doesn't matter - it's not just because he's a legend. I think it's more because he's getting, err, older and therefore set on his ways and you just have to think of him as this grumpy old king whom you need to win over - if not with your writing then with your personality. Because either way, he's a good man. Hell, he's a great man - he has to be with the kind of stories he dishes out. :) Now, as you can only expect from King - his advice is spot on, often ruthless, but hey - sometimes, such advice is the kind of wake-up call we need to accept that our writing needs improvement. 
• Writing Great Books for Young Adults - A funny story here. I actually queried Ms. Brooks before I got to read this book. Long story short: she rejected my query. I'm wondering now - if I had queried her after reading this book of hers, would my query have a different outcome? hahaha. But anyway, this book is a must read if you want to write for a YA audience. Now remember - the audience being targeted here is readers of traditionally pubbed YA books. If you are writing primarily for Amazon YA readers, the rules are a lot more liberated especially when it comes to dealing with sex, drugs, and all other sensitive issues. I need to point that out because if you're the type who'd like to push boundaries, you can do so when you're independently or self published. So some of the rules you come across in this book don't have to apply. 

Finally, here are the books that I haven't had the fortune to read but I think are worth checking out AND books that I read in the past but only borrowed from the library (basically that means I didn't get to re-read it over and over and so I don't remember enough to give specific reasons why I loved it).

• Writing Irresistible Kidlit - I had the fortune to have sample pages requested by Ms. Kole on different manuscripts. She was always pleasant to converse with but more importantly you get the feel that she knows her stuff. And yeah she does. So you can't ever go wrong with this one and esp. if you want to write for a traditional pub audience.
  
• How to Write a Damn Good Novel - Borrowed from the library. :)
• On Writing Romance - It's Leigh Michaels. 'Nuff said.
• How to Write Hot Sex - Check out the names of its contributors. Then you'll know why it's a must read. 
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance - Alison Kent wrote this. Again, 'Nuff said.