And the slew of awesome YA book signings continue with the launch of proudly Filipino author Kate Evangelista's book, Til Death, published by Entangled Teen. If you're curious to know what Til Death is all about, you can read my review to get an idea. It's good, I promise!
After a hearty meal at Shakey's with Leslie of Bibliophile Kid and Nina of The Bookish Confections, we arrived at the venue early for once! Our other book blogger buddies overslept and were still on their way so we had some time to kill. Which Leslie spent doing this:
The lovely Mina Esguerra, also an amazing Filipina author (Fairy Tail Fail, Not that Kind of Guy, Interim Goddess of Love) hosted the book launch/ signing. Mina asked a lot of questions regarding Kate's journey through publishing her novels (from Omnific to Entangled) and Kate answered questions about her writing process, querying, why she writes multiple novels at a time and how she does it. She also gave advice to future published authors. Just write that novel, people. Everything starts from there.
A quick rundown of the Q&A:
- When asked why Wyoming was the setting for Til Death, it was because Kate needed to find a place to set her story that was remote enough so it won't attract a lot of attention.
- When asked how many books she needed to write, she said 11. (Wow!)
- Also, she's a "glorified typist". Her characters just want their stories to be written!
- Kate loves having mixed reviews. At least she knows what she needs to work on. What's scary is having ALL good reviews, because if your next novel comes out and people started hating it you'll tend to ask "why? they loved my work before!" and also, you wouldn't know what you need to work on if you just keep on getting good ones.
- Query everybody. Find which path you need to take as an author. Some are satisfied with self-publishing because that's how they want to start building their platforms on.
- Write the whole novel first before you start querying!
- Rejection doesn't mean you're a bad writer. It just means that your story is not for them.
- When asked if her being a Filipina affected the reception of her books in any way, Kate said no. Because that's the beauty of the internet. It's not about where you came from, it's about your story.
- When asked if she plans on writing a book set in the Philippines, she said she's writing one already. A dystopian kind of novel, complete with robots!
Kate was aware that she needs to work on the pacing of her story, and that it will be addressed in Til Death's sequel, where everything will make sense!
Also, Kate's momager, her ever supportive mom was there for her daughter's book launch! We talked to her a few times throughout the signing and she was such a sweetheart! Was the siomai her very own masterpiece? Because we loved it! Good food + good friends + awesome book and book launch = happy day for me.
Kate and I are both Kuroko no Basuke fans, so it was so fun just standing there talking to her about the anime (and Aomine) while she was signing my book! I even got a chance to take a (blurry) selfie with her!
The launch was also a venue for me and my book blogger friends to meet again! It was so fun to see all of these gorgeous ladies once more. I miss them all! We tried doing the Oscar selfie, but nope, it didn't happen. I failed. Twice.
Of course, because Mina was there, we couldn't pass up the chance to have our books signed by her. We had to run around NBS and buy her books in a hurry so we can have them signed! Thanks Mina for the impromptu mini-signing!
It was another awesome bookish day I spent with my friends, where we lost track of time bonding over books again even when the signing's over. I look forward to seeing these ladies again soon! The 29th! See you all there!
Thank you National Bookstore for another great event! See you soon fellow bookworms!
After a hearty meal at Shakey's with Leslie of Bibliophile Kid and Nina of The Bookish Confections, we arrived at the venue early for once! Our other book blogger buddies overslept and were still on their way so we had some time to kill. Which Leslie spent doing this:
The lovely Mina Esguerra, also an amazing Filipina author (Fairy Tail Fail, Not that Kind of Guy, Interim Goddess of Love) hosted the book launch/ signing. Mina asked a lot of questions regarding Kate's journey through publishing her novels (from Omnific to Entangled) and Kate answered questions about her writing process, querying, why she writes multiple novels at a time and how she does it. She also gave advice to future published authors. Just write that novel, people. Everything starts from there.
A quick rundown of the Q&A:
- When asked why Wyoming was the setting for Til Death, it was because Kate needed to find a place to set her story that was remote enough so it won't attract a lot of attention.
- When asked how many books she needed to write, she said 11. (Wow!)
- Also, she's a "glorified typist". Her characters just want their stories to be written!
- Kate loves having mixed reviews. At least she knows what she needs to work on. What's scary is having ALL good reviews, because if your next novel comes out and people started hating it you'll tend to ask "why? they loved my work before!" and also, you wouldn't know what you need to work on if you just keep on getting good ones.
- Query everybody. Find which path you need to take as an author. Some are satisfied with self-publishing because that's how they want to start building their platforms on.
- Write the whole novel first before you start querying!
- Rejection doesn't mean you're a bad writer. It just means that your story is not for them.
- When asked if her being a Filipina affected the reception of her books in any way, Kate said no. Because that's the beauty of the internet. It's not about where you came from, it's about your story.
- When asked if she plans on writing a book set in the Philippines, she said she's writing one already. A dystopian kind of novel, complete with robots!
 |
| A 9th grader reading Til Death chapter 2. |
Kate was aware that she needs to work on the pacing of her story, and that it will be addressed in Til Death's sequel, where everything will make sense!
 |
| Photo from Kazhy at My Library in the Making |
Kate and I are both Kuroko no Basuke fans, so it was so fun just standing there talking to her about the anime (and Aomine) while she was signing my book! I even got a chance to take a (blurry) selfie with her!
The launch was also a venue for me and my book blogger friends to meet again! It was so fun to see all of these gorgeous ladies once more. I miss them all! We tried doing the Oscar selfie, but nope, it didn't happen. I failed. Twice.
Of course, because Mina was there, we couldn't pass up the chance to have our books signed by her. We had to run around NBS and buy her books in a hurry so we can have them signed! Thanks Mina for the impromptu mini-signing!
It was another awesome bookish day I spent with my friends, where we lost track of time bonding over books again even when the signing's over. I look forward to seeing these ladies again soon! The 29th! See you all there!
 |
| The obligatory group photo with Kate! Thanks to Kate at The Bookaholic Blurbs for the photo. |
Thank you National Bookstore for another great event! See you soon fellow bookworms!
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