Welcome to the second week of Around The World! Every Thursday I feature a Blogger, Author or Publisher and ask questions about the country or state they are from and what it is like to be a member of the book world there! If you are interested in being featured please sign up here.
This week I have Lyra from Defiantly Deviant here on the Blog!
Interview:
Where are you from?
I'm from the Philippines - a city called Marikina, specifically.
What is the best and worst thing about living in the Philippines?
I've always loved how the Filipino culture is a mixture of both eastern and western culture - the best of both worlds, if you may. Book blogging wise, I'm happy to state that there are a lot of book bloggers here, and I love that! We all tweet and communicate regularly, and that's always fun! I guess one thing I dislike about my country is that events featuring international acts - be it related to movies, sports, music, and books - are few and far between.
What is the biggest challenge of being a book blogger there?
Shipping to and fro the Philippines is rather expensive, and can take a while. (I've had to wait for a book for more than two months one time!) Also, while there are generous publishers who are more than willing to send out ARCs to bloggers based here, there are also others who refuse to do so. I really can't blame them though - as I said, shipping is really expensive! Also, some books that aren't that renowned take a while to arrive in the shelves.
Are you able to go to book signings, launches, or industry events?
Tehereh Mafi is actually going to do a book signing here next month, and I'm really excited for it! The book signings occur in bookstores located in Manila (the capital), and I don't live that far away from there, so I can go to most of them. Book signings don't really happen a lot though, maybe once or twice in a year?
Do authors ever do book tours?
Two of the more established book bloggers based here (Precious at Fragments of Life and Kai at Amaterasu Reads) run a blog tour site (http://pinoybooktours.blogspot.com) especially for Filipino bloggers, and they tour books regularly. There are publishers and authors alike who are willing to send out books for the tour site, and Precious and Kai arrange tours for those books.
Are there any publishers that are based exclusively in the Philippines?
I'm actually not sure. There are publishers of course who publish novels written by Filipinos, but I'm not really sure how many there are. One that comes to mind is Summit Media.
Are Publishers willing to work with you were you live? Is it hard to find Industry Professionals?
I'm happy to note that there are publishers who are willing to work with me and send out hard copies of their books, and I couldn't be more thankful. Moreover, most of the publishers on NetGalley are generous with their eARCs, so that's also a plus. I actually haven't met Industry Professionals personally (I don't think I'll be able to meet one unless I fly over to the States and go to ALA/BEA), but I've emailed with a few publicists and marketing personnel here and there.
Do you have any favorite books written by Filipino authors?
I actually haven't had the chance to read books written by Filipino authors. *hides* I'm planning to purchase books authored by Bob Ong soon though!
A Few Of My Favorite Things Section:
Favorite Book (overall): I'm going to cheat and answer both the Harry Potter series and the Vampire Academy series. (Sorry for cheating! LOL)
Favorite Book Recent Release: Everbound by Brodi Ashton
Author: Richelle Mead is my queen!
Social Media: Twitter, but Instagram's a close second.
Reading Spot: Nothing in particular - I can read anywhere!
I'm from the Philippines - a city called Marikina, specifically.
What is the best and worst thing about living in the Philippines?
I've always loved how the Filipino culture is a mixture of both eastern and western culture - the best of both worlds, if you may. Book blogging wise, I'm happy to state that there are a lot of book bloggers here, and I love that! We all tweet and communicate regularly, and that's always fun! I guess one thing I dislike about my country is that events featuring international acts - be it related to movies, sports, music, and books - are few and far between.
What is the biggest challenge of being a book blogger there?
Shipping to and fro the Philippines is rather expensive, and can take a while. (I've had to wait for a book for more than two months one time!) Also, while there are generous publishers who are more than willing to send out ARCs to bloggers based here, there are also others who refuse to do so. I really can't blame them though - as I said, shipping is really expensive! Also, some books that aren't that renowned take a while to arrive in the shelves.
Are you able to go to book signings, launches, or industry events?
Tehereh Mafi is actually going to do a book signing here next month, and I'm really excited for it! The book signings occur in bookstores located in Manila (the capital), and I don't live that far away from there, so I can go to most of them. Book signings don't really happen a lot though, maybe once or twice in a year?
Do authors ever do book tours?
Two of the more established book bloggers based here (Precious at Fragments of Life and Kai at Amaterasu Reads) run a blog tour site (http://pinoybooktours.blogspot.com) especially for Filipino bloggers, and they tour books regularly. There are publishers and authors alike who are willing to send out books for the tour site, and Precious and Kai arrange tours for those books.
Are there any publishers that are based exclusively in the Philippines?
I'm actually not sure. There are publishers of course who publish novels written by Filipinos, but I'm not really sure how many there are. One that comes to mind is Summit Media.
Are Publishers willing to work with you were you live? Is it hard to find Industry Professionals?
I'm happy to note that there are publishers who are willing to work with me and send out hard copies of their books, and I couldn't be more thankful. Moreover, most of the publishers on NetGalley are generous with their eARCs, so that's also a plus. I actually haven't met Industry Professionals personally (I don't think I'll be able to meet one unless I fly over to the States and go to ALA/BEA), but I've emailed with a few publicists and marketing personnel here and there.
Do you have any favorite books written by Filipino authors?
I actually haven't had the chance to read books written by Filipino authors. *hides* I'm planning to purchase books authored by Bob Ong soon though!
A Few Of My Favorite Things Section:
Favorite Book (overall): I'm going to cheat and answer both the Harry Potter series and the Vampire Academy series. (Sorry for cheating! LOL)
Favorite Book Recent Release: Everbound by Brodi Ashton
Author: Richelle Mead is my queen!
Social Media: Twitter, but Instagram's a close second.
Reading Spot: Nothing in particular - I can read anywhere!
Connect With Lyra:
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteI'll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. Cheers
My website - colocare