self-publishing – Tara Tries To Write

My Work, Personal, The Writing Community

10 Takeaways from my decade in publishing

August 22, 2025 No Comments

When I turned thirty (shit, I’m dating myself here, but what the heck), I wrote down a list of things I wanted to accomplish at thirty-three. One of them—and I declared this publicly on a Facebook post LOL—was to publish a book. Just ONE book. At that point, I’d had already worked at three companies and even tried my luck at making and selling clay accessories at bazaars. And although I still dabbled in writing KPop and Kdrama-inspired fanfic, I was so, so far away from my dream of becoming a screenwriter or a published author.

So, medyo nag-settle ako. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, kahit isang libro lang, maisulat at ma-publish ko, okay na ako. I’ll have some copies printed to give out as gifts, and one of them can stay with me as a souvenir. As a reminder that I was able to accomplish that dream kahit paano.

I love telling this story when someone asks me about my self-publishing origins. I was heading home from work, walking through ShangRi-La EDSA to the MRT station, and saw a kiosk of Summit books and magazines. Without really thinking about it, I snapped a photo of the books on display and posted it on my Instagram. Shortly after, one of my high school classmates, Jeni, commented on my post saying one of the books on the photo was written by her cousin.

Instagram will load in the frontend.

Her cousin is Mina V. Esguerra.

Long story short, that one photo led me to knowing who Mina was, enrolling in her publishing class almost a year later, and joining #RomanceClass after that. Ten years later, here I am, trying to finish a new manuscript and getting ready to release a special illustrated cover edition of another book for (hopefully) Manila International Book Fair. It’s been an interesting and rewarding journey for me so far. I’ve learned so, so much, and I want to share some of the things that have kept me going.

The Writing Community

LF: A Great Editor

April 16, 2024 No Comments

It always annoys me when “literary snobs” dismiss self-published work as sub-par, or something that’s just not worth their time. Sometimes it’s really just them looking down on certain genres (*cough* romance *cough*) because they think it’s “easy to write.” And sometimes, their aversion of all self-published work stems from reading or hearing their peers talk about a handful of badly edited ones.

Sad, but true.

As a reader, I can forgive a few minor grammatical errors in the books I read, but gaping plotholes, one-dimensional characters, and problematic narratives make me cringe and wonder: Who the heck edited this?

I cannot stress this enough: To every author, self-published or not, having a great editor is IMPORTANT. A good editor can spot grammatical or typographical errors for you, but a great editor can do that AND also flag problem points in your manuscript. Great (AKA experienced, skilled, and constantly improving) editors are able to tell if a plot point or character behavior doesn’t make sense and offer constructive insight on how you can make your book better. And the more you continue working with good editors, the better author you will eventually become.

But how exactly do you know if you’re working with a great editor? Here are some qualities that I think they must have.

The Writing Community

How much does it REALLY cost to self-publish?

April 3, 2024 3 Comments

(TL;DR version: It’s less than P40,000.)

How much does it really cost to self-publish a book?

Recently, there’s been a bit of buzz around self-publishing practices here in the Philippines. Every once in a while, various conversations about the different issues surrounding self-publishing (quality of work, ~legitimacy, and costs, to name a few) arise in different social media platforms, and I want to somehow contribute to that through this blog, but for now, let’s focus on one aspect: COST.

I remember someone from a big book event last year who very specifically asked us how much money we spent to publish ONE BOOK. And I also remember the shock on her face when I blurted out some rough estimates (less than P20,000), which made me wonder if she’d spent more, or was about to.

Now before we go any further, let me be clear: I cannot speak for every self-published author out there. Everything I’ve written here is based on actual costs that I have personally spent publishing my books in the last nine years. Enumerated below are several items I usually budget for when I plan on releasing a book, including a price range for each.

Ready? Here we go:

Events, Personal

Tara’s Takeaways: What’s my favorite thing about self-publishing?

December 2, 2023 No Comments

It’s true. All so true.

The above image was part of a slideshow I created for a Book Talk I was invited to recently. Most of the details are on this Instagram post, but long story short—I spoke about my self-publishing experience to a group of Grade 7-10 students and had fun. Yes, even if I had NO idea what I was going to do when I got the email invitation.

I mean…it’s a group of teenagers, and I mostly write adult romance. Heh.

Personal, Writing

“I don’t know you, but I already love you.”

February 13, 2015 No Comments

About a month ago, I’ve come across this comic strip by Manix Abrera and found it quite funny. As someone who dabbles in social media management in my day job, it really is quite humbling to see people liking and sharing posts you write, whether on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media channel there is that you use. However, the general thought of this comic resonated louder in me about two weeks ago when I published my first ebook.