Coffeespoons

PRH US titles from Filipino creators Obviously this post is work-related, but I also love doing this, so let's call this a mix of business and pleasure. A few months ago, I posted a version of this on my IG, but lists and announcements in the industry are constantly updated, so I've updated this list as well. This is supposed to be a list of Filipino authors and illustrators (creators) who are being published this 2025 by Penguin Random House US and its distribution clients (publishers who do not belong to PRH US, but who are distributed by PRH both in the US and worldwide). But I snuck in two kids' titles that were pubbed in 2023, because, well, I just found out that the illustrator was from the Philippines. Does this happen often, that I realize belatedly that a creator is from the Philippines? Not often, because we honestly make it a point to find the Filipino creators on our lists. But it does happen occasionally because, well, we have a very big list. This list also h...

I’ve been actively avoiding posting content on Meta (FB/IG/Threads) for ethical and practical reasons, i.e., Z*ck seems to be a douchebag who apparently enjoys manipulating humanity for profit, and I think that in the long run, it’s better to own my own content. I haven’t left the platforms to still keep track of people, wish them happy birthday, check brands, etc, but I tell myself not to post anything of mine directly anymore. Let me tell you right now: it’s hard. I’m chatty and I like sharing things, and my main platform for sharing was Meta. And yes, most of my communities are there.  I do share the most on BlueSky now, which I’m using like the good ol’ days of Twitter (RIP, Twitter). But while I believe Bsky has enormous potential, right now, there just aren’t that many people there yet, or even news sites. (Shoutout, by the way, to the few #romanceclass people I do interact with on Bsky!) So, I take photos and because I don’t want to put them on IG, I make plans to create e...

Ichi’s new book, ACCIDENTS HAPPEN , is now in Philippine stores! And around the world, yes, but as I am Filipino and so is Ichi, I figure this is a special thing.  I took these photos on Sunday, Mar. 23, for reference! At Fully Booked BGC!  At Fully Booked the Block. The smaller one, not the Fully Booked x Kinokuniya one at the higher floor! Though that other branch also has stock!  And I also found the order page on Fully Booked's website .  (As a caveat, allocations for the websites/Shopee/Lazada are different from the allocations in the physical stores. This means that sometimes, if it says out of stock on the website, this doesn't mean there are no more copies in the branches! It only means that the allocation for the online platforms have run out! So I always suggest to friends that if you see a book out of stock on a store website's, go to or call a branch and ask where there are possible copies. They can search that for you and tell you! And you can also ask t...

This week found me in London, at my tenth Penguin Random House US International Sales Conference, which means I’ve been with PRH for nine years now. It’s the longest time I’ve spent in one job. And in total, I’ve been in the book industry—local and international—for 16 yrs. Many people in the industry often say that people who start working in books stay in books, albeit they might move around. From what I can see, this is true, despite it being famously a low salary industry (compared to other industries, that is). I think there are many reasons for this, but I’m guessing one of the main ones is that if you’re in the book industry, you probably love books. Love reading, love anything to do with the written word and the worlds it creates or the fire or comfort it brings. That counts for a lot when your parents ask you why you didn’t push through with becoming an engineer, because imagine your salary now. (Kidding. They don’t ask me that. Anymore.) And then there are the people. Don’t g...

I’ve always thought it was an injustice that writers’ retreats are a thing, but not reading retreats. At least, not as widely as writers’ retreats are. And so last year, I went on a personal reading retreat in Baguio, inspired by stuff I’d seen online about other reading retreats.  It was glorious. But I wondered what it would be like to actually have a reading retreat with a group. So I floated the idea to my book club, Flips Flipping Pages--described what it was, showed them a few sites that organized reading retreats, etc. And they ran with it.  So from Jan. 31-Feb. 2, around 18 FPP book club members and guests participated in Bookish Baguio, FFP’s first reading retreat. The whole thing was organized by the book club founder, Gege, with help from a couple of other members. And the venue was this lovely Airbnb called Baguio Mountain Retreat , suggested by another book club member who knew the owner. The agenda for the weekend was reading, eating, and sleeping. And maybe visi...

Nine ARCs from PRH Got me some ARCs from work, which I was planning to read before handing them out to the bookstores, but my time has run out, so am probably just posting them here for posterity (or however long the internet stays up). One thing I like keeping track of is Southeast Asian stories, being a Southeast Asian rep assigned to sell in Southeast Asia for a US publisher. Our team--the ones who sell to Asia--try our best (operative word: try) to keep an updated list of Asian creators and titles from our list. It's not as easy given the number of titles we deal with on a regular basis, especially as we do see more Asian representation from our lists. And this matters to us a lot, I think, to the booksellers we sell to, and to the readers. This batch has four SEA stories: 2 from the Philippines and 2 from Vietnam-- HOUSE OF MONSTROUS WOMEN by Daphne Fama - a gothic, haunted house horror story set in the aftermath of the People Power revolution in the Philippines, though not i...

Image c/o Fable I read 8 books last month! I’m quite impressed by myself, lol.  Frankly, my only real “resolution” for the year was to do my darndest to pick up a book and read, instead of doomscrolling through social media. Because last year, I realized that I—perhaps with 50% of humanity?—spent a lot of time doing that. Hours in a day. And apart from knowing most of the memes and references because I was terminally online, I don’t know what else that got me.  Well, unending sources of anger, too.  So anyway, because I was mostly offline over Christmas and New Year for a family vacation, I realized it’s not really impossible to spend less time on social media. Granted, I missed some viral stuff and also wasn’t aware of everything going on in my large and small worlds, but it didn’t feel crippling. And then Zuckerberg’s kissing the Trumpian ring sealed the deal for me.  I’d say I was both successful and not in replacing doomscrolling with reading my books. Successful...

Haemin Sunim was in Manila last weekend for a couple of events: one in UP, care of the UP Korea Research Center, and the other at Fully Booked BGC, who was responsible for inviting Haemin Sunim to Manila in the first place.  I spent a decent amount of time with Haemin, given the job, and I can honestly say his presence is kind, calming, and also quite fun. It was also the first time for me to be at an author event that began with a mindfulness exercise, and let me tell you, I think I needed it.  Haemin was also really engaged with and gracious to the people who had their books signed by him. After, he talked about how moved he was by people who told him how his books helped them. Honestly looking forward to when Haemin decides to come back, which I think he wants to when he has a new book coming out. And hopefully then, he gets to visit other places aside from Metro Manila. 

Not much of an update these last few days. Unless we're talking about what's happening in the world. Which is extremely disturbing that I found myself giving into the doomscroll again, albeit on different apps.  But there are still other interestingnesses--still in the realm of books and publishing--that can distract from <gestures to everything> this. Among my faves in the last few days are: This news item about a company based in Cebu called Innocentrix (aka PageTurner Press and Media) who apparently ran publishing scams victimizing several people in the US --and perhaps elsewhere--by promising them fame and fortune through publishing in exchange for a lot of money. Their CEO and VP were arrested by the FBI last December. Is it weird to include this as a "favorite"? Perhaps. I'm not making light of what happened to the victims or the seriousness of the money laundering and fraud. But I suppose among the things I find interesting are that the news was repo...

Today, I joined SBC-Manila’s  silent reading session at Podium’s The Book Nook . First time for me to attend, though I’d long been lurking on the Discord server and, like a shy teenager, have always wanted to join one of the silent reading events.  I tried signing up to one of them before, but apparently, slots go quickly, and I never made it to before sign-ups closed.  Was lucky enough to get a slot for this one, though! This particular session was hosted by kutingtin , who I don’t think I’ve ever met personally, but know through IG and Discord. (We’ve met now.)  Have to say, Tin was a consummate host, well-prepared with constant and complete updates before the event, and a clear program during.  There was an intro, then we dove right in to the 1hr silent reading portion. And yes, everyone silently read for one hour. I think there were 30 or so people who participated!  After 1 hr of silent reading, we broke up into groups for half an hour of talking about...