I would rather say my Philippine trip was short but a meaningful one. I was able to have a couple of radio interviews with my former colleagues and friends from the local media in Northern Philippines. I regretted the fact that I had to cancel the TV interview due to lack of time. Of course, it was a great pleasure to be interviewed by my former college professor in a radio station located inside my Alma Mater campus in Wesleyan University-Philippines.
My coauthor, veteran journalist Carlos Marquez, Jr. had spent most of his time to back me up on my radio appearances. Carlos and I collaborated in our latest book The Sins of the Fathers that we launched more than three months ago. After a couple days of rest when I got home, then the two of us went for the first interview.
The interviews were all about the self-publishing ventures that I have been doing here in the United States. I named it the 'beauty of self-publishing' and 'author-preneurship'. I shared with listeners how the digital era had changed the status quo in publishing. In the old days, the word 'rejection' was the usual word you could hear from most of us. Now, an Indie writer has all the opportunities to get their manuscripts published.
The first interview took place in the provincial capitol compound in Nueva Ecija, where radio DWNE 900 khz is housed. It was my former colleague Maureen Molina Reyes who interviewed us. We were bombarded with questions from listeners and I was fascinated about the ones we got from them. They sent their text messages to the lady host as the show progressed. One of the interesting questions was: "Are you going to be rich being a writer?" (Wow, all Indies want the same answer especially from Hugh Howey). I answered the question without hesitation: "May be yes, and may be not". And I clarified further that writing is a passion. It's a mission. Your intention is to give your readers superb entertainment by writing good stories, or if you're a non-fiction writer, you must give your valued readers genuine facts they want to learn. That's why I always say the words "Infotainment" and "Author-preneurship". These two should always get along together in our journey as a writer. I clearly emphasized there's no guarantee that you're going to be rich being a writer. But if you write good books that will change the world of your valued readers, it could be a chance for us writers to be discovered. Still, discoverability is the key. Write. Publish. Repeat.
The second radio interview was different. I was a little nervous. The radio hosts were my former college professor Ramon Valmonte and a Facebook friend Mark Anthony Miranda. Professor Mon asked a lot of questions about the collaboration I made with Carlos Marquez writing The Sins of the Fathers, a historical fiction about the martial law era in the Philippines in the 70's. I confessed to Prof. Valmonte right on the show, that some of his bad experiences during martial law had greatly inspired me to write this book.
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| Though a little nervous answering my former college Prof Mon Valmonte's questions, I was able to do it comfortably with laughter. Co-host Mark Anthony Miranda shares his thoughts as well while coauthor Carlos Marquez attentively listens to the conversation. |
Another interesting thing I learned from those radio appearances is that potential and aspiring writers are everywhere. I can feel it. It boosted my drive to conduct small events/seminars in different schools in the Philippines in the near future. We need to encourage aspiring authors to make their dreams a reality.
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| These two radio appearances had thrilled me. My co-author Carlos D. Marquez, Jr. was with me. We never promoted the book The Sins of the Fathers but rather explained the beauty of self-publishing and the challenges of author-preneurship. Above photo is our radio interview in Radyo Wesleyan 89.7 FM with my former college professor Ramon Valmonte, second to the right, and Mark Anthony Miranda, the gentleman in green shirt. The lady in yellow, below photo, DWNE radio host Maureen Reyes is a former colleague in the local media. She was the one who took over and continued the radio show I hosted for four years. I hosted different radio shows in different radio stations when I was 16 that lasted for almost a decade. |
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| The collaboration continues. Before I came back to the United States, I conferred with Carlos Marquez to discuss our future plans for the publishing ventures in the Philippines. Negotiation is underway with some bookshops in Northern Philippines. And a lot of questions were being asked: Is there going to have a sequel for The Sins of the Fathers? |
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| Paperback copies of Prince of Nepal and The Sins of the Fathers had already arrived in the Philippines. |
