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Irene Te | Author

Author of cozy contemporary fiction

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- This Place is Magic
- This Song is Ours
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30.04.24 | Irene

List of Characters

For Readers + This Place is Magic

A spoiler-free guide to the cast of TPIM, from the Han family to the members of Apollo.

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I’m Irene, author of This Place is Magic, a cozy contemporary novel about K-pop, found family, and waffles. Learn more about me over here!

Grab a copy of This Place is Magic, available in eBook and paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more!

Signed copies are available through my local indie, Blue Willow Bookshop. Learn more on this page!

Sign up for my monthly newsletter to get all the latest updates and exclusive bonus content, including two extra chapters for This Place is Magic

irenewritesthings

Cozy contemporary author + honorary K-pop scholar

Bookmarks! 👀 Pre-orders for THIS SONG IS OURS o

Bookmarks! 👀 Pre-orders for THIS SONG IS OURS open on Friday, 11/22! My shop also opens on Friday, but email buddies have early access to all links and pre-order info TOMORROW... You can ➡️➡️ to peek at what's in my shop!

Where can you find 🌙🎶 This Song is Ours?

🌟 Paperback - all major retailers
🌟 Signed Paperback - Blue Willow Bookshop and Romantic Fantasy Bookstore
🌟 Signed Hardcover - only from me!

#thissongisours #thisplaceismagic #irenete #kpopbooks #cozycontemporary #yacontemporary #cozyreads

How cute are these stickers 😩💖 The pre-order

How cute are these stickers 😩💖 The pre-order campaign for 🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS opens on Friday, 11/22! My shop will also open that day for anyone interested in the TSIO limited hardcover + some of the merch you might have missed from TPIM pre-orders!

Newsletter friends get to see it all first and will have the best chance at the early bird pre-order gift for this release 💞 You can sign up for my monthly emails (free!) at irenewritesthings.substack.com.

💫 This campaign is open to US and international readers
💫 I've got two sets of gifts: general and indie exclusive, in partnership with my local indie Blue Willow Bookshop

I'll show you the bookmarks tomorrow!

#thissongisours #irenete #shortstorycollection #cozyfiction #kpopreads

I'm so proud (and so overwhelmed!!!) to announce t

I'm so proud (and so overwhelmed!!!) to announce that THIS PLACE IS MAGIC received the Grand Prize at the 32nd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards! Thank you to the judges and everyone at @writersdigest who made this competition possible for indie authors like me.

I initially wrote This Place is Magic without intent to publish. It was my comfort story, something that I wrote to prove to myself that I could still write, that the magic was still there. It's a love letter to K-pop, which has entertained me and provided the soundtrack to my life since I was a teenager. It's a book about kind people, and kindness coming back to you. I never queried because TPIM felt honestly difficult to position, in a market where it's not the kind of story that is trendy right now. I also chose the indie route because it allowed me to stay true to the story I wanted to tell, and it brings me immense joy to have won two competitions with the book of my heart.

This Place is Magic would not exist today if not for the following incredible people and I want to take the opportunity to call them out!!!

EDITOR: Carrie Higa @indigoblu3
COVER ILLUSTRATOR: Erion Makuo @erion.makuo
CHARACTER ILLUSTRATOR: Joeli @joe___lx
STAKEHOLDERS/EARLY READERS: @ayaragus @apugs @chardekalb

I would also like to extend thanks to the developers of the software that helped me put this book together; This Place is Magic was drafted on my phone using @novlrofficial, revised using Scrivener, and the ebook and print editions were formatted with @atticuswriter. I could not be a one-woman printing press without these tools; not sponsored, just grateful! (Although I will disclose that I'm a Wave 1 co-owner at Novlr, and proud of it!)

If you gave this book a chance, please know that your love for my story encouraged me to try and win some awards. These wins are for Sunshines everywhere 💖

#thisplaceismagic #irenete #wdwinner #writersdigest #indieauthor #indiebooks #kpopbook #cozyreads #comingofagebooks #cozycontemporary

📸 Sunday Photos 11/17/24 ➡️➡️ 1️⃣

📸 Sunday Photos 11/17/24 ➡️➡️

1️⃣ - My desk for November 💞 art of Jiyeon and a really cute apprentice dishwasher by my one love in this world @joe___lx

2️⃣ - It was so nice of Lego to provide me with a California poppy AND a set for building a camera, like how did they know that these are symbols from my books? Amazing, keep taking my $$$ Lego

3️⃣ - I restocked at Blue Willow earlier this month! There's one left on the shelf, with goodies 💫 I love that every time I'm there, you can hear the booksellers recommending books to people. Indie bookstores!! Please support them!!!

4️⃣ - It's been a rainy month in the cursed swamp locale where I live and I absolutely do have a duck umbrella thank you 🦆 ("But Irene I thought u lived in Houston..." yes, that's what I said, a cursed swamp locale)

5️⃣ - Twice a year I reach the point where I need to go get a haircut or I'll perish ✂️✂️

6️⃣ - WHEN I TELL YOU THAT TASHA SURI CAN STEP ON ME 😭😭😭 I'M SO READY 😭😭😭 NOBODY SPEAK TO ME FOR A STRAIGHT 24H WHILE SHE RUINS MY LIFE WITH BOOK 3 😭😭😭

7️⃣ - Excited for this one! After The Lotus Empire wrings me out to dry! Recovery book ✅ Throwing all my own manuscripts into a bonfire after reading Tasha Suri bc I can never compete ✅ I said I was ready and I am 😤

Who else is out there procrastinating haircuts though 🙈

#irenete #sundayphotosbyirene

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: PRINT EDITIONS I'm sh

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: PRINT EDITIONS

I'm sharing the print editions of TSIO today! Heartfelt thanks to the talented artists who help me bring these books to you. Professional editing and illustration are the only parts of publishing that I outsource, and I'm so grateful for these wonderful people and their hard work. I couldn't do it without them!

THIS SONG IS OURS is a collection of short stories set in the world of This Place is Magic ✨ It's out on Jan 7, 2025. You do need to read the first book before moving on to this one!

About the paperback edition:

🎵 This is a duplex paperback with printed inside covers
🎵 It includes a gorgeous illustration by @joe___lx
🎵 Every story comes with an illustrated chapter header by @madeby_artris
🎵 This version of the paperback will be available at all retailers** (see my pinned comment on this post)
🎵 SIGNED copies will be available from Blue Willow Bookshop and Romantic Fantasy Bookstore; both ship internationally

About the hardcover edition:

🎼 Features a dust jacket and printed case
🎼 The case wrap illustrations are by @joe___lx
🎼 Illustrated chapter headers by @madeby_artris
🎼 This is a limited release and will only be available direct from me!
🎼 All copies of the hardcover are SIGNED

Cover illustration by @enid.din 💖

We're hoping print edition pre-orders can open on schedule next week!

#thissongisours #thisplaceismagic #irenete #kpopbooks #cozybooks #shortstories #indieauthor

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: LIMITED HARDCOVER I'm

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: LIMITED HARDCOVER

I'm soooo thrilled to bring you a hardcover edition of this book! Because it means I get to have one too 😂😂

For the collectors out there, YES there will be hardcovers of This Place is Magic and its sequel next year; they'll be the same size as this one because I'm not a monster (not that kind anyway 💖)

THIS SONG IS OURS is a short story collection set in the world of TPIM and releases on January 7, 2025 ✨ By the way, all editions of TSIO contain the same stories!

Tomorrow: I stop blurring out Joey's beautiful art 😂🙈 She really had me crying at the grocery store when this came in. I LOVE YOU JOEY 😩💞

#thissongisours #thisplaceismagic #irenete #kpopbooks #cozybooks #cozycontemporary #cleanromance #shortstorycollection

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: PAPERBACK VER. Here's

🌙🎶 THIS SONG IS OURS: PAPERBACK VER.

Here's a sneak peek at one of two print editions for TSIO! This is a collection of short stories tied to the first book in the series, THIS PLACE IS MAGIC, and it's out on January 7, 2025 ✨

Come back tomorrow for an early look at the hardcover!

#thissongisours #thisplaceismagic #irenete #kpopbooks #cozybooks #shortstories #cozyreads #cozycontemporary

So incredibly honored to share that 🧇✨ THIS P

So incredibly honored to share that 🧇✨ THIS PLACE IS MAGIC was the winner for General & Contemporary Fiction at this year's @indieauthorproject awards!

This is such a special award to me because the competition is judged by librarians from around the country. The criteria is pretty rigorous and there were over 2000 entries this year. As the kid who literally wanted to live at the library, to the point that I would hide under a table and plot how to stay after hours (real Irene lore, guys 😂), it means SO MUCH to me that librarians chose this book as the best entry in its genre. And my editor is a librarian! I love librarians!!

At IAP, their motto is that "the future is indie" - if you're a supporter of indie authors and books, you probably believe this just as much as I do. Through indie publishing, we're able to see so many stories find readership and space on bookshelves. I love that Indie Author Project helps books like mine become available in more libraries, reaching more readers.

Friends, I'm just amazed and overwhelmed! 😭💖 And I extend congratulations to fellow genre winners and runners-up, as well as the judges and staff for the 2024 awards. You can see all the winners on their blog! Please go! I'll have the link in my Stories 💫

#indieauthorproject #thisplaceismagic #irenete #kpopbooks #cozyreads #cozycontemporary

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