Hello,
I’m Arvyn Cerezo

ABOUT

Hello! I’m Arvyn.

I’m a books journalist focusing on culture and literary trends analysis, publishing industry news, and digital reading. My work has appeared in South China Morning Post, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, Asian Review of Books, Kirkus Audiobook Reviews, PhilSTAR Life, and elsewhere.

I was also a book publishing professional, having worked with two of the best trade book publishers in the Philippines.

BEATS
Books, arts, culture, technology, lifestyle
LOCATION
Manila, The Philippines
LANGUAGES
English, Filipino, and Pangasinan
PRONOUNS
he/they/his/them

When I’m not writing for a living, I spend a lot of time reading on my Kindle. My favorite genres include literary fiction, romantasy, memoir, and poetry. I also gym hop across Anytime Fitness clubs in Manila.

I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out about job opportunities, collaborations, or what you’d like me to read next.

EDITORIAL SERVICES

I specialize in writing, reporting, and e-book formatting.

E-BOOK CONVERSION

PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS. I can do e-book conversion—in publishing-house quality—and distribution. I can work on any book, which includes novels, cookbooks, children’s books, etc.

MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE

AUTHORS. A manuscript critique provides an initial feedback on your work. I review books for a living, and so I know what works in the market.

REPORTING

MEDIA OUTLETS. Are you looking for a journalist from the Philippines? I can provide a report from the scene. My writing has appeared in many publications.

WRITING

BUSINESSES. I can write articles, blog posts, press releases, essays, book reviews, product reviews, and other short-form texts.

WRITING PORTFOLIO

These are the select publications where my byline has appeared.

Book Riot

Articles

PhilSTAR Life

Article

Kirkus Audiobook Reviews

Reviews

South China Morning Post

Book Review

WORK EXPERIENCE

I’ve worked in the world of publishing and journalism throughout the years.

2022—

Senior Contributing Writer at Book Riot, December 2022 to present

“Book Riot is the largest independent editorial book site in North America, and home to a host of media, from podcasts to newsletters to original content, all designed around diverse readers and across all genres.”

At Book Riot, I write news, commentary, listicles, and long-form pieces about books and publishing.

Notable reportage: the “Great Publishing Resignation” on which I interviewed a Big 5 publisher editor, state of diversity in publishing, book piracy, the end of shadow libraries, romantasy’s boom, the economics of BookTok, publishing mergers and sales, the rise of celebrity book clubs, and yearly bookish trend predictions
2019

Contributing Writer at Book Riot, July 2019 to November 2022

2020

Digital Content Producer for E-books at Inquirer Books, the book publishing arm of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 2020 to August 2021

“The Philippine Daily Inquirer, popularly known as the Inquirer, is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines’ newspaper of record.”

At Inquirer Books, I led their e-book division from production to distribution. I was also the publisher’s go-to person for all things related to digital book publishing.

Notable accomplishments: I digitized all six out-of-print books in the Young Blood collection, which contains essays from the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Young Blood column. The digitization of the series received significant press coverage in the Inquirer. You can read about it here and here.

2020

Editor at La Jornada Filipina, September 2020 to December 2025

La Jornada Filipina is the first and largest English- and Spanish-language news magazine in Manila.

As the editor and publisher, I was responsible for managing the production of all content for the publication.

For a bilingual digital publication that focuses on a hyper-niche topic of Filipino-Spanish cultural history, I managed to drive 13,000+ monthly page views and made the typically dense history of Spanish legacy in the Philippines engaging for a general-interest audience.

I was also able to obtain natural backlinks from legacy publications such as Philstar Life and OneMega’s BluPrint.

Notable reportage: an exclusive Q&A with former Mexican Ambassador to the Philippines Gerardo Lozano about Filipino-Mexican connection, the boom and bust of Spanish-language media outlets in the 2000s Philippines, and the rise of Spanish-speaking Filipino professionals that are thriving in local BPO companies

2021—

Freelance E-book Developer, December 2021 to present

I convert a print book into an e-book file suitable for publication on Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, and other global e-book platforms. Unlike others, I don’t simply run the files through automatic converters; instead, I hand-code the system in HTML and CSS to meet the industry’s highest quality standards.

I also test them on various reading devices, platforms, and operating systems to identify potential rendering issues.

Notable accomplishments: In 2022, I worked with Wen-Szu Lin, Senior Director at Uber Technologies, to convert his nonfiction book Deliver.: The Untaught Lessons to Grow Hack Your Career, into an e-book. I also fixed the specifications so that the paperback version of his book would be accepted on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

I also worked with Liz Rañola, a photographer, art director, and illustrator, to resolve e-book rendering and formatting issues for her client’s project. This is what she has to say about me:

“Arvyn hugely helped us by fixing the errors of our e-book and finalizing it. He was patient too with the several revisions our client had (typo, spacing, and illustration updates). Will recommend him should we have another e-book project.”

2019

Book Reviewer at Publishers Weekly, March 2019 to December 2025

“Publishers Weekly, familiarly known in the book world as PW and ‘the bible of the book business,’ is a weekly news magazine focused on the international book publishing business.”

At Publishers Weekly, I mostly reviewed fantasy and romantasy books before they were published. I was tasked with determining a book’s market appeal, whether it would make a good addition to a librarian’s collection or a bookseller’s shelf stock. With the responsibility to assign a Star to indicate the book’s merit and whether it would or would not satisfy specific readers, I developed the ability to predict the next bestsellers before they became a trend in the supply chain.

Some of my responsibilities also included interviewing authors and writing profiles.

2018

Audiobook Reviewer at Kirkus Audiobook Reviews, formerly AudioFile Magazine, May 2018 to June 2021

Kirkus Reviews is a trade magazine that boasts the “most authoritative book reviews, recommendations, and author interviews in publishing.” In 2026, it acquired AudioFile Magazine, whose mission was to “review unabridged and abridged audiobooks, original audio programs, commentary, and dramatizations in the spoken-word format.”

For Kirkus, I reviewed audiobooks in a variety of genres, including literary fiction, classics, poetry, biography, and memoir, months before they were published. I was tasked with evaluating the audiobook based on the magazine’s high standards for theme, expression, technique, audio presentation, narrative and style, and text enhancement.

I had to decide whether to nominate an audiobook for an Earphones Award (now Kirkus Star), indicating that the audiobook was of high quality. In this role, I first learned how to determine which audiobooks are worth the listeners’ time.

2016

Editorial Assistant for Digital and Audio Publishing at Anvil Publishing, July 2016 to September 2018

“Anvil Publishing, Inc., the publishing arm of National Book Store, is an eleven-time Publisher of the Year awardee as cited by the Manila Critics Circle.”

During my time at Anvil, I built the company’s digital division from the ground up, transitioning from outsourcing e-book development to in-house, which resulted in cost savings. I identified gaps in digital distribution and immediately addressed them by distributing to a global network of e-book retailers and public libraries through OverDrive, as opposed to the previous setup of only two.

I myself produced the e-book files and distributed them to all major retailers such as Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, etc., boosting overall e-book sales by 55% in 2017.

In 2018, I produced Anvil’s first audiobook (Dear Universe by Pierra Calasanz-Labrador and narrated by Joyce Pring), the first in the Philippines, that increased the company’s press coverage and improved its market recognition.