EDITION 2 ISSSUE 3
THE BIBLOGRAPH
The Other Side of Literature
What is Inside
Top Picks for the Month Event
The Indian Literary Awards
Award Nominee Interviews
....And Much More
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug
used by mankind.” ... Rudyard Kipling
Index
Editor’s Note............................................................................................1
Nominees of Indian Literary Awards.............................................. ...2
Author’s Interviews for Indian Literary Awards.............................. 3
Words of Wisdom
-Sage by Swapnil Sharma...............................................................................59
-Childhood Trauma and Mental Health in Adulthood by
Shweta Maheshwari......................................................................................61
- The Second Lease by Sujay Malik...............................................................64
- Are we really talking about mental health? by Adity Gogia..................66
Featured Release
-The Midas Touch............................................................................................68
- You Never Know...Sometimes Love Can Drag You through Hell........69
- Mars, Love and Breakup - Manned Mission to Mars..............................70
International book review- Kafka on the Shore...............................71
Poetic Beauties by Bhavesh Pant....................................................... 72
Picks of the Month...............................................................................74
Awardees of the Indian Literary Awards, 2020..............................79
Editor’s Note
It gives me immense pleasure in penning down this editor’s note for a project that will always remain close to my heart,
as it gave me an extremely fortunate opportunity to be a part of India’s first literary magazine.
Editing the magazine that we present in front of you, was more of a passion than a project assigned to me. The
spectrum of literary pieces that are embodied in this magazine come from different people with one thing in common:
The zeal to express.
The stories that you will read are nothing but experiences of people from different walks of life.
The interviews are literary validations of the fact that writing as a profession will never go out of trend. Literature will
continue to be a part of life till the end of ages to come.
Book reviews have become an integral part of a book’s journey and are critical in determining the performance of a
book.
This editor’s note is a big shout out to all the people involved in the making of this magazine, ever since the idea of it
was conceived.
It is not the product of efforts of a single individual but the efforts of the designers, publishers, proof-readers, reviewers
and writers who have been a part of this magazine.
The idea of this magazine is to celebrate the value of literature in the country at a time when reading has become a
hobby and the youth is magnetically attracted to the art of storytelling.
I hope our readers enjoy the magazine as much as we did while working on it.
I also hope that the magazine goes a league forward in establishing the base for many more literary magazines to
follow.
In the end, I would like to thank the contributors of this magazine for their sincere efforts, and the publisher for making
me a part of this great phenomena!
Happy Reading!
-Khushboo Bhatia
Page 1
Nominees for the Indian Literary Awards 2020
Sr.No. Author Nominated for the Category
1 Dr Diwakar Pokhriwal Best Poetry Book
2 Sonia Sahijwani Saini
Best Author, Best Debutant Non Fiction,
3 Sonia Sahijwani Saini Best Writer - Jury
4 Sonia Sahijwani Saini Best Anthology, Best Debutante - Fiction,
Best Debut - Jury
5 Sanjay Chandra
6 Jasveer Singh Dangi Best Cover Design, Best Debutante Fiction,
7 Best Debut Jury
8 Anju Darshini
Siddhant Agarwal Best Author, Best Book Jury Award,
9 Best Debut Jury Award
10 Rahul Tushar
11 Himanshu Vashishtha Best Author - Fiction, Best Book, Best Author
12
13 Saurabh Thakur Debutant Writer - Fiction
14 Mayur Kalbag Best Reviewer - For The Review ' You Beneath The
15 Anandajit Goswami
16 Anandajit Goswami Skin
17 Anandajit Goswami Best Author - Fiction, Best Debutante - Fiction ,
Anandajit Goswami
18 Smitha Vasudevan Best Debut Jury
19 Best Debutante - Non Fiction, Best Cover
20 Pankaj Giri Best Author - Fiction, Best Debut Fiction,
Selvi Deepa
21 Selvi Deepa Best Concept
Best Author - Fiction, Best Book, Best Debut
22 Dr Aditya R Nigghot
23 Best Debut Fiction
24 Dr Aditya R Nigghot
25 Dr Aditya R Nigghot Best Author Fiction
26
27 Shefali Arora Best Author Fiction
28 Avijit Roy
29 Best Author Fiction
30 Mirrro @ The Weird Wayward By Manoj Best Debutante Fiction, Best Cover Design,
31 Kumar Sharma
Nitin Kalal Best Debut
Chetan Batra Besy Author Fiction, Best Debutante Fiction,
Hemant Agarwal
Best Book Jury
Krishanu Banerjee Best Anthology, Best Cover Design, Best Concept
Sarbajit Chowdhury
Best Poetry Book, Best Cover Design,
Best Debut Jury
Best Author Fiction, Best Cover Design,
Best Concept
Best Author Fiction, Best Debutante Fiction,
Best Concept
Best Short Storyt, Best Cover Design, Best Concept
Best Debutnate Fiction, Best Debut Jury
Best Author Fiction, Best Debutante Fiction
Best Debut Jury, Best Book Jury,
Best Debutante Fiction
Best Book, Best Concept, Best Author Fiction
Best Anthology
Best Concept, Best Author Non Fiction,
Best Debutante Non Fiction
Best Poetry Book, Best Debut Jury, Best Writer Jury
Best Poetry Book, Best Debutant Fiction,
Best Debut Jury
Page 2
Dr. Diwakar Pokhriwal
About Author:
Awarded as 'Voice of Indian Literature', 'Author of the Year 2019', 'India Star Icon
Award 2019', 'Top 50 Influential Author 2K18', 'Limca Book of Records – 2017', 'Poiesis
Award for Literature 2014 & 2017', and 'Aagman Young Talent Award 2015.
About Book:
This book aims at introducing poetry lovers to different forms of poetry to help many
aspiring poets to keep writing and enjoying poetry. This is to create a base among the
poetry lovers to get a feel and understanding about poetry. Becoming a great poet is
indeed a monumental task, but learning and enjoying poetry is not. Learning various
forms of poetry hooks the creative part of a poet that unleashes the new dimensions of
poet and poetry. "There's a Poet in Everyone" and everyone can learn poetry, share and
enjoy it.
Q. When did you first considered yourself as a 'Writer'?
A .I considered myself as a writer when I touched my first Published book
‘Words of Love’ in 2011. It was a really special feeling that I still can’t explain in
words. It is like a dream has turned into a reality.
Q. What is the most surprising thing you discovered while writing your book?
A. The most surprising thing that I discovered is the various forms of English
Poetry exist in this world and I really had no knowledge about them until I
strived to know about them and started working towards them. While writing the
book I realize that more important thing is to understand a craft with minute
details, but the first step is know it’s existence.
Q. Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?
A. I would love to share an incident that happened with me in 2015. After a
successful poetry recitation event I was talking with a great old aged poet and I
asked ‘Why we are not learning about different forms of poetry?”. For this
question, he answered that no-one is interested in learning various poetry forms;
poets are only interested in reciting poetry.
This made me think that if I am a poet, isn’t it my duty to known various forms of
poetry to learn intricacies of poetry forms and from there this spark of learning
various poetry forms came.
To my surprise I tried to find a poetry book that explains various forms of poetry
and I found none by any Indian writer and from there the idea of this book took
place.This book discuss 55 various forms and poetry with examples. This book
shall not only help aspiring poets but it shall also inspire them to write and
explore more in the field of poetry.
Q. What is the key / theme or message in the book?
Page 3
Dr. Diwakar Pokhriwal
Q. What is the key / theme or message in the book?
A. The key / theme or message is in there in the title itself ‘There’s A Poet in everyone’. It means anyone and everyone
can write poetry.
Q. What is the significance of your title?
A. It instills believe inside every creative writer that he or she can be poet; actually there is a poet in them. And after
reading this book, I am sure they will experiment more and dive much deeper in the world of poetry
Q. Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about?
A. At present I am working on my 2nd Novel. Also I have started my You-Tube channel “Creative Energy”, in this
channels I am discussing about poetry, short story, Novels and more.
Q. What message do you want to give your readers?
A. I want to tell them that “There’s Poet in everyone”. Take out your pen, read this book and start writing poetry. Do
not think about best poetry; think about writing poetry first. More you will write, the better you will become.
Q. What tips you would like to give to aspiring writers?
A. Keep reading and Keep writing. Never feel de-motivated anytime in your life, ups and downs are the part and
parcel of the life. Hone your skills and keep reading.
Q. How much time did you take to complete writing this book?
A. It took me around 5 to 6 months to write this poetry book, but it was really worthwhile sharing this book with the
aspiring poets and I am glad they love this book. This has already been into top 100 Best Selling Poetry e-books in
amazon.in
Q. Who is your favorite author?
A. It is really hard to answer as I read books across various genres, based on my interest or sometimes suggested by
friends. I have read a lot of writers like Harivansh Rai Bachhan, Gulzar, Ruskin Bond, Rabindranath Tagore, Munshi
Premchand, Dr Ken Robinson, Amish Tripathi, Shawn Ashmore, Neelam Saxena Chandra and many more, so it is
indeed very difficult to pick out one from so many breath taking writers that amazes you with their imagery and
writing skills and inspire you to fly higher and higher.
Page 4
Sonia Sahijwani Saini
About Author:
Sonia Sahijwani Saini is a law graduate from Faculty of Law- Delhi University, currently
working as Assistant Manager-Law in a Central Govt PSU under Ministry of Petroleum
at Chandigarh. After years of delaying and running away from the inevitable, after some
more months of being persistently persuaded by her near and dear ones, she finally
prepared herself mentally, emotionally and physically and decided to take the plunge
and enter the phase of motherhood; albeit, with a lot of anxiety. She is the mother of her
first son, Suhaan who is now one year old. Despite the various challenges it brings her
way, currently she is enjoying this new found role and terms it the most wonderful and
gratifying phase of her life. She is the author of ‘Yours Legally’, her debut book- a
collection of short stories.
About Book:
"A young girl Sia has recently finished her graduation in Law against her parent’s wishes. With absolutely no family
background in the legal profession, she sets out to explore the various opportunities this not so common but
upcoming field of law brings her way. The protagonist Sia, narrates to us few such unusual and memorable incidents
including some eccentric court room dramas, all of which left a deep impact in her life. This book is an honest attempt
to talk about law with a dash of satire, with an aim to reach out to all those who may or may have never heard
anything about the legal profession nor would have ever stepped inside a court. And for those who are a part of it
already, they might relate to it in some way
Q. Please tell us about yourself. :
A. Hi, I am Sonia Sahijwani Saini, a Law Graduate and author of Yours
Legally- my debut book which is a collection of six short stories related to the
legal profession based on the critical elements of law : the complainant,
counsel, court, case, confinement and criminal. Besided having keen interest
in academics and extra curricular activities since childhood, I have been an
an avid reader and writer and penning down my book was my dream which
I am glad turned into reality in 2019. I am currently employed in a
Maharatna PSU in its legal department in Chandigarh where I am residing
with my husband and 2 year old son. This book is dedicated to my son.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share
some insights. :
A. As far as my memory takes me back to my childhood, all I can remember
is my intense love for writing. The idea of writing a book, my book, is a seed
I was nurturing ever since I was a fifth standard student. Though I was
extremely fond of academics, yet it was writing which brought me immense
happiness and fulfillment which infact could not be expressed in words. I
still remember the first time, my first articles, two hindi poems, “Fir Aya
Basant” and “Pareeksha ke ek din pehle” which featured in the same annual
` edition of our school magazine “New Horizons”. It elated me immensely.
Seeing my name out there thrilled me, more than that, creating something
using words and my imagination brought me utmost satisfaction. While I
continued to pursue my higher education, my dream of becoming an author
remained at the back of my mind always.
Page 5
Sonia Sahijwani Saini
However, it was after I pursued law from Delhi University between 2007-2010 and thereafter landed a job at Miniratna
PSU in New Delhi in its legal team that I somehow finally got the idea for my first book. It may infact sound bizarre but
the first draft of my debut book.
Yours Legally which was recently published in 2019 by Becomeshakespeare was actually written way back in the year
2012, yes, six long years ago and believe me it’s the hard truth. I had shared my manuscript with many publishing
companies earlier only to receive rejections or no response. And it seems the wait of past six years finally paid off. Just
while I was busy playing mommy to my five month old son, recently one fine afternoon in Dec 2018, while I was
checking my personal email, awaiting some documents from my hubby, an email got my particular attention.
It was a mail from a certain Leadstart Publishing which seemed completely out of the blue. Amidst the spam mails and
endless promotional emails which kept filling my inbox each day, I read “Legally Yours” (the then working title) as the
subject of the mail which surprised me in an eccentric way. With wide eyes, I opened the mail only to be shocked on
reading that they had responded to the draft I had sent six years ago. It did dampen my spirit but the desire to become
an author was something I cherished deep inside always.
The contents of the mail brought a wide grin on my face as I was informed that I am now eligible for Wordit Art Fund,
their sister concern which is assisting budding writers in getting their books published without going through the
cumbersome process of traditional booksellers and without the authors having to make a hefty investment. The fact that
they were giving such opportunities to new authors and I was one among them, my happiness knew no bounds.
As advised in the email therein, I approached Ms Pooja Dutt from Wordit Art Fund and the rest as they say is history….
It was a totally surreal experience getting this book published and while it was fun I had my share of challenges as I was
finalising, redrafting, editing it at a time I was busy playing mommy to my six month old. Newly found motherhood
alongwith creating my second baby i.e. my book together was definitely sometimes exhausting but satisfying
nevertheless.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice?
A. Well it depends on everyone’s level of commitment to their passion , their mindset and their ability to balance and
multitask. I am a strong believer of work life balance and I strive to achieve that in my personal life as well. When I am
in office, I aim to give my 100% to my work and when I am home, I try to do the same. I believe that when one is really
passionate about something like writing in my case then nothing can stop us from pursuing it. Time is a constraint only
in our minds. Yes it does get tiring sometimes to do so many things at the same time but isn’t what life is all about?
Someone recently advised to me that 24 hours in a day are enough for doing what we really want to do and I kind of
liked that approach. As I say, its about having a positive mindset. 24 hours can be either well spent in an organized way
or for someone who likes to procrastinate, they can be really less too.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field. As
a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. I have been saying this in a lot of interview I gave during my book launch and book promotion events when I was
asked a similar question that one must continue to read and write in order to be a successful writer. Despite the fact that
my manuscript was earlier not accepted by any publisher it never demotivated me or dampened my spirit as I
mentioned above, rather I kept pushing myself to express my thoughts by way of articles, poems, in English and hindi
both so as to improve my writing and thinking skills equally. Most importantly, one must write from the heart on
whatever you feel strongly about and one should not write imitating someone’s style of writing or thinking whether it
will sell commercially or not. Reading is as important as writing and to expand your mental horizons and imagination,
one must read a lot so as to be able to write well.
Page 6
Sonia Sahijwani Saini
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India?
A. I do not think so. I feel indian audiences are changing and are infact tired and bored of the similar romance genre
just like we do not want to see romantic movies anymore in Bollywood. The only reason it would easily sell is because
lets be honest we all love to love and a love story is something which appeals to everyone barring gender, age, etc.
However, if the story line is good and different, I am confident other books have an equal chance of attracting
audiences today.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments?
A. Well, without making any personal comment on a reputed author and his way of writing, I would like to actually
compliment him for exactly what you stated in the question. He is one of those rare authors who became a household
name because of his simple story telling and writing and because he was able to create a whole new audience in India
specially as there are so many among us who simply do not have any interest in reading books. Students, college
goers, the youth in particular these days prefer short reads which are not heavy in terms of their language and not
everyone prefers the style of Amitav Ghosh or say a Khalid Hoseeini. People associate novels with tough English
words which are difficult to fathom and thick voluminous novels which do not sell among the masses. Hence, I would
rather say kudos to Chetan Bhagat for creating an entirely different reader base and for inculcating the habit of reading
amongst so many of us. Of course one can say that his books have followed a similar pattern and genre because of
which he may have been criticized now. But its really tough to write a book, any book and one must appreciate rather
than criticize. To tell you the truth, while I was writing Yours Legally, I strategically kept the language simple, lucid
and avoided any technical or legal jargon and kept the length of the book short to 116 pages and I feel that’s the biggest
USP of my book itself and the reason it was read by so many.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure ?
A. I am not really sure about this, but you can say its the same as indian movie audiences preferring an English Movie
over a Bollywood One. Personally I have been a huge fan of John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer novels but it doesn’t
mean Indian authors are below par. One must not compare apples with oranges. Both have their own unique style of
writings and I believe Indian authors are definitely getting international exposure. Ofcourse one can say that
international authors, like their movie makers are really experimental and imaginative when it comes to creating
literary or movie or art forms. Maybe Indian authors like to play safe and do not explore much in their writings. That
needs to change a bit.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.:
A. Right now I am busy promoting my debut book alongwith my second non fictional book Baby on Board- an
ordinary couple’s extraordinary journey but a third book has been in the pipeline and I plan to finish it this year so that
I can get it published hopefully in 2021. It is again inspired by a true story and I would not like to reveal much as of
now. Besides that, a lot of people are telling me to write Yours Legally -2 which sounds interesting but I need to
develop a stronger storyline for it.
Page 7
Sanjay Chandra
About Author:
Sanjay Chandra was born the eldest in his generation, a male child, in a middle-class
family of small-town post-independent India. India society has been a patriarchal
society. He was pampered but not spoilt and took many things as due to him.
He studied engineering like his father, then considered a 'safe' career option, and
joined railway services. Sanjay wanted to be an entrepreneur, but his family could
not support his ambitions due to financial constraints. A few years of his 'secure' job
– Sanjay wondered if this was what he wanted. He quit, first to join a government
company, then a private company. He was not meant to tread the routine path –
Sanjay quit working for others altogether to start his own two ventures – a preschool
for toddlers started by his wife and daughter where they could help little ones to
explore their own capabilities; and a consultancy run by him to mentor companies –
an attempt at helping entrepreneurs to attain their true potential.
About Book:
He was born in a middle-class family in small-town India of the late fifties. His parents chose for him the direction
that his life should take. Yet, something was lacking. Was this the path that he was meant to walk? Did he want this?
He fought his chosen destiny at every stage of his life. Would he be able to realise his true destiny?
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I was born in 1959 in Meerut, a small-town in North India in a middle-class
family. My ancestors had been zamindars and probably had big landholding; but one
of my forefathers lost much of the property. My grandfather was the first in the
family to take up job as a clerk in the then British Army. My father studied to be an
electrical engineer and then took up a job with the state government to look after the
study and marriage of his younger sibling and his children. I was the eldest son. Life
must have been tough for my parents, but they never made us feel wanting.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing it.
Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out? Share some insights.
A. I started writing my memoirs on the social media. I must have written three such
posts and then I stopped. I did not realise that my family and friends were following
my posts till the time when they started asking me as to when I will share my next
posts. This encouraged me and set me thinking. I was almost 60 years old and had
seen India and its society evolve from the time that I was born a few years after
India’s independence till well into the 21st century. I had also travelled outside the
country extensively and had a fair idea of similarities and differences between
different cultures. I had also pursued my dreams passionately and had attained
those dreams despite innumerable challenges. My dreams were the dreams of
millions of aspirational Indians coming from middle-class families of small-town
India. They were also facing the same challenges that I had faced. I thought that if I
could do something of my life, then so can they. They only needed to believe in
themselves. I started writing a story which evolved out of my own memories. The
story was built around my own dreams and my passionate pursuit of those dreams.
It was a story of ambitions, courage, love, loss, laughter, tears. I never thought at any
stage that I was creating a book. Even my family was not aware of what I was
writing. Once I had completed the story, I gave it to my wife to read. She liked it and
found it immensely readable. That is when I decided to publish it.
Writing was something which I had done for the first time. It was fun.
Page 8
Sanjay Chandra
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice?
A. I do not find it difficult – my profession is also my passion. The idea of a story starts building in my mind and I
start writing the chapter whenever I get time – it could be when I am in my car or when I am on my computer or
even at bedtime. I use both my mobile and laptop to write the story as I am developing it.
Once you are doing something which you enjoy, you can always find time for it. It can be only 30 minutes in a day.
There can be days when I may not be able to write. But the story is continuously evolving in my mind and I put it to
my computer as and when I get the time.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. I am happy to see so many people now wanting to explore their creative side – be it writing or painting or music
or photography or any other field. This is really good, since in my growing up years, we were probably more
worried about leading a life conforming to what our elders thought was good for us. Today, even the elders are
more open to their children pursuing their passions.
I can only tell all those budding writers out there – ‘Go with your heart. Write what your heart tells you. You will
create a wonderful story.’ But that is the easier part. Once the story is written, the writer should read it multiple
times to polish it. There may be grammatical errors. The manuscript should also be read by an editor. The editor will
be able to polish it further. Only after stages of multiple readings by the writer and by the editor, the manuscript will
be ready for publishing.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the easiest or the toughest and why?
A. All three have important roles to play. Obviously, writing is the first step and may seem easy to the writer
because the writer is developing the story. Even publishing has become easy, now with so many publishing houses
offering self-publishing.
As a first-time writer, it is difficult for your manuscript to be accepted by an established publishing house. Thus,
publishing and marketing become inversely proportional to each other. If you self-publish that is easy, but
marketing becomes difficult. If you are accepted by the established publishing house, marketing is relatively easier.
One must understand that there is no easy path in life. Life is all about challenges and ups and downs. The trick is to
love and enjoy what you are doing; in time others will also love what you have created.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise authors like Chetan Bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read Indian novels. What are your comments?
A. Are you serious? Who criticises Chetan Bhagat as an author? I have always enjoyed reading him. He also writes
articles on current situation – I may not agree with his views sometime, but I cannot fault his writing style.
Going back to your question about legitimacy of criticising him or any author, no two humans are same. I may like a
book, many others may not like the same book. What is wrong with it? One must look at criticism as opinion of
someone about the book. There will not be any fun in life if all liked what I wrote. I may or may not agree with the
opinion – that is my choice.
Page 9
Sanjay Chandra
Q. Do you think Indians prefer reading international authors over Indian writers? If yes, where and why do you
think we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure.
A. I do not think there is a differentiation. People love reading a good story, whosoever writes it. Indian authors
are read by outsiders also. My own book was received well across the world – USA, England, Africa, Australia,
Thailand – a few that I know, who posted reviews or wrote back to me.
It is also not that all international authors get recognised outside their own country. A good story by itself is not
enough. As I said earlier also, writing the story is probably not even half the work done. It must be read multiple
times to iron out the creases. You must correct the grammar and then get it edited through a professional editor.
You also must create your own following. Share your writing on the social media. Join book clubs on the social
media – share excerpts from your story. Share with your family and friends. Invite criticism. Take the criticism in
your stride to improve.
It is a long road. Be patient.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. There are stories waiting to be written around us. Events in our day to day life give us ample scope to write
stories. I have completed the manuscript for my next book ‘The Street Performers’. This is the story of three poor
children who perform by the roadside to earn a little money for their family. It is a story of their grit and
determination to achieve greater heights.
I am halfway through my next book which is a murder mystery. I will not give out the plot here, but I hope
readers will enjoy it. It is a totally new genre for me.
At some time in the future, I also want to write modern adaptations of two of the greatest Indian stories –
Ramayan and Mahabharat.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In India?
A. I think readers love different genres. People read as books transport them to a world different than their own.
They want to forget worries of their every day lives for that brief period when they are reading. That is the
beauty of a book.
Page 10
Siddhant Agarwal
Please tell us about yourself.
I am an engineer by training, pursuing my MBA. I love reading and I have been
reading since I remember. I am a big fan of Harry Potter and that is my go to
read at any given time. I also like writing and have penned short stories on
multiple topics.
I am also a published author, with my first story getting published in an
anthology in June 2020.
Apart from reading and writing, I love travelling and that has been one of the
things that completely rejuvenates me.
How did you get to know about book reviewing as a profession and when did
you first enter this field?
My journey as a book reviewer began in February 2019 when I decided to quit
my job and go for higher studies. I knew I had spare time and so I decided to
pursue my hobby of reading professionally. I came across a couple of reviewers
on Instagram and then by the word of mouth, the community grew, and I met
some really interesting people. What do you think about the NOT
Initially, I emailed a lot of publishers and authors asking for my blog to be UNDER 100 movement?
considered for their reviewers’ program. It was really heartening to see them “Not Under 100” was a wonderful
responding positively and accepting my requests. movement that aimed to improve the
When did you first realise that you can be a critic/ reviewer? monetary aspect of reviewing. While
I maintain that money should not be
Due to my reading habit, a lot of my friends asked me to recommend books for a primary concern for a reviewer but
them. I also wanted to voice my thoughts as I was reading books, so I thought getting paid 15 bucks for a 150 page
why not do it in an organised way and so I started reviewing books.
book is worse than not getting paid. I
Have you ever disliked a book and written a positive review about it, if yes would rather offer a free review than
why? accept the low paying offer, where I
have timelines and deadlines to
I haven’t done that. Personally, I believe that as a reviewer, it is my job to be meet.
honest when I talk about a book. Even if a single person is getting influenced by Had the movement sustained, we
it, then my opinion should not be a fake one, no matter how much the stakes. would have seen increase in the
For a reviewer what should be their priority- money or ethics. What according number of good reviews in the
to you is ethical - charging a sum and writing a fake review or being honest and community. The amount is an
incentive for the time a person
write how you really feel
spends on reading the book. I would
Being ethical is the key for being a reviewer. Writing how you felt about the say that it was a valid thing that
book should be the primary aim of a reviewer. If you start doling out praises for could have sustained.
a book that doesn’t deserve it, you’ll slowly start losing your standing in the
Why do you think the reviewers are
community and the number of projects would definitely reduce.
so underpaid in this industry?
If you are looking for just money, being a book reviewer is not the right place
In the Indian scenario, reviewers are
for you. It is a community of readers, for the readers.
not considered to be apart of the PR
If a person wants to be a part of this industry, what are the requisites to process. Hence, it gets less attention.
become a reviewer Another aspect that is affecting this
is the increasing number of
The very first requirement to be a reviewer is to be a reader. You need to focus reviewers who agree to a meagre
on your reading if you want to be a critic. The second thing that one should incentive and thus the people who
have is a sound sense of grammar. In whatever language you are reading or ask for a higher incentive get
writing, if you yourself falter on the grammar, how can you be justified in
rejected.
criticising a writer for his/her language. However, a lot of publishers have
taken up good initiatives of
Third, and most importantly, identify the genre you are comfortable it. Do not rewarding reviewers with gifts and
just take up books for review so as to increase your number of books. Focus on awards, which I think would change
quality over quantity. this in the coming years.
Page 11
Siddhant Agarwal
Where do you see the reviewing industry in the next 5 years?
I think in the next 5 years, book reviewing would come into mainstream as a profession and the things would start
getting organised. With the interaction of readers, reviewers, authors and publishers increasing via social media,
this would emerge as a sustainable marketing tool.
Another thing that I think can happen is the increase of the concept of ARCs entering India. While we have
websites like Netgalley abroad, I am not aware of anything like that in India. With self-publishing and eBooks
getting traction, this would be one major development that I see would happen.
Apart from BLOGS, what all other mediums do you think are apt for reviewing and would help reviewers to earn
a steady income.
Personally, I feel that blog is the best way to review a book because it gives you the freedom to express, without
any fear of word limits. For a medium like Instagram where word limit is an issue, and the focus is on the photo,
rather than the review below it, the basic idea gets defeated as you feel constrained.
YouTube is emerging as a major platform for reviews nowadays with people consuming video content a lot.
Another thing that I believe would get momentum is the concept of book reviews on Podcasts.
Links to Siddhant’s social media profiles:
Blog: https://reviewbybookworms.blogspot.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/8047079-siddhant
AmazonIndia:
https://www.amazon.in/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AFVBCA2R4VGZCNXYYMW2WL7AXXZA?ie=UTF8
&ref_=ya_d_l_profile
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SidReviews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sidreviews/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/bookwormsreview/
Page 12
Rahul Tushar
About Book:
Smitten completely, love was all that Aarti desired as she stepped out of Panditpora,
Sopore, a small town in Kashmir, with dreams of a glorious tomorrow in her eyes. She
was ready to merge with varied colors that life had painted for her, surreal most of the
time. With sprinkles of love and care from Priya, her leading light, the game changing
journeys across various cities of the world strengthened her resolve to fight back every
time fate besmirched her. Although, Priya helped Aarti wriggle out of decaying
associations that had become possessive, self-centered and oppressive, could she teach
Aarti all about life in a world full of envy, jealousy, greed and treachery?
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. Born to a family of broadcasters, I secretly desired growing up in the
corridors of National School of Drama at Mandi House, Delhi. However, with
‘chakras’ in my feet and Mars as my ruling planet, destiny had already
charted a different course of life for me. Travelling across the entire length and
breadth of the country, I was destined to fall in love with the concept of India.
My wanderings turned me into a die-hard patriot and a moderate nationalist.
I scribbled whatever touched my heart, till one day when I decided I must
‘write’. Since then, I have been in overdrive. After ‘Ballad of a Belle’, I’m now
working on my next work of fiction, ‘The Sinful Oracle’
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing
it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out? Share some
insights.
A. It took me little less than two years from scribbling the first page to getting
the first copy of Ballad of Belle in my hand. It was an exalting experience.
Writing a book, as they say is like being in the labour pain; until you deliver
you cannot be at peace. The labour of two years brought forth this beautiful
baby in my hands. It was an amazing journey I must confess. For days I
would write page after page and then suddenly suffer the infamous writer’s
block only to delete all the pages written just prior to it, to make a new
beginning. I lived the life of every single character of my book. Someday I was
Sanjive, on another day I was Dilip, or Stan, or Arun or Priya and of course
every day I lived the life of Aarti, my protagonist. Writing was cathartic;
editing was painful. My editor, JB Lazarte, was from Philippines and to him
my typical Indian expressions were ‘weird’ to say the least. The manuscript
oscillated between New Delhi and Manila a thousand times but eventually he
understood that “Rahul doesn’t want to kill the soul of a typical Indian
expression.” It was easy thereafter. My happiness knew no bounds when
within a week of its launch on Amazon; Ballad of a Belle hit #1 Bestseller in its
category.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion? Care to give
our readers some advice?
A. I’m singularly lucky to be an almost fulltime writer so there were
practically no demands from any other quarter on my time and I could write
at will.
Page 13
Rahul Tushar
Q. There is a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. There’s just one advice for any aspiring author, “Write what your heart tells you to write.” There are books and
workshops and online classes, telling you how to become a published author in fifteen days. Some give you tips on
what kind of books sell. No, please do not fall for such shortcuts. Writing a book is a serious business, it has to come
from your heart. You have to have that passion which wakes you up at midnight and exhorts you to switch on your
laptop and write. Listen to that passion, listen to that inner voice and believe me you will write something that will
surprise you. Do not bother about grammatical or constructional errors. Editors are there to correct those mistakes. Just
write what your heart tells you to write.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the easiest or the toughest and why?
A. The path leading to becoming a published author is fraught with pain and pleasure in equal measures. Whereas
writing, which is entirely in the writer’s hand, is extremely exhilarating, getting it published especially by a traditional
publishing house is a nightmare. Rate of rejection by the publishers is over 90%, the remaining 10% who are lucky to be
published are either celebrities or kin of celebrities. Self publishing therefore has come as a boon to aspiring writers.
Many a celebrity author of today got their debut books self-published. So there is hope - only that you need to have big
money. Marketing in any case is an expensive hobby so indulge only if you have a lot of money .... to spare.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise authors like Chetan Bhagat because of his writing style? What are your
comments on that and to what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read Indian novels. What are your comments?
A. There is no gainsaying that Chetan Bhagat brought reading of English novels to Indian masses. In the past, not so
long back, only the elite in India read English novels written either by foreign writers or Indian authors like RK
Narayan, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh and such others who had carved a niche for themselves in literary world. The
masses were forbidden to tread there. To that end Chetan Bhagat must be given full credit to introduce reading of
English novels to common Indian people who knew basic English language and that was nothing short of a revolution
in Indian literary stage. A critic can comment on the absence of literary style and depth in his writings but no one can
criticize him on the entertainment value of his creations.
Page 14
Himanshu Vashishtha
About Author:
Himanshu Vashishtha is an Asstt. Section Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Born
in Haridwar, Uttrakhand, he completed his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from
the College of Engineering Roorkee. ‘ The Last Class’, his debut novel, is one of his
dreams which he always wanted to pen down.
About Book:
What is love? Does the distance have any effect on it? What if it is unrequited? What
happens if you don’t get the person you love? Does it end there? There are so many
questions and the answers to these very questions vary from person to person but the
one common thing is that we all encounter these questions and situations at some
point in our lives.
‘The last class’ is a similar real-life story of one of the author’s close friends. This story is a roller coaster ride of a boy
who fell in love with a girl named Priya and did everything he could do to win her. Seeing the inclination of Priya’s
family towards government jobs, he decided to appear for SSC CGLE, one of the toughest exams of India.
Does he able to clear it? Does he able to get his love? All the answers lie in this short and beautifully written novel.
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am an Assistant Section Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Born in
Haridwar Uttarakhand, I graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from
the College of Engineering Roorkee.‘ The Last Class’, is a dream come true i.e
my maiden novel, A story that I always wanted to tell. I have been teaching
Quantitative Aptitude to the aspirants of various competitive exams. I love
Mathematics and my hobbies include reading spiritual stuff, adventure
sports, and exploring new places. I love to dance to Bollywood music and
Punjabi beats.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share
some insights.
A. My journey turned out to be fun instead of being exhausting and would
always be the topmost cherished journey of my life. It started in a spur of a
moment without any prior planning. I was with my friend that day when he
started sharing his story of love and career and that moment I felt like ‘ This
is It !’. I listened to it carefully and then suddenly decided to pen it down. I
was so immersed in writing this novel that I often wrote in my dreams while
sleeping. There are many lines and phrases in my book which somewhere
came in my mind while sleeping. So I decided to note down all those ideas in
a diary so that while writing I could keep them in mind and wrote them
where it required. Overall it was a fantastic experience for me that I will
remember for life.
Page 15
Himanshu Vashishtha
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice?
A. I believe that we all have been given a small span of time on this planet. And it is too small to perplex around
between your profession and passion. You have to make equilibrium between both. Ignoring your passion while
indulging more in your profession is like living someone else’s life.
Even after working tirelessly for longer hours, I make sure to devote an hour of my life daily to learn new things. I
remember how I used to write my novel at night. At weekends I divide my timings according to the things I want to do
on that particular day like reading mathematics, visiting nearby places, reading books, etc. So it’s all about time
management which makes everything possible. The better you are managing your time, the more you can pursue your
dreams.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field. As
a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. For a debut author, I first suggest reading as many books as possible. It helps in building a better and wider
perspective while writing your own book. You learn a lot about how writing can be made more interesting for the
readers, how to communicate and connect with the readers. Things seem simple while reading than when we start
writing. After that give yourself some time to ponder about what you want to write and how will you start. Make a
blueprint of it and start taking further steps according to it. The hardest step in everything is the first step towards
accomplishing it.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the easiest or the toughest and why?
A. I won’t say that anything among these 3 is very easy as every step has its own significance and I hadn’t found
anything easy. But yes, if I have to put these things in the ascending order of the toughness I will put like this:-
writing<Publishing<Marketing. So according to question for me, I think the writing part was less tough because all you
have to do is put your mind, ideas on paper. Though writing something that connects to the readers directly requires
skill, I found it the most interesting part. For me it was fun writing your thoughts graciously on papers, I was on the
learning mode and doing something I had never done before.
Now comes the hardest part and in my opinion it is marketing. No matter how good you write and how good your
story is, it won’t have any significance if it doesn’t reach the readers. Good marketing helps your book to reach a bigger
audience and at last as an artist, every one of us wants to be appreciated. Today’s world is full of marketing and there
are so many options available before Readers. So to convince people to purchase your book among so many options is a
hell of a task.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. In my opinion, we should learn things from a seasoned person like Chetan bhagat. People criticize him maybe he
reaches the level and created the space where nobody could reach. There is a saying that “Jealousy, that green-eyed
monster of emotions, is a powerful force. Once trapped in its grip, we are likely to act irrationally” is perfect in today’s
context. You can criticize some of his work which you find offensive or something like that but criticizing him for his
writing is not gonna give you anything except giving you a hallucination of satisfaction. You better appreciate the good
work and start learning things from the veterans, it will help you in the long run.
Page 16
Himanshu Vashishtha
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. Yes. Indians do prefer reading international authors as we have only a handful of authors of international repute.
And there are certain factors behind it.
We Indians mostly choose job- oriented careers. Students with arts/humanities stream are considered less intelligent
than science/commerce stream. The education system doesn't promote our art/literature well. For next Dan Brown,
Paulo Coelho we need to promote our youth to not take writing as a hobby but as a profession and passion.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India?
A. Maybe it’s because we have the largest youth population. People’s interest is highly affected by the age factor.
People lying in the age group of 15- 23 years will prefer reading romantic genre to others. Similarly, people in the age
group of 23-40 prefer reading business magazines, investment-related books, motivational genres, life lesson related
books while the age group of 40+ may prefer spiritual books or other religious texts to romantic genres. I think it’s
biological, I am not generalizing things and yes exceptions are always there. It’s my thought.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. As of now, I am just learning things that may help me in my future projects. I am just minutely observing things all
around me and that’s it. You have to wait for another one or two years before anything comes up.
Page 17
Saurabh Thakur
About Author:
An alumni of St. Xavier’s College, Modern School and Don Bosco Academy,
Saurabh has an extensive experience working in different branches of the media
field like News, Corporate Films and Television promos. He has been a part of the
team that made promos for shows like Mahadev and Savitri, a copywriter for the
promo team of CNN News 18 and has also made a number of films for corporates
like PNB Housing, Spicejet, Daikin and many others. He has also written and
directed a number of short films like Meeraas (starring Sadia Siddiqui and
Sidharth Bhardwaj) and The Void (starring Sanyam Sharma), for which he has
received over 40 official entries and awards in film festivals across the globe
including Miami Independent Film Festival, Goa Short Film Festival, Berlin Flash
Film Festival, Amnesty India Film Festival, Rome Independent Prisma Awards
among others.
About Book:
Two great destinies are set to collide in a war that will change the order of the universe. Vaanee, a powerful demon
princess, rouses her kin to seek revenge against the Spirits. But the Rekhyts stand in between her quest to bring the
Spirits on the battlefield. Rwiju, a young and exceptional Rekhyt warrior with a mysterious past, holds the key to this
epic war. As chaos prepares to engulf the worlds, will Rwiju be able to find the answers hidden in his past or will the
worlds come crashing down around him?
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am Saurabh and I am originally from Darbhanga, Bihar. I have stayed in many
cities like Patna, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru due to work and studies. I
am a filmmaker, and run a production house called Wingfoot Productions. I have
been a part of the promo teams of Life OK and CNN News 18 in the past, and am
currently looking to move into fiction.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing it.
Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share some insights.
A. The journey of Aham has been a long one, and it took me over 5 years to finish
the book. Most of it was because I was lazy, and some of it was due to the juggling
between work and finding the time to write. But, it was a fun process right from the
start and I really enjoyed writing Aham. The publishing part was a bit trying to be
honest. It’s something over which you have very little control as it is upto the
publishers to decide if they want to publish your book. Thankfully, I got to know of
Suhail (from The Book Bakers literary agency) and he helped me out a lot in getting
Aham out. It can be a really exhausting process, and you have to be ready for a lot of
rejections and need to have patience. For you to write any book you need to have
the passion to go through with it, but you also need to understand that publishing
houses need to generate revenue to sustain themselves, and because of that there are
many factors that come into play, irrespective of how good the book is. So you need
to have a lot of patience, and hope that it comes off in the end!
Page 18
Saurabh Thakur
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. First thing you need to understand is that it takes a while before you can sustain yourself just on the basis of your
writing (I am talking books here and not other forms of writing). So when you start out, you need to find a balance
between how you make your money and how you write. It’s always a difficult choice, and practicality almost always
takes the upper hand. This is where a lot of people can give up on their writing, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. I
guess it would be easier if you didn’t take the time out from your professional life but from your personal life. Again,
its not really an easy choice, but you will have to make some compromises somewhere. A really age old advice that I
can give is to plan out your week. If you can stick to a schedule, you really can find the time.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. Stick to it. A lot of the times I caught myself wondering if this was worth it. But now, when I finally see Aham, I
know that it was more than worth it. It’s a special feeling knowing that you have created something. It doesn’t
necessarily have to be a book, it could be anything. And it doesn’t even have to get you fame or anything. Just
knowing that you were the one who made it possible is the most amazing feeling!
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. I guess it depends from person to person, but for me writing is definitely the easiest part. The reason being that it is
something over which you have complete control. Whether you succeed or you fail, it’s all on you. As far as
publishing and marketing are concerned, they are not really in your hands. You give it your best and hope that things
will sort themselves out, but its not always upto you. For me, marketing is definitely the hardest part because I am
kind of reserved as a person and I don’t really like talking about myself. But then its something that you cannot do
without, and so you need to change and adapt!
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. To be honest, I don’t really think its upto me to comment on this. I have only read Five point someone, and it was a
pretty good read. As far as people criticising him is concerned, if they are truly reading his work and then doing it,
instead of just spewing hate because of some pre-conceived notion, then I am pretty sure he looks forward to it.
Feedback is very important for everyone, and if it is genuine feedback, then it’s ok. Unfortunately, it has become very
popular for everyone to have an opinion without any concern about facts and being louder has become more
important than being heard. So I guess its upto Chetan to filter those out.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. I don’t think that is necessarily true. People will read the books that they know about. Which means that the
promotions of the books are extremely important. I do not think that the average Indian reader will not read a book
just because its written by an Indian. But what happens is that when there is an international author, like say J K
Rowling for example, you have already heard so much about the book that you want to know what all the fuss is
about. Similarly, it was the case with Amish and Meluha.
And it’s not that all international authors are being read here. It’s only the ones who are really popular and really
good that reach the bookstores here. So its kind of not fair comparing a new Indian author with stalwarts like them!
Page 19
Saurabh Thakur
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. Right now I am working on a horror that’s set in a village. It’s called Maati, and the editing is going on right now.
Next, I plan to write a historical fiction that set in Bengal and another fantasy, but like a comic fantasy. Apart from
these, there are two more parts of Aham that I have to start writing as well!
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In india.
A. I guess we are all romantics at heart. Romance is something that is very relatable as a genre. We have all had
heartbreaks and fallen in love at one point or the other in our lives, and when you read a love story, you connect with
it I think and see yourself in the characters.
Page 20
Mayur Kalbag
About Author:
A motivational speaker, leadership coach and behavioral trainer by profession, Mayur’s
hobby of writing poetry and prose evolved into a serious and an inspired avocation
twelve years ago. He has written two books of poetry titled, ‘Smile at Stress’ and ‘Rising
Waterfall’. Adventures of Poorna’ is his first `book of prose.
About Book:
Adventures of Poorna is a mythical voyage of the young, self-driven and adventurous
protagonist, Poorna. It is about his vibrant journeys that are interspersed with intensely
intriguing, inspiring and enchanting experiences, escapades and almost heart-stopping
explorations, some of which transpire even beyond planet earth, and all this with an
amazing culmination towards probably a new beginning! A truly scintillating story with illuminating imaginations
where Poorna explores lakes, mountains, sages, weird and wonderful creatures as well as aliens through his inter
planetary travels. The book constitutes an indelible dosage of tantric spirituality and cosmic energy, intrinsically
inspiring you, the reader in getting glued to the fluently flowing story. As you keep moving through the chapters, trust
me, you would rather it not end.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out.
Share some insights.
A. My true passion is imagining, exploring and then articulating new
realms of philosophical fiction and spiritualism through writing and
painting. Adventures of Poorna is a mythical and yet a vibrant voyage
interspersed with intense and inspiring escapades and explorations
some of which are interstellar. All this happened while I was in the
Himalayas with my Guru as we were traversing the Kailas Mountain
and the mysteriously divine Lake Manasarovar. In fact a lot of the story
in the book happens in and around the Himalayan region.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to
give our readers some advice?
A. Rather than using the word Juggle, I would say that my passion for
creative writing through creative visualization actually has helped ion
heaps towards my profession of conducting Leadership and Personality
Development Seminars. I can only say that both are complementary to
each other in a very positive and progressive way. My only advice to
our readers is to always make your profession and passion of writing or
any other passionate activity that you may be pursuing complementary
to each other. Work and passion should be great buddies!!!
Page 21
Mayur Kalbag
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. I believe that creativity or innovation of new ideas and thoughts are one of the greatest catalysts for a very
interesting book of story. I could say the same for those who wish to explore Poetry as well. It is for this reason I
suggest that you keep ‘STRETCHNG YOUR IMGANINATION’ or in short, I call it, ‘SYI’
The best way you can do this is by spending at least 20 minutes everyday, preferably morning, to think about
something you have not yet thought about. Along with this also do what I used to do and still do, which is start
‘SKETCHING or drwaing’ something close to your heart, may be Mountains or a landscape and do this for your
yourself and not to show others. Such activities will open your creativity and it will actually inspire your creative
writing!
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the easiest or the toughest and why?
A. It is the combination of all which become a great challenge. It is not about pin-pointing just one. Having said this,
my own experience tells me that of the three, Marketing could be at the top in terms of the toughest. Writing is
something that you already know and you can keep improving. Publishing is something that you can hire a publishing
organization as well. But then, it is marketing that will challenge you the most.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure?
A. In my view, the Indian readers have actually been reading Indian Authors as well and I myself is one example. For
me, reading an Amish Tripathi was absolutely awesome experience and there are many like me who are getting many
Indian authors to read. The way I see it, we are having more choices internationally as well as domestically. Having
said all this, I have to say that there is a lot to be done in getting international readership for the Indian Authors at least
that is my belief.
Page 22
Anandajit Goswami
About Author:
Anandajit Goswami is a Fellow with the Green Growth and Resource Efficiency
Division of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Associate Faculty with
Department of Policy Studies, TERI University and has been working with TERI since
2004. As TERI Africa Coordinator, he was based at United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa where he coordinated South-South
Cooperation initiatives. He has led projects supported by ADB and UK-Aid on
macroeconomic and welfare implications of tax, subsidies on petroleum products and
has been working on the interphases of macroeconomic systems and risk modelling and
its association with policy analysis and sustainability. He has been associated with
various South-South cooperation knowledge exchange programmes, supported by
UNECA, UNIDO, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Ministry of Water and Energy, Government of
Ethiopia, Horn of Africa Regional Environment Centre and Network, Addis Ababa University. He completed his
Master s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and is pursuing PhD at TERI University.
He has co-authored a book titled Sustainability Science for Social, Economic and Environmental Development and
has co-edited a title Economic Modelling, Analysis and Policy for Sustainability.
About Book:
Pink Gender: One day, a man, a woman and a transgender who is a dream are being called for police investigation at
the police station regarding an unintended, mysterious accident. Their stories and mysteries unfold in the counselling
room of the police station and a connecting link between the story is established. This story is all about these magical
mysteries of life which are explained, self-explained, unexplained in their own ways by opening all bright and dark
corners of the human mind and psychology.
Lucy and the Train: Lucy and the Train is a journey of the self that leads to sustainability. Narrating the conflict
within self, surroundings, and imagination, it captures the symbolism expressed by René Descartes through his
words I think therefore I am . The story takes the reader on a surreal journey of sustainability by weaving a complex
yet beautiful tapestry of human mind, relationships, and environment. Lucy boards a train after drinking a magic
potion. But she is destined for the journey even before her birth. Every compartment poses a new challenge and an
impending threat to the survival of life on Earth. Life is possible, only if she successfully reaches the first
compartment and overcomes her nemesis. In this journey, Lucy has to surpass innumerable obstacles and when she
finally meets...it is for her to decide the future of humanity!
The Rise of Central Tendency: Hema from the land of "D" was born in a home where the separation between two
rooms could not isolate her from the blackhole of the society. She dreamt of seeing little radiation of light on the edges
of that black hole by questioning powers across layers of the society and through the rise of the "Club of Central
Tendency". This book is about the journey of such a dream and uprising.
Page 23
Anandajit Goswami
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am Anandajit Goswami, currently working as a HOD, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Political
Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences. I am a musician, composer, singer, scholar, sportsperson, human
rights activist, animal lover and a follower of any art form. Therefore, I am like the ring of the galaxy of Saturn
roaming all around a planet of Saturn with all these identities which I dont even know myself.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it
actually turn out. Share some insights.
A. As I always say, I write books to heal me. Any book for me is my therapist and counsellor. In that sense, I go to my
counsellor with a nibbling prickle which is haunting me for quite some time. Once that happens, my book writing
starts or in other words my counselling session begins. As a part of that counselling, I go through all sorts of emotions
structured in a scale of - growth, order, complexity and chaos. At different stages of the book writing or the
counselling session, I reside in these different stages of this scale. So, naturally with all that, I can get exhausted,
exhilarated, excited, ecstatic, exuberated and it goes on and one. What is more important is the journey within the
scale of - growth to order to complexity to chaos.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. It is not hard if you dont come under any external pressure of writing. The simple rule is just sit for writing and
wait for your counsellor on the day when you really have to go to the counsellor. If some days you dont want to go
dont go. Focus on other works. However, establish a process of going back to your counsellor again and again
patiently without any pressure of society or social media. Remember, whatever you are doing is only to help yourself
and once you do that well, you will also help others equally. Your expansion starts once you become honest to
yourself about your healing sessions of work, profession and passion. Keep the rules very simple. Dont complicate the
rules as the space you are dealing with is already complicated.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. As I said, first find out a good counsellor who will heal you. The rest of the process will be figured out step by step
where your literary agent can also help you. But the healing content is most important. There are many good literary
agents like the Book Bakers and several others who are there too help. But the first step of the journey is within.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. All three are tough. I dont like to use a superlative comparison between three which I think are absolutely essential
and necessary in today's and in the world of future. We have to be good in all three and it only comes through practice
and by learning from mistakes. For that matter, since I am not a "writer", the order for me can be - Writing (toughest
as everything starts with this), the rest two are moderately tough. But, I am not an advocate of comparing these three
equally important tasks.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. I am working on the third book of the Lucy series. The first two books were - "Lucy and the Train: Tryst with
Sustainability", "Lucy Meets Artificial Intelligence" coauthored with Debashis Chakraborty. There is another project
which I am conceptualising on - "Identity, Violence and Conflicts". Both these projects will take quite sometime and I
am in no hurry and will take as much time as possible to make these projects a good healing session.
Page 24
Anandajit Goswami
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. Yes, he has a contribution which cannot be denied. But we have to respect every criticism of reader. I personally
often feel, many contents are actually important as it becomes a personalised projection of a reader's own reflection.
That's how a content grows, survives, evolves. So, we have to accept all views. However, this point that I am making is
very content specific too. May be, there can be some content which doesnot have that expansion space of a personalised
projection of a reader's mind. It is more defined in terms of its commercial and entertainment and communication
value. Even, that also has its place. So, I personally dont think in literature or in any form of communication, this either
or or narrative needs to go. We need to understand every communication from a context, goal and its perspectives and
objectives and we have to accept all of them and understand it more rather than passing out a judgement. The society,
writers, readers, everyone in any art industry have to be less judgemental and more inclusionary about everyone. Then
only a blissful evolution will happen.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. I dont think Indian authors lack any thing. When you say, we lack anything, in a way you have a definition and a set
of parameters against which you are measuring Indian, visa vis the international authors. Now, I actually dont agree
with this defined parameters in a communication or literature (if I may say so). Who decides the parameters? Why the
parameter is decided in a certain way and how the parameters will shape up in future. None of us are clear to these
questions as there are so many latent forces behind these parameters. So if we are unsure or know a little bit of these
latent forces, then ideally I would never get to any such comparison.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India.
A. May be it gives a good safe coping zone for any human mind to heal. If the human mind is strangulated with daily
life complexities and searching for a safe coping zone, may be romance genre is providing them that. However, I am
not sure. A proper research study needs to be done.
Page 25
Smitha Vasudevan
About Author:
Smitha Vasudevan, a reader, writer and management professional. She has been
working in the Media industry for the past two decades.
She lives with her family in Kerala and is passionate about enabling dreams.
About Book:
Swasthi’s idyllic childhood in a rustic island village has been a medley of memorable
experiences, colourful temple festivals, grandmother’s delicious snacks and stories of
enchanting invisible steps and a silent banyan tree. But life takes Swasthi away from
the only love she has ever known, and when time threatens to destroy that way of life, she has no choice but to return
and to rise to the challenge of safeguarding all that she considers sacred. Creating a new definition to her home, she
captures the lost notes of a forgotten lifestyle and presents it to a new audience. But over time, beyond the tall coconut
orchards and the green paddy fields surrounding her, there are many destinies that await her. Set in God’s own
country, Kerala, The Boat Song celebrates the eternal charm of this magical state, a mythical and poetic ode to its
enchanting character.
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am Smitha,a reader, writer and management professional. I
love books in many genres, and consider reading one of life's greatest
blessings, every book opens a new world to the reader. I have been
working in the Media industry for the past two decades. I live with
my family in Kerala. I am passionate about enabling dreams.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out.
Share some insights.
A. There have been many books that I have started and not
completed in the past, life got in the way as it tends to, so finally
realising that I had written The End to a work in itself was startling.
Then came the realisation that now that I had completed one work, it
was time to find readers for it. Writing for me is a deeply personal
experience, and no one really knew I was writing a novel. Except for
my children, for whom it would become their bedtime story.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their
creative side and want to be a part of literary field. As a published
writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. Never give up. You need to believe in yourself, and work hard to
make your words heard.
Page 26
Smitha Vasudevan
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. When your profession is your passion, you are lucky. I have been lucky in that I have played many roles in my
professional career and have continually been able to explore new concepts that I have not yet felt stifled in the career.
As a management professional, the industry I am demands creativity and constant re-invention. Though between work
and family, there has been little time to devote to my writing, I prefer to view this as a huge learning opportunity. All
experience goes into the crucible of creative inspiration. But now that I have published one work, I am more and more
lured by the need to write on.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. Each has its own challenges. Writing. You only have to rely on yourself, it is a privilege to be given the talent to tell a
story. For Marketing, this is a learning curve. You get better as you go on. Publishing is probably the toughest, as
established big publishers rarely encourage unsolicited manuscripts, and agents typically pick only format authors or
stories. But this is also the age of self-publishing, and that is a blessing to anyone who cannot find an option with
traditional publishing.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your comments
on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new industry and
built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. India is a big country. This is not one audience, but diverse. Just as there are different regional movie industries and
a bollywood industry that cuts across, so would it be in literature. As more readers are added on the English reading
audience, authors who appeal to them will also emerge. I think the category is evolving, and there is ample room for
more types of writing to emerge.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. I would like to quote Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie here. She has written how she grew up believing that all people
are blonde and blue eyed, eating apples and drinking ginger beer, while she herself was chocolate skinned and ate
mangoes. All readers who start off their reading life in English, and that includes me, are introduced to a world with
Enid Blyton. That makes us particularly receptive to International authors. But we also need to expand our reading
repertoire to Indian works, the stories from India as as valid, as relevant, as engaging as those in Western contexts. The
Boat Song is such a narrative, built into the culture and community that is based in. These narratives need to be told to
not just the Indian audience, but to the world at large. That remains a huge challenge.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. I am currently completing my second novel, which is an exploration of the language of taste, and how relationships
are orchestrated on remembered flavours. It is set in India, and has a strong female protagonist.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India.
A. The world loves a love story. That is not surprising, as all, as love remains an eternal goal, what the soul seeks. But
romance as a genre is escapism, and it gives the reader the consolation of things working out. The narrative too is often
structured to be as soothing as a lullaby, it is familiar, you know how it will turn out to be. As the readers mature, they
will move beyond the everyday, and find the romance of a place, a time, a destiny.
Page 27
Pankaj Giri
About Author:
Pankaj Giri was born and brought up in Gangtok, Sikkim—a picturesque hill station in
India. He began his writing career with a book review blog and after several years of
honing his writing skills, he wrote his debut solo novel The Fragile Thread of Hope. The
inspirational fiction novel was selected as a “Top 5 Finalist” in the Amazon Pen to
Publish Contest 2017 and received critical acclaim worldwide. It also led to him being
felicitated by Sikkim Manipal University for his contribution to the literature of Sikkim
and being invited by popular website YourStory.com and ABN TV, India’s first Nepali
satellite channel, for exclusive interviews. He is currently working in the government
sector in Sikkim. He likes to kill time listening to progressive metal music and watching
movies and sitcoms. Pankaj loves interacting with his readers via social media and
always responds promptly.
About Book: Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A gripping emotional inspirational fiction about love, loss, and finding hope A. I am a simple, reserved guy. I live
in the darkest of times.
in Gangtok and have a government
In the autumn of 2012, destiny wreaks havoc on two unsuspecting people—
soham and Fiona. Although his devastating past involving his brother still job in the Power Department. I love to
haunted him, Soham had established a promising career for himself in
Bangalore. After a difficult childhood, Fiona's fortunes had finally taken a read selected books, listen to
turn for the better. She had married her beloved and her life was as perfect
as she had ever imagined it to be. But when tragedy strikes them yet again, melodious rock music, and watch TV
their fundamentally fragile lives threaten to fall apart. Can Fiona and Soham
overcome their grief? Will the overwhelming pain destroy their lives? shows and movies.
Seasoned with the flavours of exotic Nepalese traditions and set in the
picturesque Indian Hill station, gangtok, the fragile thread of hope explores Q. Please tell our readers about the
the themes of spirituality, faith, alcoholism, love and guilt while navigating journey of writing this book to
the complex maze of family relationships. Inspirational and heart- publishing it. Was it exhausting or
wrenchingly intimate, it urges you to wonder—does hope stand a chance in fun, how did it actually turn out.
this travesty called life? Share some insights.
A. I began writing this book in late
2015. It took a year and a half to finish
it along with self-edits. Thereafter, I
got it edited and submitted the
manuscript to literary agents and
traditional publishers. Unfortunately,
I didn't get a positive response from
any of them. I decided to self-publish
the book and also took part in the
inaugural Amazon Pen to Publish
Contest 2017. By the grace of God, I
got selected as one of the top 5
Finalists. Buoyed by the confidence, I
resubmitted my manuscript to
publishers. Luckily, this time,
Fingerprint Publishing, one of the top
traditional publishers in the country,
accepted my manuscript. The book
has been doing well. The sales are
decent and the book has got critical
acclaim from many readers and
reviewers.
The path to publication is long and
requires a lot of patience. However, if
you have written a decent book and
you persevere despite all the delay
and disappointment, with a bit of
luck, it is possible to get a break in the
industry and do well.
Page 28
Pankaj Giri
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. It is not that difficult if you are determined. When I'm in the groove, I manage to find time by sacrificing other
forms of entertainment. However, sometimes when life is too hectic, you are forced to take breaks. You must have the
hunger to dive back into writing whenever the next free phase arrives.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. Although it sounds cliched, it would be to ‘Never give up’. This is not an easy thing to do; it needs oodles of
patience and hard work, but it’s not impossible. If someone like me, who had no contact in the literary industry, could
manage to traditionally publish my book, you can do it too. If you love writing, just keep at it.
However, there are a few ground rules that really help. Firstly, before writing, please spend time thinking about the
plot, and don’t forget to note everything down. Create a timeline, scene by scene, about what exactly you are going to
write. Then, once that is ready, it will be much easier to fill the pages, and you will most likely not face the dreaded
writer’s block too.
Secondly, please brush up on your grammar and punctuation by reading articles on the internet and going through
critically acclaimed books to understand how award-winning writers go about their business. That builds a
foundation and helps you write better. Marketing is another difficult challenge that only a few have been able to
master, but it just needs some hard work, luck, and a bit of money. It can be done, so don’t lose hope.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. All the three things are difficult but I think marketing is always the toughest because it involves money and is
totally beyond your control.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. Chetan Bhagat is indeed someone who created a revolution in the Indian literary industry and inspired thousands
of writers to write and also improved readership among the youth. We must respect him for what he has done. Many
writers probably don't like him due to certain reasons like his colloquial writing style (and personally even I prefer a
much richer and descriptive writing style), but instead of comparing yourself with him or criticising him, I think
writers should write in their own style and put it out to the readers. That's what is in our hands. The rest is up to the
readers, whether they accept it or not.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. I think it depends upon the type of reader. Some prefer Indian authors while some prefer international ones. I think
the only thing we lack right now is the scarcity of contemporary fiction novels. There is a lot of romantic/mythological
fiction in the market and a few high-brow literary fiction titles too. But the type of books that international fiction
readers prefer are well-written contemporary fiction novels. And that is rare in the market right now.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. I am working on another contemporary fiction. This time it revolves around a family secret that has an impact on
several lives. This genre is popular in international fiction - you can even find a category on Amazon.com called
Family Life - and, ironically, this concept is unexplored in India despite it being a family-oriented country. I'm trying
to write a relatable story based on the concept in the hope that this topic gains popularity in India as well.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India.
A. Romance is a thing almost everyone can relate with, as they experience it at some stage in life. Perhaps that's the
reason why romance novels sell well.
Page 29
Selvi Deepa
About Author:
Selvi Deepa is a Literature Scholar turned into a writer. Previously, she worked as an
Assistant Professor and Guest Lecturer in different colleges. Her passion for literature,
especially the poetry genre, inspired her to write. Initiated from the leisure time writing,
presently it ended with writing as her profession.
About Book:
Memories of Yesterday: Memories are harmless treasures of the heart". So, here is the
collection of valuable treasures found inside the book which aroused from the writers'
deep heart. Each write ups will provide the readers a mixed variety of emotions when it
is taken deep into their heart. The writers' memories ranges from joy to sorrow, happy
time to period of suffering and every kind of experiences. I hope readers also will enjoy
and travel along with book's journey to the past.
The Treasure of Her Soul: The Treasure of Her Soul is the book which contains the happenings of life to a girl of
imagination. The book consists of collection of poems in which it delivers the experiences of a girl throughout her
life. Every poem shows the exposure of a girl in the real world. The book is not autobiographical; it does not depict
anyone’s real life experiences. Rather the book deals with the experiences of an imaginative girl who represents the
girl who suffers in every aspect in the outside – real world. Each poem imitates the various kinds of sufferings of the
girls in this contemporary world. All the problems faced by people right from the childhood through their adult age
have been portrayed in the book in the perspective of a single girl. The girl might have come across several people in
her life. The original characters and the nature of those persons; the difficulties faced by the girl through each
person; the opportunity which has missed due to her fate; description of her influential and inspirational people in
the life like teachers, friends, lovable ones etc. are the composition of the book. When the girl comes of a teenage, she
too falls in love like anyone else. The poetries in the book show whether she succeeded in her love making or not;
her realization of the real world, people and so on. Ultimately, the reason for her writing and the passion of writing
through the girl’s perspective has been elucidated.
Page 30
Selvi Deepa
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am a Literature Scholar turned into a writer. I took the name of Selvi Deepa for my writing process and my
books were published under the same name. Previously, I worked as an Assistant Professor and Guest Lecturer in
different colleges. My passion for literature, especially the poetry genre, inspired me to write. Initiated from the
leisure time writing, presently it ended with writing as my profession. “The Treasure of Her Soul”, an anthology of
poems is my first published book which was published in the year 2019. I have won the 'Best Woman Writer
Award’ for the previously mentioned book. I have also won the ‘Influential Women Author Award 2k20’ for the field of
Education and Literature. I have also published a collection of quotes book named, “Explore Me Here” in 2019. I
have also published a dream-collection book named, “She Dreamzz, They Dreamzz” for which she has been
awarded the 'Young Author Award'. Apart from this, I have co-authored several anthologies. I have also compiled
some anthologies named, “Illusioned Realities”, “Memories of Yesterday”. Now, I am presiding as the Head
Compiler under the writing community, “Spectrum of Thoughts”. People can contact me
via Instagram (selvi_deepa), Facebook (Deepa writes), Mail ([email protected])
Q. .Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publish it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it
actually turn out. Share some insights.
A. Well, to tell you about my writing journey…It is a gradual process. I have never written a book in a full-fledged
manner. All my poetry in my book were written during the leisure time I got. All the poems were written during
various periods of my life. Some poems were written casually and some were written out of my experience. So, my
writing journey was never an exhausting one. Rather, it filled with all kinds of emotions like fun, happiness,
sorrow, etc. But, I have never felt exhausted or disgusted during my writing journey. Starting from the days of my
Under Graduate course until now, the process of writing has been continuing. It is not under any process or
intending to publish those in a book. I just wrote everything that came into my mind. Simply, all my writings were
the inner voice of my mind and heart.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. As I have said earlier, I will not write anything when I am at work. So, I used to allot different timings for each
work. “Early bird will catch its prey”. According to the saying, I used to finish my entire professional work earlier
so that I can bring my heart out in the paper in my leisure time. Though I don’t find any free time, I make myself
amidst all my works to write something. As writing is my passion, I enjoy writing even if I am work pressure or
stress. Even that work pressure used to turn into poems so that I can relieve myself through my writings. Usually,
people’s stress may be relieved either by sharing with others or through their cry out. But, I found writing is the
only way of healing that turned me into a writer.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary
field. As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. We have lots and lots of emerging writers and literary works in our day to day life. Even though there were
thousands and millions of books, we need to specialize ourselves through our books. Initially, we need to give a
unique theme and genre for our book. We need to give a catchy title and good synopsis for our book so that we can
attract a large amount of audience. Even the first sentence should be attractive so that it will induce the readers to
read your book without skipping. Don’t be upset if you are not able to finish the book in a single sitting. Ideas will
not come in at a stretch. So, without leaving the spirit writers have to write whenever an idea sparkles in their mind.
But, they should complete the book before they go for publication. Without, completing the whole concept, they
should not go for publication in a hurry. So, simply authors need to attract the audience through their concept, book
cover, and title to become a well-known author in this society.
Page 31
Selvi Deepa
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the easiest or the toughest and why?
A. Writing, Publishing, and Marketing is the hierarchical process that prevails in the life of a writer. According
to me, writing is the easiest job because we are not going to write anyone's idea. We are going to produce only
our ideas. So, whatever our mind thinks, we are going to write. So, it is easiest for me. Then, the next process is
Publishing. After we complete the writing process, we need to approach the Publishers. Even if the publisher is
accepted, our book ll be published easily. But, the marketing process is the toughest job among these 3 things.
We need to take a lot of effort to make our book to reach a large amount of audience. We have to approach
several people and several methods to make our book a successful one. We will not be able to think of anything
until our book become the bestseller or until our book attains a familiar place for it. So, out of the given three
processes, marketing is the toughest one.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. So far, I have touched only the poetry of genre. So, to try a new genre, I am in the thought of writing letters.
Yes, I am planning to write a novel or story in the form of letters like an epistolary novel. Though the technique
is very old, it is new for me to practice. So, I want to write that kind of genre in my upcoming books. And also, I
want to practice a horror theme which is the most favorite of mine.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In india.
To be frank and honest, Romance is the most important emotion everyone needs in their life rather than any
other emotion. And it is usual for everyone to read and stick towards what they like most. In the same way,
Indians are very delighted and they are in their utmost zeal to read the romance genres. They involve
themselves as a character when they read it. That’s the reason that romantic genre sells at an exponential rate
over other genres in India.
Page 32
Dr. Aditya R. Nighhot
About Book:
With shrills and cries, innocent lives are put to the threat. A murderer, a robber
and a scammer have put the entire city of Ranchi in a state of havoc. With no
faces, identities and locations, the police know very little about them.
Amidst all this, battling against depression, ACP Sailesh Kumar wants to end his life. Will his team and him nab the
culprits before more innocent lives are wrecked?
Will the police succeed in putting an end to this?
From the bestselling and award winning author, Dr. Aditya R. Nighhot comes a short story which has the right
amount of chill and thrill. So, get ready to enjoy a spine chilling tale that would put you on the edge of your seats.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing your books
to publishing them. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually
turn out. Share some insights.
A. For me, writing is fun and it takes me to a different world
altogether. It’s an easy process for me as it comes very naturally to
me. The real challenge for any author, I believe is in bringing it
out and taking it to the bestsellers and thankfully, I have managed
to do that with all my books.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion,
care to give our readers some advice?
A. Medicine as a profession is demanding. It was my choice to
become a doctor and I find peace in it. Additionally, writing is
God-gifted to me. To find a balance between the two professions
becomes a bit difficult at times but as they say, when your
professions as your passions, you obviously find time for them.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their
creative side and want to be a part of literary field. As a
published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice
authors?
A. Hang in there! Writing a book is just 10 percent of everything.
Get ready to face rejections from publishers, fail at marketing and
much more. In all the cases, be prepared to not give up and keep
striking back. Believe in yourself!
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the
easiest or the toughest and why?
A. According to me writing is easiest and marketing is difficult
because you can never predict what shall work and what shall not
when it comes to pleasing the audience and building that
curiosity in them.
Page 33
Dr. Aditya R. Nighhot
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you think
we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure?
A. I believe it is not about who is good or bad. We should stop generalising that international authors hold an upper
hand over Indian authors or vice versa. A good story is a good story and a bad one is a bad one! Whatever little
International books that we see in the bookstores are only the bestseller ones. Most of the internationally published
books which I can say -shittiest of all’ do not actually reach the Indian market. So, it is unfair to compare the
bestselling International books with Indian books. There’s far bad writing in the west that doesn’t reach.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. Currently, I am working on a thriller, a romance book and a non-fiction, which shall soon release in due course of
time.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India?
A. That’s because it is the easiest and most pleasing genres which connect to the readers. People find it relevant as
well as connect to the characters and the story.
Page 34
Shefali Arora
About Author:
An engineer by profession, with a passion for writing, she has been writing poems and
stories since childhood, and thus she decided to give a direction to her passion. Her first
venture in the domain of fiction, ‘The Infinite Road’ got launched on Amazon and
Pustakmandi E-books application recently.
About Book:
When you land on the crossroads of life, all you need is the courage and attitude to
tread on this path covered with obstacles. For there is always a turn which basks in
the glory of sunshine… Alunkrita can go to any extent to get Anokhi’s, the disabled
girl she found on the streets of Chandigarh, life sorted. Her start-up idea holds the key to all her dreams and Anokhi’s
bright future. She plans to send Anokhi to a boarding school once her feet get operated. Parth, who broke her heart
years ago, offers her the most appropriate deal for the start-up. Battling between her past and her growing fondness
for her new neighbour, Siddarth, would Alunkrita make the right choices for her life and, most importantly, for
Anokhi? Would Anokhi’s future ever see the light of dawn?
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I am an engineer by profession, with a passion for writing. I
have been writing poems and stories since childhood, and thus I
decided to give a direction to my passion. My first venture in the
domain of fiction, ‘The Infinite Road’ got launched on Amazon
and Pustakmandi E-books application recently. Previously, I
published a poetry book named ‘A Paradise of Thoughts’. I am
currently pursuing a PhD in computer science. In my free time, I
love to write, read books, listen to music and play musical
instruments. I also have a travel blog, where I share tips on place
to travel around the world.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book
to publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually
turn out. Share some insights.
A. The journey of writing and publishing ‘The Infinite Road’ has
been a memorable one. I had a plot in mind and so I decided to
take up my quill and unfold its potential. My mother, Dr. Anu
Arora motivated me throughout the journey. I discussed many of
my ideas with her, and it was a fun experience compiling the
whole thing. Now, finding a publisher was a bit taxing. Initially, I
sent the proposal to many publishers and faced rejections. That’s
when I came across The Book Bakers literary agency, and I
discussed the proposal with Mr. Suhail Mathur (Co-founder of the
agency). He guided me throughout, and I bagged a deal with
Locksley Hall Publishing. So overall, the process has been long but
exciting. It took nearly two years for my book to see the light of
the dawn.
Page 35
Shefali Arora
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice?
A. Honestly, it is tough sometimes. Sometimes professional errands take up a lot of my time. However, the desire for
writing comes naturally. Whenever I have some free time or I get a new idea, I start jotting something on a piece of
paper or in my diary application on the mobile phone. I make sure that I write for atleast 10-15 minutes a day. It
could be anything- my next plot or a small poem on a theme. I keep in touch with my passion this way. It is a great
stress-buster for me.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. I would advise all the aspiring writers to pen down their thoughts and never give up on their dreams. If a newbie
author wishes to enter this literary field, he might face some initial challenges; however he/she should never see it as
a setback. Keep exploring until you reach the best platform for launching your manuscript. The mantra here is
patience.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. Well, writing is the best part! Your manuscript becomes your world and you start loving your characters.
Marketing is the toughest, for even if you get the right platform for your book, it is very important for the readers to
know about tour book and appreciate it. For marketing my book, I was constantly in touch with Ms Tushti Bhatia
(founder of the Flipping Pages), to understand the traits of the field. She made this journey easier for me, and I
enjoyed appreciation from my readers.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read Indian novels. What are your comments?
A. I really don’t feel it is right to criticize Mr Chetan Bhagat. One reason could be that readers start comparing his
writing style to that of other authors. However, every writer has his own style and there are fresh perspectives in
every piece of work. When I was young, I did make it a point to buy his books. He, indeed, set a trend. I feel most of
us have read his work, although our opinions might vary. Personally, I appreciate the fast pace and comprehensible
language of his books. He has inspired many novice authors to venture into this field with their creative ideas.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you
think we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. Yes, I agree on this. We generally prefer to read books which are doing fantastic in the wider domain. So when we
come across the list of bestselling foreign authors, we surely prefer to add it to our TBR list. It could be our
perception that the storytelling and narration would be far better as compared to Indian authors. This is because
English isn’t our native language. I feel this perception itself is the lacking point. Indian authors are coming up with
so many out of the box ideas these days. There has been tremendous love in the international market for authors like
Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Khushwant Singh, to name a few. Slowly and steadily, readers are giving other Indian
authors a chance. I feel this culture shall expand soon. Good work needs the right kind of exposure, be it through
media/literary fests etc. If authors get past the initial hassles with the help of their publishers, I think they can
definitely gain recognition in the international market. It would take time but it would surely happen.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. I am working on a non-fiction book right now. I also plan to publish my next poetry collection soon.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India?
A. I personally love all genres, especially mythological and thrillers. Romance is a genre which everyone can relate
to. Youngsters love to read about situations and characters that they often come across in real life. Grown-ups get
allured by the moving tales of characters who are unsure of their fate. Writing this, I remember how much I loved
‘Message in a Bottle.’ By Nicholas Sparks.It was a concoction of emotions. I think these are the reasons this genre
sells at an exponential rate over others.
Page 36
Avijit Roy
About Author:
Avijit Roy was born in West Bengal in 1985. He got his degree in English
Literature from Calcutta University in 2006. His other published books are -
' Sela, the River Princess', 'A Sunless Day & other Stories', and 'Biography of
William Shakespeare & Charles Darwin'.
Winner of “South Asian Literati Award” organised by Dastaan (Pakistan)
and “75 Rising Star Award” 2019 organised by Literoma. His stories and
poems have been published both in national magazines like Indus Women
Writing, Indian Ruminations and international magazines like WINK
(USA), Brilliant Flash Fiction (Ireland) and Broken Rule Publishing (USA).
About Book:
In 1947, India to hand over 111 enclaves ( pockets of land) to Bangladesh, and Bangladesh had to yield 51 enclaves
to India. In 1974, the governments of India & Bangladesh established enclaves along their international borders,
those who are unwillingly moved there faced many hardships and miserable conditions. They were proper medical
facilities, no food, no voting rights, and not enough land for farming. They were part of a "no man's land ignored
and disregarded by others.
It's a journey of a fearless and educated man, Ratan who takes this problem and encourages everybody for a better
life.
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. My name is Avijit Roy, and I hail from the cultural state of India, West
Bengal. I am a teacher by profession, and a painter and writer by passion. I
am a voracious reader and an avid observer of life.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share
some insights.
A. This particular book “Children of a Whimsical God” is closest to my
heart as it’s my first literary work that found its way into publication. It was
a fun writing the book as it was a long standing dream breathing in me to
put down my feelings and sympathy for those who lived years without
their rights and identity as enclave dwellers.
When I was merely in ninth standard, my History teacher told me the story
of the enclave dwellers and their sufferings. I was very much moved by his
accounts, and it had a safe nest in my mind until last year when I finally
decided to write a book on the theme.
When I finished my first draft, I showed it to my editor Connie Anderson
who was impressed with the storyline and asked me to go ahead. I was
fortunate enough to get an established publisher (Woodpecker) of Kolkata.
Page 37
Avijit Roy
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. I don't know about other professions, but myself being a teacher do manage enough time to exercise this skill.
I strongly believe that if one has love for his passion, nothing can be an obstacle on his way.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary
field. As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. First of all one has to be a good reader. I think, to write a single good sentence, one has to read at least a
hundred good books. Two years back, I started by writing short stories. One can gain confidence by writing short
stories, poems or articles before shifting to novels. Then comes rejections. It’s an inseparable part of a writer's
journey to success. So one must not be disappointed on getting rejection letters.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. Writing is the soul of the every other coherent steps. A good book nerds a better publishing house and best
marketing strategy.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. My next book is a children's book, “Pikoo’s Friend” to be published by Naveen publication.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In india.
A. A romance story is very much meant for young adults and adults who form the lion share of readers
community. College and senior school students are invariably fond of romantic stories. They live and believe in
the fantastic world and try to satisfy their longing for romance through the literary works.
Page 38
Manoj Kumar Sharma
About Book:
INDIA @ 2030
INDIA, as a developing Nation, grown up manifolds and on the verge of being World's Super Power with Richest
Economy. But at the same time many perennial social problems also grew manifolds, remained inattentive and
giving birth to exponential intensification to grievances. The volcanoes of grievances led to Genesis of MIЯЯЯO...
MIЯЯЯO's unpredictable fearless Modus-Operandi breaks all the Laws and leads to the out-of-the-box solutions as
Weird Way Ward, to rejuvenate the Eco-Systems of today's hypocritical SYSTEMS... it's up to the discretion of the
PEOPLE, to allow or not!
The Story indicates India's perennial problems through the eyes of the Protagonist, who always dreamt for the
solutions as his own personal aspirations, but, couldn't succeed meeting even single one, out of his own personal
flaws. Time compels him taking help of someone, whom he never believed cordially.
Out of gist of many, only 3 problems are selfishly picked-up by the Protagonist, which hurt him most personally.
MIЯЯЯO weirdly solves those 3 problems with the essence of absolute cleansing as permanent solutions... Will
INDIA wish to have such weird, but, permanent solutions to all other problems? Let TIME tell...
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. Born and brought up in Bhilai, Durg and did Graduation from Engineering
College, Raipur.
The day-to-day unavoidable struggle of life for livelihood in professional
carrier and in discharging duties for maintaining a family life, kept me away
from my original aspirations of creativity, i.e., writing. Writing, the soulful act,
been inculcated in my system, since childhood, while reading a lot of books
from different genres. The readings, injected aspirations into my subconscious
mind to have own creations, to feel smell of own books. As Time never ever
stops for anybody…..The life being spent in thinking only without any
practical outcome on cards. Then, as one famous old sayings, the life is very
much unpredictable…..Suddenly, lot of unpredictable unforeseen happenings
in life led to pre-matured retirement……and then those metamorphosed
aspirations erupted out and thus genesis of MIRRRO happened…..
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to
publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share
some insights.
A. While pursuing the professional carrier as Civil Engineer, struggling to get
into my childhood aspiration of writing, somehow I managed to start writing
in 2012 in bits & pieces in unorganized manner. There were gaps of many
months and years, because of unavoidable personal issues and Job
commitments.
Page 39
Manoj Kumar Sharma
But, finally after preponed retirement, seriously I started writing in 2018, the debut novel - MIRRRO. The whole
idea, concept was in mind, since many years, but converted into a book in 2018-19. All those years, whenever
time permit, often I was spending time into gathering knowledge about the process of Book journey – from
writing to publishing – end to end.
To avoid the very many procedural difficulties in conventional publishing, sales & marketing, etc, I decided to get
my book published through Self-publishing, and, zeroed-in to Notion Press for the whole package. My
experience with my first book – till publishing, sales & marketing…….things are ok, but, nobody in the world can
ensure or guarantee the Sales…….……..Sales depends on what? ‘N’ number of ideas, but, all are seems to be
hollow, shallow and one-sided……
Writing is the easier Act, the writer is alone flying over the world…..
Publishing (Self-Publishing) is the much easier Process, the writer feel that the whole world is waiting for
her/him….…Selling is most easiest difficult Challenge, the writer is alone in the world, and the world around
either gets disappeared or become invisible…….
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. Incidentally in my case, writing the debut novel, happened after preponed retirement, so, as such no juggle
between profession and passion…….
But, yes, I wanted to write throughout my professional life, and, couldn’t manage to write because I was not
capable of handling the multiple responsibilities and commitments……Unfortunately it took more than 30 years
to see the face of my first Baby – MIRRRO……..But, now many more babies will come, one after another…..
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary
field. As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. If you sum-up the whole wisdom collectively and comprehensively, the only and only real fact-full nectar is –
write, write and write……till the BOOK comes into your hands……
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In india.
A. Because, everybody is romantic at bottom of heart, whether teen-ager, adolescent, young, middle aged, senior
citizen…….
Because, romance runs the human-lives, romance runs the generations…..
Because romance is the only emotion, which gives us birth, which gives us life, which gives us respite from
worldly odds…….
Because romance, inspires us to live and let live……
The rest other genres are fillers in life, but, romance is the emotional-oxygen to the life……
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. Works are in progress for - the sequel of MIRRRO, one Book of Short Stories, and One Woman-Centric
Story…….Let’s see!
Page 40
Manoj Kumar Sharma
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. I think I already replied in the Question – 2…….
But, again elaborating…….
Publishing –
If the writer as a Debut Writer wants to get published her/his Book, through Conventional Publishing Process,
being in practice in the Book World, through deep rooted established Publishers existing in the so called
Literary Market, then, even one life will be far far shorter to get it published, until and unless the writer have
some ‘JUGAAD’ or ‘Nepotism blessings’ in the so-called literary market……. Whereas, as an Indie Writer, can
publish the book through self-publishing…..the market is saturated with enabling Publishers for self-
publishing. And self-publishing is the easiest and writer-friendly way nowadays, but, couldn’t be pocket-
friendly…….But the writer will get the result, i.e., publishing of her/his book.
Marketing
Marketing is a multifaceted tool, having limitless 3600 fascination, enabling endless motivations and never
dying hopes for measurable returns. But, in the Literary World, its mostly like a mysterious Black Hole, often
sucks & absorbs the writer’s pockets and hardly returns anything hoped so far.It’s the toughest and
unpromising part of any Author’s journey……
Writing
Writing is a pure divine soulful act, where the Author is mostly the owner of the world created so far by
her/him. It’s the easiest part of any Author’s journey.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire
new industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. That’s what, this is life…..very much unpredictable and inexplicable. Off late, even Gods are not spared, if
time comes….See, in Corona times, to save own life, the locked-down human, locked-in the God…….and God
stayed silent and couldn’t help own self…..
As stated earlier, writing is a pure divine soulful act, far far away from pseudo glitters of material worlds.
But, if look through lenses of business, then its people-centric business. And historically, not any single
successful personality from any walk of life could consistently succeeded in understanding the judgemental
psychology of people…….So, praying that nobody should come across such unfortunate reality of life.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you
think we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure
A. Yes, off late, it has been said by many people, preferring reading international authors over Indian authors.
Where and why we lack? We lack at being Indian.
Couples of hundreds years of servitude has drastically genetically modified our DNA. Our values - education
System, literature, social values, thought process, psychological patterns, preferences, IQ, EQ, SQ, all kind of
Quotients been un-Indianised.
Long back, India was known as the only country with rich and sound education system and richest Literature.
Later on those rich values been destroyed through systemic conspiracy by the invaders – Mughals, Portuguese,
britishers, and, made those generations de-learning own Indian values and learning their forcibly imposed
foreign values.
Page 41
Manoj Kumar Sharma
Later on, before & after independence, even today, majority of people born in India as Indian, only by legal
means, carrying the genetically modified DNA, who naturally proudly prefers using anything other than
Indian – from food, apparels, machines, technology, medicines…….similarly.
BOOKS/LITERATURE…………….Its not like that, all Indian things are inferior to foreign/international
things, but, their cunning Marketing with self-boasting and our pseudo-Indianness makes them better than
any Indian product.
The similar perspective is with the Literature, the Books, the authors……Practically the developed nations
and majority of their people are self-obsessed with their own creativities, and, at the same time biased
against developing nations like India….And we proud pseudo-Indians religiously prefer those
International/Foreign hyped creativities at the cost of supressing our own Indian creativities……..
Its all the ruling MARKET, which dazzlingly and glaringly adjudge their own people as – Oscar Awards for
The Best Film, The Best Film Script, The Best Actor…….Miss Universe, Miss World…..Nobel Price for The
Best Literature…….and many more at International Platforms…………..And majority of us Indians, gullibly
fall into those traps, where the life deteriorating junk-food is marketed & sold as the best
food………similarly in Literature???????
Q. Do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure?
A. Never ever.
If we want Indian Authors to get FAIR International Exposure, then, first we will have to make INDIA as
Super Power Nation OR one of the Super Power Nations……Till then any discussions, any philosophy, any
guesses, any claims, any so-called hollow positive thinking would be injustice to the aspirations…..
Page 42
Nitin Kalal
About Author:
Nitin Kalal, belongs to a small town Dungarpur, Rajasthan. Close to the
modest soil of India, he has been brought up with dreams and aspirations in
confines of life. Having worked as a male nurse and now as skills trainer and
train young nurses, he follows his passion for writing.
About Book:
When a doctor takes his pledge, he promises to take care of his patients. But,
when Vivaan took his pledge, he promised himself to wash his sins away with
every patient he cured. Fresh out of his school, he found his dreams lurking in
himself, as he tried to fulfill his father's. An achiever in every field that he plowed, he knew his happiness was in
his best friend, Jagruti. But, one incident in his life and everyone... his father, Jagruti... even his soul turned away
from him in repulsion. He fulfilled everyone's dream but his and yet nobody was happy. The soul he had traded
with the devil was unraveled to fibers soaked in blood. Can one incident be huge enough, that you punish yourself
the whole life? Can something just take your soul away leaving a carcass to be ‘The Man Who Pretends To Be
Happy’? Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. I, Nitin Kalal, am a simple person belonging to a small town, Dungarpur,
Rajasthan. Close to the modest soil of India, I have been brought up with
dreams and aspirations in confines of life.I have worked as a male nurse and
now I am skills trainer and train young nurses.
Hindi poetry had been a love to me since I was very young. But I was just above
my teenage when I started writing. The first book I wrote was I Wish I Could
Fly. The book was about a rape victim and is very dear to me. After that I wrote
Swapn Darpan, poetry collection, Stay with Me, a love story. My fourth book is
The Man Who Pretends To Be Happy and fifth again is a pretty collection, Nayi
Seher Ki Aans Mein. It is psychological fiction with a love story intertwined in
it. I have gotten multiple commendations on my books and hope to write more
in my life.
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing
it. Was it exhausting or fun, how did it actually turn out. Share some insights.
A. Book writing isn't very glamorous work. So for days and days, I wrote first
six chapters.. and my laptop malfunctioned. All my chapters were gone. I was
really devastated. But then I started again, on paper, completed the book, typed
it. Finally when I completed it, it was already a month over schedule that I
planned. I contacted Lipi, my editor. We had a bit discussions and scuffles over
small things, but mostly she loved it. Thank God. After editing, I got this book
into publishing and launched it in Shimla literature festival in May 2019. It got
good response. People loved it. But my publishers didn't push it much. It took a
back seat for my publishers. So with my new publishers, this book was
rereleased and marketed into the markets.
Page 43
Nitin Kalal
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice.
A. Sometimes, days goes by and I don't get to write long. But write as much time you get. Write in as much time you
can take out. And while you aren't writing, just enrich your mind, so when you write, you don't feel short in words.
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of literary field.
As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors.
A. I think the best writing advice is to just write and read. Nothing can help you write better except your practice of
writing. Write whatever comes to your mind. Express in written form.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. Nothing is easy. So when I am writing.. writing is difficult. But when the book comes to publishing stage, writing
becomes the easier part.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are your
comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created an entire new
industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your comments.
A. I have grown up reading Chetan Bhagat. I mentioned him in The Man Who Pretends To Be Happy too. I think he
started with amazing, dream building stories. Woven very non-cliched view towards society. Be it Five point
someone or Three mistakes of my life. I think he's just trying to find new grounds in his writing. His writing is trying
to find a path to evolve..A path that he'd like better.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. A friend of mine felt really bad for Vivaan and his bad ending. Somehow I felt that his and Shefali's story needed
more words. So I am thinking of writing a sequel. I am editing a Hindi poetry anthology with a friend so that is due
in next two months. I have some collaborative and a single handed project in the pipeline. Let's see.
Q. Do you think indians prefer reading international authors over indian writers? If yes, where and why do you
think we lack and till do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure.
A. I don't think all them prefer international authors. But Indian authors have still not explored a few titillating
genres which have a collectively high readership. Si fir those genres, Indian readers prefer international authors.
Yes, we will get that international exposure and not just to some writers but many. For that we need to have
collective and focused efforts for it.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres In india.
A. Romance and love has been an integral part of life in India since always. We were raised by our grandparents
who told us stories of fairies, princesses, princess, love, life, morals. That's one reason that romance is popular gente
in India in youth. But the more mature audience treats all genre equally if we see.
Page 44
Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti
About Author:
Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti, a bestselling author, a globetrotter and a biomedical
engineer. Currently living in Munich, Germany, a true jack-of-all-trades who religiously
follows four words, “Ambition has no limits”. Apart from being a full time employee at
a Fortune 500 company, he also an entrepreneur, an artist, a drummer.
About Book:
When two Genetics scientists, Chad and Friedrich reach a dead-end in their cross-
species experiment at a premier Molecular Genetics Institute in Berlin, they look to the
mystical East for answers. Here, in the lap of a timeless civilization, they find a fellow
seeker in historian Geeta.
Together, the trio begin a thrilling odyssey of discovery, which spans continents and cultures, challenges life-long
religious and scientific truths and puts their lives in grave danger. They are horrified to learn that they are mere
puppets, their fate controlled by an all-seeing sinister villain, who yearns to “cleanse” the world and create a new
order. As they connect the dots, they join forces with an Afghan professor, a British archaeologist and an American
General. Finally, a mind-bending, unpredictable climax which stuns the world’s brightest minds… Even as it
answers many questions, it throws up new ones.Based on two years of research, The Evolution Cradle is an
unputdownable book, which blurs the lines between reality and imagination, ancient and modern, fact and faith.
Breathless in its pace, the rollercoaster narrative is packed with non-stop action, escapes and chases, thrills and
chills, and edge-of-the-seat twists and turns. It continues to haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.
Q. Please tell us about yourself.
A. My name is Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti, a bestselling author, a
globetrotter and a biomedical engineer. I am currently living in
Munich, Germany. A true jack-of-all-trades who religiously follows
four words, “Ambition has no limits”. Apart from being a full time
employee at a Fortune 500 company, I am also an entrepreneur, an
artist, a drummer, a fitness aficionado, a doctorate holder and a
writer, who loves and collects classic cars and history books.
Hailing from India, a country rich in diverse religions and varied
cultures, I was always obsessed with history, mythology and religion,
yet it was my penchant for science since a young age that led me to
study at the New York University, in one of the largest cosmopolitan
cities of the world, NYC. After which I moved to work in Germany,
have accomplished over four medical and two business publications
and won the “Making A Difference” Award.
I am constantly traveling around the world with curiosity,...
Page 45
Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti
Q. Please tell our readers about the journey of writing this book to publishing it. Was it exhausting or fun, how
did it actually turn out. Share some insights.
A. My first book, Evolution Cradle - The Aryan Origin was first started in January 2015, actually while I was
working in my office, on a quite day. I have written several short stories and poems prior to this (during school)
but never actually published. Unfortunately I am also no longer in possession of those works.
Regarding publishing itself this is a remarkable story. I am represented by an Agent and we found several
publishers who instantly loved the manuscript, however the timing of the release was not perfect and they also
wanted us to chop out 700 words from the book into either split it into two parts. Additionally due to the Covid
situation book sales have gone up and my friends at Amazon requested me to release the book by the end of
March for gain traction, so I went ahead with the support of the Indian Institute in Germany to release the book
on a large scale, all-in. This was a huge risk indeed but the book was an instant success around the globe. Within
24 hours I started getting reviews, calls and messages from people I never met before. Ofcourse by now everyone
knows that this book has also been rated the most controversial book of 2020.
Q. How hard is it to juggle between your profession and passion, care to give our readers some advice?
A. It would not be fun if it was not challenging or hard. Writing a book is always hard, well writing a good book
atleast and whether you are a full-time employee or a mother or even a housewife, there are always a million
things that are happening ready to distract you away from writing. But if you truly make it your passion, a
hobby and you believe you have the right material, then there is nothing to stop you. You just have to believe in
your book and in yourself. You need to understand, us humans are capable of any challenge, we just have to
believe first.
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. I just started creating a basic blueprint for the sequel to Evolution Cradle – The Aryan Origin, this time
addressing the 2 dimensions that have least been touched upon, Time and Space. Now I just need to figure out a
way to follow that one up with the final part, the Part-3 of this trilogy. After that I do want to get back to non-
fiction for a while, I have some pressing subjects that I would like to cover in those books.
Q. Publishing, marketing, writing - what according to you is the most easiest or the toughest and why?
A. I know every single author usually says writing is the easiest and publishing is tough but marketing is the
struggle. Well I would completely disagree with this. Personally I feel this:
Writing is the Adventure (into a new world)
Publishing is the Excitement (of successfully bringing the book out)
Marketing is the Joy (of reaching new readers and making new friends)
For me they have all been mostly done by myself and I have earned a world of knowledge through the various
stages. In terms of time taken, I must say writing perhaps took the longest time and Marketing took the least and
was also the easiest.
A good launch team to promote and nudge your book is very important to spread the word out wide and fast
through blogs, celebrity endorsements or social media, but I am a huge believer in Word of Mouth. Call me old-
fashioned if you will, but a good book will market itself after the initial spread of the word.
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Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti
Q. There’s a wider audience out there that wants to explore their creative side and want to be a part of
literary field. As a published writer, what advice would you like to give to novice authors?
A. We are in an age where even a little child wants Facts and Truth. In fact they have access to the facts
through a smart device and we writers have to adapt and evolve our narration, storytelling, plot and
characters. A good story will have to include well researched facts, facts that perhaps very little know about
but yet they could search over the internet and find out. I think a good story is the perfect balance of all of
this, tangible scenarios, gripping plot, facts that can easily be searched for, and the most important piece is
the villain with a powerful character build. My personal favorite element of surprise for a good story is to
have what I call a “multi-climax”.
We need to consider that the stories and tales we heard could be literal. They are many clues right in
front of our eyes and we still fail to see them. We are barely scratching the surface in spite of coming
from the most advanced civilization.
Take the skin color of our gods, blue, but lost in translation we are told it is not actually blue but dark
tone, but then they would have been really depicted with dark skin tone and why blue? Blue perhaps
was literally their skin pigment……..
Almost everything in our ancient scriptures were literal, along the years we made them figurative to
match our current status-quo.
All the answers that we are looking for are available from astronomy to astrology to nuclear science
to genetics, from extraterrestrials to time travel, from weapons and warfare to medical cures and
medicines all we are doing now is only re-discovering.
Q. Why do you think newbies criticise Authors like chetan bhagat because of his writing style. What are
your comments on that and till what extent you think it is legit to criticise an author like him who Created
an entire new industry and built an audience and taught them to read indian novels. What are your
comments?
A. I agree, this is the unfortunate paradox. In fact, as a child one of my first fiction novels was Five point
someone and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was even surprised how easy it was to read and process. Simple
writing style which appeals to a wide audience in our country. This is in no way a remark of the education
system or such but there just is no logical necessity to make language or writing style complicated when that
is not the purpose of the story/novel/book etc. Infact I intentionally chose a very unique writing style for my
own book “Evolution Cradle – The Aryan Origin”. A Style that I picked up from my experience in the Film
Industry. This is an adaptation of screenplay and screenwriting. Not popular and not widely used, not even
something that is trending but after trying everything else, this seemed the most apt for my story. The
writing style I chose for my book is easy to follow, the story flows smoothly and even complex multi-genre
book like my own can easily be visualized and digested by the reader. There were ofcourse many haters who
also criticized me the same way they did to Chetan Bhagat, but majority loved this new style. But we need to
adapt to the times, the story of the book, the message and the medium. In fact a very famous Australian
voice-over artist (who is actually working on my book right now) has commented that same, that he has
never seen this style of writing before, not even in his literary schools but this was perfect for the book.
Adapt and evolve to what the audience needs!
Q. Do you think Indians prefer reading international authors over Indian writers? If yes, where and why do
you think we lack and still do you think Indian authors will be able to get international exposure.
A. There will always be a mixed audience but when you look at the statistics from Amazon or Ingram
(globally) which are available for all, you will notice that the sales for International Authors are considerably
higher that Indian Authors. This also seems to be the case within India. When you look at the best sellers you
mostly find names like George Orwell in fiction or Héctor García in non-ficiton for example. This comes
down mostly to popularity and certain brand image to names like Stephen King I suppose.
Page 47
Dr. Charith Venkat Pidikiti
Quality of the content does make a big difference and the subject as well but good talent usually does not go
unrecognized. Indian Authors are sometimes amongst those bestselling ranks within India too but we need to
support our Indian authors to bring them up to the international bestselling ranks. When I published
Evolution Cradle – The Aryan Origin, people started calling me “The Indian Dan Brown”. I was not happy
hearing this as I don’t want to be compared to another author, and this was not my intention at all, but then I
started thinking why not the other-way around, why not create a brand image of us Indian authors in such a
way that they become the benchmark for association or comparison to the international authors. If we can
relate to their subjects and stories, then surely they can relate to ours as well. I strive to cater to all regions,
religions, ethnicities and markets. We need to make our books relatable for people across the world. Hence the
writing style, the subjects and the stories need to adapt to that.
Q. Why do you think romance genre sells at an exponential rate over other genres in India?
A. This is not just the case in India but even globally. Romance seems to be the genre that sells the most out of
all others. This comes down to the age groups and demography of majority of the readers. Additionally there
seems to be a higher choice rate for Romance genre in females more than males. A main reason being, for
many people, Romance is more tangible than any other genre. It is something many can relate to, which
causes the affinity to pick one up. Personally I am a big fan of Science fiction, Suspense Thrillers and
Historical Fiction, especially when they are tied to facts primarily. I tried my best to add some romance and
even comedy in my book to give it a certain kick and twist when appropriate, this also gives readers a certain
relief from the non-stop action and thrillers I am also a huge movie and comic buff and I find tangible plots
and characters more relatable than fantasy.
Page 48
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The Biblograph-Jun-Jul'20 Edition
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