by Shweta Taneja
It’s been three years since I began
writing stories as a profession. I have had three books published so far: The Skull Rosary, The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, Krishna.
Two of these released in 2013. Needless to say, I feel good.
I started writing without any knowledge
on how to write, how to edit, what and where to edit, how to
send a proposal, where to send a proposal, who to connect to, who to
approach for getting published, or how to market my books. I have learnt
everything all thanks to countless blogs of helpful writers, and advice from
writers, authors, editors, publishers that I have been lucky to have found. Of
the advice I have received, some has been well meaning, some funny to downright
hilarious, insightful, offensive or kind. Here is some of it:
Change your surname: Yes. I got that. A publisher over a cup of coffee told me
to change my name and surname and make myself sound Bengali or Anglo-Indian if
I wanted to get published in India. Fine, it was a joke and I didn’t really
take it seriously but jokes always have hidden truths. Right? So how many of
you have seen a book, read book’s back cover, seen the author’s surname and
made humongous assumptions about him/her? I bet a lot. No wonder actors change
their names, how their names are spelled and their affiliations in Bollywood.
And the fact that astrologers are doing so great.
Write more to make money: When I asked a helpful author over email on how he was
making money (yes, I can be quite upfront about these things on emails), he
told me he wasn’t till the first five books of his got published. But slowly,
as little money trickled from each of the book (and believe me, most of it will
be littlebee trickles), he’s started to make some moolah. But not enough for
designer clothes or big cars. Just enough for survival, a jhola, a glass of
wine and not being dependent on anyone. So there. Accept this fact (no, your
book will most probably NOT get a movie deal) and move on.
Continue to write and
write: Advice through a short
sweet tweet when I asked author KP Singh (Raisina Series) what
he did to market his own book after it was published. I personally discovered
him not through any reviews / media interviews / friends advice / literary
fests, but at a bookstore. I picked up his book because I liked what I read on
the back cover. Not because I had heard of him, thought he was cool, liked his
name or his face (sorry, Singh!) If that’s how books get picked up, maybe
you need to rethink on that marketing, fellow authors.
Give back some advice: When I thanked, Zac O’Yeah, a
well-renowned author for his kind email and advice on writing and publishing
which I desperately needed, he gave me another to follow: He told me to
continue the circle, to be supportive to authors or writers who approach me,
tell them how they can get published, guide people to fulfill their creative
ambitions. And this is one advice I intend to follow. I am not saying that I
know a lot about the industry, but whatever I do, I would love to tell you all.
I would love to connect you, tell you how to connect with publishers, what to
write in proposals (though sorry, I can’t tell you on what to write about).
Because we are in the same boat, you and I. Both of us want to bring alive a
part of our dreams.
Readers can tell you when
something’s wrong, but not what: This
came from a blog of one of my ever fave writers, Neil Gaiman. Primary readers (and it’s
essential that you get your book read by some) can tell you there’s something
wrong in your book, but when you ask them what it is, most probably they will
point out to the wrong thing. Don’t ask me why that is, it is. Neil says so.
And I know it is so.
You’re published, now sell: That was helpful advice from a publisher. The baffling
Indian publishing industry is the only one where the publisher can happily
shirk off from the majority of work involved in marketing the book. It’s like a
pen-manufacturing company asking the designer of the pen to sell the pen in the
market. I don’t know why it is as it is, but it doesn’t look like changing. An
author friend told me it’s because publishers don’t have much money to market
each book. You should be thankful that they are producing and distributing it.
Yes, but they also tend to keep 90% from sales, so they should market all the
more, right? Have no clue why that logic doesn’t work in this industry (read
the heading). According to me, the books are left in the hands of authors to
market, who frankly totally suck at marketing. They have no clue what to do,
which is why great titles are completely missed.
Media coverage + lit-fests =
your books will sell: This
came from a PR friend and lots of other well-wishers I went to after the above
advice, desperate to figure out how to market my book. And I did fall for it.
Most of it though is bull (Yes, I believe it. Yes, I believe it. Yes, I…).
Though this is the game that a lot of authors seem to play. Yes media coverage
feels good for the ego, but very less readers actually pick up your book when
they read about you in the newspapers. They pick it up because 1) friends recommend
it, 2) they like the cover, like the backcover, like how a couple of inside
pages read 3) have read your books before. As a debut author, readers don’t
know you. It’s better to push your book slowly and patiently in specific groups
rather than blast it onto media. And wait for the lit-fests to come to you
after one of your books has become successful. For all these will happen AFTER
your book gets a few readers. So focus on getting readers, one by one, one book
by one book. Of course nothing is stopping you from playing the game, but
remember if the game gave all winners, all books would be bestsellers. Well,
that’s my opinion on it now. But let’s see what 2014 brings in.
Media coverage / sales for Book
1 means you ensure a contract for your next: Got this from another marketing expert. Nopes doesn’t
work. A publisher will reject your next book (unless you are like a super duper
author), even if book one with them sold well and you frequent page 3 parties.
Why? Because the editor might not like the book or it might be a completely
different genre like mine was. Nothing to do with you as an author. My debut
book, The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong, was accepted
by Hachette India through an email
submission, from the slush pile, without any agent/connection or media
coverage. The editor told me this was the one book in 2012 that they picked
from the slush pile. My second book was rejected by Hachette and many other
publishers, even though I had made a sort of a name for myself in the industry.
Reason? Because it didn’t fit their type of books and the genre was different.
And now it’s found another publisher as well. The game goes like this. So
there’s no surety on a contract for a book, not even when you make it HUGE.
Better to go back to writing.
You’re as good as your last: Neil Gaiman again. (Love that guy!) Even
if you dish out the next bestseller, when you go back home horribly drunk and
giddy and plan to write your next big seller, you face the empty whiteness of
your word document and the silence of no keys plonking, alone. No amount of
success, praise, media coverage, people can help you write a better story next
time, or give you a great story idea . So be thankful for all the ideas that
are swimming in your head and meanwhile, keep writing.
It’s a shitty line of work.
Quit: This one was from an author
who struggled for quite a few years, with great books out, but not enough
sales. This was also two years ago. Now he’s become a best seller and made it
huge internationally. I don’t know if he remembers this advice, but I do. And I
am going to ditch it. Not because I hope I will make it huge someday like him,
but because I seriously can’t stand that Anantya Tantrist wriggling in my head
and want to get rid of her by writing her series. (More about that, soon).
Cross posted from author's blog: http://staneja.com/
BIO: Shweta Taneja is the author of The Ghost Hunters of Kurseong
(Hachette India), Krishna, Defender of Dharma (Campfire Graphic Novels) and The
Skull Rosary (Holy Cow). Krishna has been recommended as a must read in CBSE
Schools Reading List 2013 while The Skull Rosary was nominated for Best Writer
category in Comic Con India Awards 2013. When she's not creating stories,
Shweta chases stories in her role of a technology and travel journalist with
Mint and Discover India. She loves to pry into the peculiar and the odd, and
aims to break preconceived notions about paranormal and supernatural with her
books. Currently she's working on a thriller series about a female tantric
detective based in Delhi. Website: http://staneja.com/ FB/Twitter: Shwetawrites
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas
expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media
Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person.
This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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