‘India’s first and only comprehensive guide to writing, publishing and selling your book, this one-stop resource is essential to anyone who wants to be published, no matter what they’re writing!’
Introduction
Getting published is a dream of every writer but the mystery behind the whole process is a huge deterring factor for many. There are many steps an author needs to follow after writing a book and before getting it published. Similarly once a book is published, the author needs to also market the book extensively to ensure it reaches a widespread audience.
It is surely a daunting task to an extent that some writers claim; writing is much easier than all of it put together. Not to exaggerate the fears, we somehow feel it more ‘the fear of the unknown’ that makes it scary. And that is exactly where this book comes into the picture. For it is an attempt at making you know all that is unknown and help you understand the whole process of getting published, albeit a bit closely.
Blurb
They say everybody has a book in them, so why should only a select few get to share theirs with the world? As a new writer, the process of making your dream into a reality feels incredibly daunting given the lack of information out there. This inspired award-winning, bestselling author Meghna Pant to write a book filled with the advice she wishes someone had given her when she was starting out.
Including never-before collected essays from experts in their field including Jeffrey Archer, Shobhaa De, Ashwin Sanghi, Meena Kandasamy and many more, How To Get Published in India busts myths and answers questions as varied as which publisher would be best for your work, where to find inspiration for a short story, how to manage your finances if you plan to write full time, how to write a cover letter and how to successfully promote your book.
About the Author
Meghna Pant is the bestselling author of One and Half Wife, Happy Birthday, The Trouble With Women and Feminist Rani. She has been the recipient of the Laadli Media Award, the Bharat Nirman Award, the FON South Asia Short Story Award and the Muse India Young Writer Award.
Her work has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, the Frank O’ Connor International Award and the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Pant’s work has been published in several anthologies and has also appeared in publications including Indian Quarterly, Times of India, Vogue, Tehelka, Buzzfeed, Mumbai Mirror and India Today among others. Pant is a regular panelist on prime time television and literary festivals and has conducted writing workshops across the world. Pant is currently based in Mumbai.
We think
With her latest book, How to get published in India, author Meghna Pant talks about what all one needs to do after having written a book. The book is divided into four chapters namely Writing, Publishing, Marketing and Essays. With the chapter of writing further divided into three parts – writing tips, formatting tips and how to be a writer.
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Written in lucid tone, the author summarizes her own experiences as a published author to prove a point and shares all the lessons she learnt while pursuing her dream of becoming a writer.
The first chapter of writing is our personal favourite because it shares a lot of insight into the writing process. From basic rules of Show, don’t tell to telling you how to do a character interview, from mood setting to plot arcs, from dealing with writer’s block to finding your genre and from POVs to how to use your five senses this portion covers it all. It also has some amazing tips of self-editing your book, how to format it and make it presentable for your audience.
In the section titled Essays, we have some prominent industry stalwarts share their expertise and give the readers tips on how to make their book the next bestseller. Authors Jeffrey Archer, Twinkle Khanna, Rashmi Bansal, Preeti Shenoy, Kiran Manral, Ravi Subramaniam, Durjoy Dutta and Ashwin Sanghi share their trials and tribulations while literary agents like Sherna Khambatta, Mita Kapur and Kanishka Gupta tell us what makes them choose a book for representation.
We also have cover designers, graphic designers, book reviewers, editors and book distributors from various publishing houses telling us the finer nuances of what goes behind making a book eye catching. Not to forget poets and translators who show us the other side of the coin, of that of choosing to write something which is not popular and is for niche audiences.
What works for us in the book?
a. Simple, to the point and precise
b. Comprehensive information with detailed explanations
c. Has real like anecdotes &/ experiences and data to back the claims
d. Is totally realistic in terms of setting the expectations from the ideas suggested within
e. Can be used as a perfect guide for aspiring writers in India
f. Backed with immense research and real life experiences, the narrative speaks to you, motivates you and pushes you to work on your book.
Our Verdict
Strongly recommended for every aspiring writer irrespective of genre who dreams of getting publishing in India, our only advice would be – Do NOT miss this one!
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