Bringing to your notice – get yourself published

Recently, 2 interesting Lit things happened – The first is around someone easing the headache of getting something publish.. and the second is around someone I know getting something published..

1. I came across this forward about www.Pothi.com – India’s first publish your own book (self-publish) site. They allow you to get your book printed, provide you with a URL where you can sell it, and they will deliver it to the buyers, etc, etc. Read some of the features on the site.

a. Positives – Many!

i. Experimentally, you can publish books.

ii. You can advertise them yourself to your friends, family, orkutters, facebookers, etc. If the book picks up, you set the profitability margin… Or, purely, at the starting point, you can have a zero profit effort. Sell it at cost. Make a name for yourself. Sell the next one at some profit.

iii. Get a book published for that special someone. Etc etc.

iv. The cost of publishing a book is not prohibitive

b. Negatives – every TDH will want to publish a book in his/her name. The site will never build a credibility simply given the amount of junk it would publish. And more often than not, if someone makes it big here, they will be signed up by another publisher in the next pass.

2. An ex-colleague of mine published his book recently. And I guess it does take a lot of effort to do so. So congrats and all the best to him. I reproduce a couple of preliminary reviews and purchase information, etc. below. Please go ahead and encourage a budding author on the block. 3 reasons why you may want to buy the book –

a. Even though it IS written by an IIM-grad (and so the chance of worthless meandering are high), it’s not about B-schools! So, its not the usual rut!

b. It’s a collection of short stories. You don’t need to worry about the unfinished content if you don’t like it half way through.

c. It’s not expensive. If you are surfing the internet and reading this blog, usually, 100 odd bucks for a good read should not be a bad value proposition.

Anyways, just thought I would share these with you… Hopefully, both these ventures will get some of your attention..

Here is a bit more advertising for my friend’s book… (Before you ask the next question – Yes! I already have a copy.. and I will post my thoughts the moment I am done reading it)

*******************

Hello readers !

I am sure you all love to read novels/short stoties in leisure. A friend of mine has come up with a collection of short stories written by him called ‘To catch a smile’. You can find reviews here –

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200805/1211903159.html
http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20080603/30551.htm

and also check its website www.tocatchasmile.com and his blog www.dreamlimited.blogspot.com

If you like it, you can order a copy from following websites at a price of Rs. 100,

http://www.indiaplaza.in/books/all/9788190585811/all/To-Catch-A-Smile.htm

http://www.hindushopping.com/books/pd.aspx?sku=9788190585811

The content I am posting here is from the review links provided above !

—————————————————————————————————————————————-

IIM ALUMNI GIVES US A REASON “TO CATCH A SMILE”

The recent book by an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus – “To Catch a smile” is making waves in the literary circles. Vivek is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and is currently works at KPMG, the international advisory firm

These are not mere stories created for drama and impact. These are experiences narrated with retrospective introspection. These are thoughts which capture the inner turmoil and dilemmas. They make you laugh, make you smile but more importantly, they make you think. Anyone who has lived life can easily relate to them. Because these are not mere set of events, these are people reacting to events with their preconceived notions; these are moments where life comes up triumphantly. These are moments which can define lives for some. These are discreet words spilling some sweet secrets of your life. These are stories which seemed to have been pulled from a chapter of your life.

It seemed at first that the book would be like many a campus novels floating in the market. The trend that was started by Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone and Tushar Raheja’s Anything For You Ma’am has given rise to potential authors who want to translate their campus experiences. I gave a quick look at the author’s profile. A knowing smile floated on my face as I saw the pedigree. IIMA graduate, working for an international consulting firm. Hah, another one cashing the recent wave, I thought. What must he be talking about, I wondered – his days at IIMA? His struggle through the years to get there or what he faced once he was in there trying to give us a cooked up narrative of what will get eyeballs? I would probably have sealed its fate right there but something caught my eye. It was not a novel; it was a short story collection instead. May be I can flip through a couple, I thought.

And I am glad I did. What struck me first was that it was not about IIM, it was about the person behind, which is what a story should be, I believe. As I kept finishing stories, more things occurred to me. After long, here was a collection of stories which was modern in real sense. It did not bank upon common notions about today’s life and how it should be; it actually brought them forth the way you and I would have witnessed. It does not tell me that today we face lot of dilemmas and temptations, that a lot of us lead a confused life where multiple choices are facing us every moment. Each story lives these feelings but it never says them aloud. The tension, the confusion in the stories is very palpable and so are the elements of curiosity and vulnerability. Never once it appears to have been written keeping an audience in mind other than writer himself.

He is very experimental with his style and narration. One moment it is abstract, the next moment it is subtle. If it is philosophical at one time, the next moment it is fun and exudes exuberance. It can be entertaining you with real life portrayal that you can relate to and at the same time it can transport you to a world where you feel engrossed in deep thoughts about life. I hate to use these words but I felt as if I could see writer’s soul in a few of them. I liked what I saw. It had a bit of mine in it.