They say everybody has a book in them, so why should only a selected few get to share theirs with the world? As a new writer, the process of making one's dream into 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, Twinkle Khanna, Ashwin Sanghi, Meena Kandasamy, Durjoy Datta, Preeti Shenoy, Rashmi Bansal, Ravi Subramanian and many more, India's first-ever book on publishing 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, how to successfully promote your book, and how to become a bestselling author.
Even though the blurb of the book may seem as it’s targeted just for aspiring authors or people in the publishing industry, it has something in store for everyone. As Meghna Pant had quoted ‘We read the best selling books but not the best books’ I can undeniably say that her book is both!
This book strikes the perfect balance between the sugar-coated fantasies of a writer and the realms of reality that he has to endure. Though the book is divided majorly in 4 parts i.e. Writing, Publishing, Marketing and Essays by prominent authors one can pick up any random chapter of their interest and start reading. It has not only broadened my horizons about the industry but also made me ponder over topics which I never thought of, for eg. how to publish abroad, book PR, how agents work, how to be a successful poet and what is ghostwriting.
It contains a plethora of knowledge and helped me discover not-so-renowned-yet-amazing people like Vivek Tuteja, Arundhati Subramanian, Gayatri Pahlajani and Arunava Sinha and has also increased my to-be-read list in abundance for which I’ll always be indebted to Pant.
The book also perfectly lists down the name and contacts of agents, publishing houses, creative writing workshops and a sample of a query letter, what more could one ask for?
The cherry on top are the workshops Meghna Pant is conducting in her book launches, only when I thought this couldn’t get any better the book came along as a Pandora’s box.
∼Ashwin Sanghi’s parody of Hemingway's quote:
Write when drunk,
Edit when sober;
Persevere and persist,
That’s the hangover.
∼On taking patience to write- “ Races are for rodents. Trust the process.''
∼“Don’t turn performance poet because someone tells you it’s cool. Let your temparement decide whether you’re meant for the megaphone or murmur."
∼On using pauses in poems: Remember: the hushed voice can be quietly radical, the whisper subversive, the pause devastating.
Is it a book that can keep you glued till 4 am? Check
Is it crisp, amoral and intriguing? Check
Is there something new that you can learn from literally every page? Check and mate
From the author who tweeted the entire Mahabharata in 100 tweets here comes another masterpiece which offers much more than any writing workshop ever could!
Book details: Publisher- Bloomsbury | Genre-Non fiction | Date of Release- February 10, 2019 | Paperback- 296 pages
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