How I Turned My Debut Novel into an Amazon Bestseller (Part 1 of 3) – The Groundwork

by How I Turned My Debut Novel into an Amazon Bestseller (Part 1 of 3) - The Groundwork

I released the first eBook version of my book Maya’s New Husband as a self-published author on 3 Jan 2015. It immediately hit the Amazon Hot New Releases charts at #1 the first day itself and then the Amazon India Bestseller list, peaking at #1 several times. In fact, even now, eighteen months after its release, the book continues to be at the top of the Amazon India charts, almost always in the top 10 positions. Even on Goodreads, it has a solid rating of 4 out of 5 stars, and as many as 65 reviews and 130 ratings.

People often ask me what I did to bring my book to this kind of acclaim. Hence I thought I would rather blog about it and keep it here for posterity. So, here goes.

In this first part of this three-part series, I talk about the things I did before actually beginning to write even the first word of my novel. Yes, if you plan to be a recognized author, the groundwork is extremely important.

(Disclaimer: The following strategies worked for me. They may not work for you, or they may. And they do entail a fair amount of work. If you are expecting a magic trick, this is your cue to bail out of this page.)

  1. I created a blog six months before I wrote my first book. You definitely need a website or a blog if you are going public. Once your name is out there, people will want to check you out. That is what the website/blog helps you achieve.

  2. Once the blog was made, I started putting up short stories on it every Friday. I went all out to make these short stories as interesting as possible, working on them over and over again, each word and phrase, till I thought they were ready to go. One thing I would like to say here – at every step of my public writing journey, I have always been conscious of being read by a large number of people, and even judged. I make no mistake about that. I might be bordering on paranoia to be thinking of that at all times, but that paranoia helps me create good stuff.

  3. I made a Facebook author page. I kept, and still keep, this page clean and only about my writing work. I promoted the page on my timeline.

  4. I joined several author groups on Facebook. There are tons of them that are really great. I joined not just national but also international groups, because that’s where the real fun lies. I participated in them with meaningful discussions and contributed with my knowledge of the language and the craft. I helped other aspiring authors with my feedback. It helped me make some good friends.

  5. I made a Twitter account, a Pinterest account, an Indiblogger account, a LinkedIn profile, everything. I may not be active in all of these places, but I do have all those accounts and I try to keep them updated.

  6. I started sharing my free stories on these accounts. But not just like that. I designed cover pages for all my stories. Yes, the visual representation is very important. I cannot stress that enough. A lot of people have told me that they have clicked on my page just because the cover page looked appealing. Knowing that, I design cover pages for even a 1000-word short story.

  7. I shared free stories on Wattpad and Figment. I participated in their swap-stories-for-review exchanges. I got great reviews everywhere. I made sure I posted one story every Friday. A time soon arrived when people started waiting for my stories each Friday. A reader actually told me he expected to see a new story from me each Friday. It made me feel high!

  8. I started talking with people who had already gotten published. I found out about their process, and I did research on publishing houses. I saw how traditional publishing compared with self-publishing. I ruled out vanity publishing entirely because that is only another way of insulting your own work before others do it.

  9. I then began outlining my first novel. This happened around August 2014. I spent a lot of time thinking over it, and I spoke with my family about it. Their encouragement was a huge motivating factor.

  10. Around sometime there, I joined a phenomenon that changed my life. It was www.NaNoWriMo.org. I had joined its unofficial Facebook group earlier and I was also a member of its India page, Wrimo India. And then, when the month of NaNoWriMo 2014 started, my journey as a writer truly began.

In the next part of this series, I shall be talking about how NaNoWriMo helped me emerge as a writer, and how I actually went through the writing process. I shall also be talking about the groundwork I did to launch my book.

Stay tuned.

16

#IAm16ICanRape – Kirtida Gautam

by with One Comment #IAm16ICanRape

A Story of Rape and Retribution

 16

Rating: 4.5 stars on 5

There are a few books that don’t just tell stories, they become journeys and move with you wherever you go. Kirtida Gautam’s #IAm16ICanRape easily falls into that category. This story is a grand exposition of rape from all possible points of view, and it is something that can change one’s perspective of this crime forever.

The basic story is of Aarush Kashyap, a very handsome and intelligent 16-year-old boy, who lives with his grandparents in Bangalore. He is spoiled silly by his coaching class owner of a grandfather, Rudransh Kashyap, who is referred to as RK-Ji, and his grandmother Gayatri. Growing up in luxury, he does not know right from wrong. The celebrations for his sixteenth birthday are planned at a very opulent scale, and just then, the sky collapses. He is accused of raping a 25-year-old woman, Subhangi Tyagi.

The story begins from that point, and is written in a very experimental style. It uses the points of view of almost all the characters associated with the incident to tell the story of the rape and its aftermath. Some of the characters that speak about the incident are Aarush himself, Subhangi, Rudransh, Gayatri, Aarush’s parents, Subhangi’s friends, the lawyers, the counselors, and even a waiter who is an accomplice in the crime.

Slowly, like opening an onion layer-by-layer, Kirtida Gautam eviscerates the brutal story of rape. The readers come to know how this crime affects the survivor, the rapist, the media, the law, and everyone who is associated with it. We often see rape, or any crime, with only one perspective—ours. But this story makes us put ourselves in several boots and see what it really is.

The book is peppered with several quotes that could fill up a small booklet. I won’t mention the quotes here because most of them are in context. However, most of these quotable quotes are going to stay with you for a long time.

Among the characters, two of them really stand out. Aarush Kashyap, the young boy who goes terribly wrong, and Rudransh Kashyap, his grandfather who thinks he is responsible for the mess. The devolvement of Aarush from a headstrong boy who calls his grandfather Bob and grandmother Budhiya (old woman) to a person who cries for forgiveness but doesn’t get it is shown beautifully. At the same time, the devolvement of Rudransh from the blindly doting grandfather (almost like Dhritarashtra) to one who crusades against injustice even at the cost of losing his kin (almost like Bheeshma) is an epic transformation.

Unlike most other rape stories, #IAm16ICanRape does not end at the court’s judgment. It goes beyond, and tells how almost everybody involved in the rape directly and indirectly are punished in their own way. Even Rudransh decides to carry a bag weighing 20 kilos on his shoulders for the rest of his life to indicate that he could not correct his grandson when there was time.

There are a few grouses though, but they are actually disguised strengths of this book. One of them is the considerable use of psychology which could befuddle a layperson. But someone who understands psychology will lap up these parts. The second issue is the length, which I understand is needed when you are writing a story from so many POVs, but it might deter a few readers.

Mostly, do not think this is a book written to titillate. The rape is depicted in the most gruesome of ways, the way it should, and its aftermath is sensitively handled. It is clear that Kirtida Gautam has put a lot of effort into writing this book, and it clearly shows.

A definite read. This book could be a game-changer in days to come.

Get the eBook here.