MyKitaab: How To Publish and Market Your Books

This is the third podcast in the theme for this week: authors who have written a book on the subjects that they are passionate about. Atul is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology Powai, and he is the bestselling author of The Power of Vedic Maths. We talk about Atul's journey as an author- from completing the manuscript to the experience with publishing. Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/atul #author #bestseller #book #publishing #India

Anurag is a Chartered Accountant and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is the author of two books: Auditing Mantras and Accounting for People Who Think They Hate Accounting. Anurag worked for 10 years in Corporate Finance across companies like Hindustan Unilever, Deloitte, ITC, Tata Steel and ABG. He was awarded CA Young Achiever-Manufacturing Sector at 6th ICAI Awards in the year 2013 Anuarag Singhal was also a part of Committee for Members in Industry (CMII) of EIRC-ICAI for the year 2013-14. He is the co-founder of cajobportal.com, which is India's first recruitment website exclusively for Chartered Accountants. Anurag has mentored 2500+ young CAs at ICAI’s General Management & Communication Skills (GMCS) program. Anurag lives in Kolkata with his family. He also runs two websites My CA story.com and My MBA Story.com and is also a follower of Art of Living. Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/anurag

Urmila Dasgupta is the founder of Purple Folio Literary Agency. Urmila began her career in book publishing industry and was an editor with some of the top publishing houses with experience of well over a decade. She spent nearly 10 years in senior editorial positions with companies like Penguin and Oxford University Press before launching Purple Folio in 2012.She set up Purple Folio in 2012, which is headquartered in Mumbai. In this podcast episode, Urmila and I talk about Uemila's professional journey so far, the genesis of Purple Folio, and pricing structure for literary agencies in India. We also have a fun filled discussion where we talk about the different situations under which your book will become a bestseller in India. Shownotes are available on www.mykitaab.in/urmila

Rasana Atreya is the author of Tell A Thousand Lies which was shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia award. UK’s Glam magazine calls this novel one of their five favourite tales from India (June 2014). Her other works are The Temple Is Not My Father (also available as an audiobook), 28 Years A Bachelor and Valley Isle Secrets. When she's not writing, Rasana is an advocate for self-publishing. She's been part of many panels at various literary festivals across India. She also had a blog on self-publishing, where she also warns about various scams in self-publishing. Shownotes from this episode are available at www.mykitaab.in/rasana #author #bestseller #books #selfpublishing #ebooks #India

PR Ganapathy  "Guns" is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and has authored to books in the thriller genre: The Anza Deception and The Sympathy Wave. In this podcast episode, he talks about bookwriting, his experiences with traditional publishing, and lessons learnt from his book publishing journey. Guns is a management executive who has held important leadership positions with some Indian and Global Corporations in India and the United States. He is currently investing time in giving some wise unbiased advice to budding social entrepreneurs. Shownotes from this podcast episode are available at www.mykitab.in/guns

Christopher Doyle is a Management Consultant and the author of Two Bestselling Books. The Mahabharat Quest was his debut novel, which was followed by The Mahabharat Secret: Alexander's Quest. In part Ii of our discussion, Christopher talks about his second book, how he ended up changing publisher, translations, audiobooks, and The Quest Club.  Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/christopher2 Christopher is an alumnus of St. Stephen's College, Delhi and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. He has written articles on management and business for Indian and international publications and is also a regular invited speaker for international conventions and conferences. He is a certified Executive Coach and now works with senior executives to help them achieve success and better results in their organisations. Christopher lives in New Delhi with his wife, daughter and his dog and enjoys writing, reading, swimming and tennis as well as travelling and meeting people. He is also a musician and lives his passion for music through his band called Mid Life Crisis which plays classic rock.

Christopher Doyle is a Management Consultant and the author of Two Bestselling Books: The Mahabharat Quest and The Mahabharat Secret: Alexander's Quest. In part I of our discussion Christopher talks about how he became an author, books that have inspired him, the importance of research in his writing process, and facing rejection from multiple publishers and literary agents. Shownotes from this episode are available at www.mykitaab.in/christopher1 He is an alumnus of St. Stephen's College, Delhi and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Christopher has written articles on management and business for Indian and international publications and is also a regular invited speaker for international conventions and conferences. He is a certified Executive Coach and now works with senior executives to help them achieve success and better results in their organisations. Christopher lives in New Delhi with his wife, daughter and his dog and enjoys writing, reading, swimming and tennis as well as travelling and meeting people. He is also a musician and lives his passion for music through his band called Mid Life Crisis which plays classic rock.

Akhilesh leads thematic research for KIE and co-authors market strategy reports. His first book, ‘The Making of India – Game Changing Transitions’ chronicles the journey of India's demographic dividend through varied economic transitions—the forces shaping India's job market, its cities, its industry and agriculture and its equation with the rest of the world. Akhilesh has a PGDM from IIM, Ahmedabad (class of 2004) and an alumnus of St Xavier's College. He has taken several courses in Mumbai University including Securities Law and Astronomy. Akhilesh lives in Mumbai with his family which includes his wife, daughter and parents. In this podcast episode, we talk about Akhilesh's journey as an author, the support he received form his employer, and his interests other than writing. Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/akhilesh

In this episode, Satya and I talk about the challenges faced by ebooks in regional languages, reading habits among scholchildren. Shownotes are available at mykitaab.in/satya2   This is part II of our discussion with K Satyanarayanan or Satya, the co-Founder of New Horizon Media, a publisher in the Tamil language book market. Satya is an alumnus of IIT Madras and Cornell University in the US. He and his co-founder Badri started Cricinfo, which became the go-to site for cricket before they exited and went on to launch New Horizon Media. Satya has blogged on education and state of publishing industry in India, and he has spoken on the publishing industries in India at forums such as Publishing Next. Part I of the discussion can be found at www.mykitaab.in/satya  

K Satyanarayanan or Satya is the co-Founder of New Horizon Media, a publisher in the Tamil language book market. Satya is an alumnus of IIT Madras and Cornell University in the US. He and his co-founder Badri started Cricinfo, which became the go-to site for cricket before they exited and went on to launch New Horizon Media. Satya has blogged on education and state of publishing industry in India, and he has spoken on the publishing industries in India at forums such as Publishing Next. This is part I of our discussion.   Satya talks about the evolution of the Tamil language book industry, challenges with distribution, size of Tamil language market, reading preferences of readers in Tamil Nadu, and audiobooks. Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/satya

Meera Johri is an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi and a partner at Rajpal & Sons.   In Part II of the discussion with Meera Johri, we talk about the timelines for publishing a book through this publishing house, and also the future plans for Rajpal and Sons. And we also discuss working with Late Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, the President of India. In the 20 years that she has been at Rajpal & Sons, she has developed a range of multi-lingual dictionaries that widened the scope of publishing in English, and set up an infrastructure for selling language rights of books to overseas and regional Indian publishers.She has established a vibrant translation publishing programme of authors of global and national acclaim. Shownotes for this episode will be available at www.mykitaab.in/Meera2

Meera Johri is an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi and a partner at Rajpal & Sons. In part I of our discussion, we talk about the history of Rajpal and Sons, how the publishing house has grown over the past century, some of its acclaimed authors and poets including Presidents, Nobel Laureates and Harivanshrai Bachchan and Devdutt Pattanaik. We talk about the publishing process, impact of technology on distribution and retailing of books, and working with Late Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, the President of India. In the 20 years that she has been at Rajpal & Sons, she has developed a range of multi-lingual dictionaries that widened the scope of publishing in English, and set up an infrastructure for selling language rights of books to overseas and regional Indian publishers.She has established a vibrant translation publishing programme of authors of global and national acclaim. Shownotes for this episode will be available at www.mykitaab.in/Meera

Miral Sattar is the CEO and founder of BiblioCrunch, a market place which connects authors with the curated and trusted book publishing professionals they need to publish a high-quality book. BiblioCrunch was also selected as The Next Big Thing in media by the Paley Center. Miral is an alumnue of Columbia University and has Masters in Media from New York University. She started her career as a software engineer and eventually moved to media.She has close to 11 years of experience in media working with Time Inc and Time Magazine .  Shownotes are available at www.mykitaab.in/miral In this podcast episode, Miral and I talk about her journey from being a software engineer to media and now into publishing. Specifically, we talk about the services offered by Bibliocrunch, their association with Nanowrimo, and Miral's writings.

Mark Lefebvre is the Director of Self Publishing & Author Relations at Kobo since 2011. He started his career as a technologist during the day and author during night . Mark is the writer of dark fiction that is often described as “Twilight Zone”style fiction . He has been involved in book selling business for over 20 years. Mark describes himself as a writer & book nerd from Hamilton, Ontario in Canada.  In this episode, Mark and I talk about his career in the book publishing industry, from being a bookseller to now with Kobo Writing Life. We talk about Kobo's approach towards book publishing and particularly their focus on Indian market after acquisition of Flipkart's ebook business, and pricing for the Indian Market. Finally, we discuss Barnaby Bones, Mark's skeletal companion. Shownotes for this episode will be available at www.mykitaab.in/markleslie

Joanna Penn is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Professional Speaker, Coach & Entrepreneur. She was voted as one of The Guardian UK Top 100 creative professionals 2013. She is currently based out of London, England but spent 13 years as a business IT consultant in large corporates across the globe majorly in Australia and New Zealand for 11 years before becoming a full-time author-entrepreneur in September 2011.Her books include the ARKANE conspiracy thriller series, the London Psychic crime thrillers an d Risen Gods, a dark fantasy thriller. Joanna's site www.TheCreativePenn.com helps people achieve their dream of becoming an author, and she is the host of The Creative Penn Podcast.    Joanna's latest book Destroyer of Worlds, will be released on March 31, 2016. She has invited listeners particularly from India to read her book.Shownotes and ways to reach out to her are available at www.mykitaab.in/joanna In this podcast episode, Joanna and I discuss her journey as an author. We also talk about audiobooks, translations, publishing across platforms and international markets. In other words, we cover a variety of topics which are near and dear to MyKitaab Podcast. Joanna also offers her advice to authors who are looking to get their book published.