In the face of rejection, blog. This is the mantra for aspiring writers in the city, given the disappointments they face while approaching established publishers with their magnum opus. Talent, however, as it is often known to do, manages to break through barriers and garner attention. This is especially true in the age of social media.
Twenty-one-year-old Nandhitha Hariharan has been blogging for the past three years. While it is all hedge funds and risk management at her day job as an investment banker, word puns and red herrings battle it out on her blog. This is where she explores themes of feminism, love and life, and short stories emerge from her love for all things scary.
“I initially started sending in my short stories and poetry to well-known publishers. There is a set formula to what they expect: full-length novels on campus love stories that typically have happy endings. They refused to even read my manuscripts,” Ms. Hariharan says.
Now, she has a steady following on her blog www.nandhithahariharan1.wordpress.com, thanks to cross promotion from her other writing endeavours. “I write for online magazines quite often and request them to carry my blog link along with my byline. I notice traffic on my blog increasing when my stories are published somewhere else,” she says. She is now in the middle of signing a contract with an emerging publishing house — Half Baked Beans — to bring out a collection of flash fiction — stories that tend to horrify and titillate with just a few lines.
According to the publishing house’s founder, Chetan Soni, the Delhi-based start-up came about with the intention of discovering aspiring writers, who may not have bagged a contract with bigger houses. “We initially pored over blogs to identify talent, but now first-time writers are approaching us,” he says. In its one-and-a-half-year journey, the label has published 16 books, mostly by first-time authors.
Ganga Bharani Vasudevan was just a blogger, too, sometime ago. She now has a title – Just You, Me and a Secret – which has sold 5,000 copies under Tales 4 Publications. VJ Eswar founded the publishing start-up when he faced rejection himself. He has now published his own title, Havoc Says Hi , and has published four other books. “The blogging network helps in getting the word out about your writing. The Chennai Bloggers Club meets every month and we tag each other in posts. A story was once started on one blog and another blogger was tagged to take it forward. This ensures traffic and publicity as well,” Mr. Eswar says.
For Ms. Vasudevan, her blog served the purpose of testing waters. “I started releasing my work chapter-wise on the blog. I was able to fine tune my final novel based on the feedback. Publishers, too, may take amateur authors seriously when they have something to refer to,” she says. Her second title — A Minute to Death — published by Half Baked Beans, will soon hit the stores.
Bloggers and first-time authors suggest:
| 1 | Writing online is the best way to start. The increase in internet accessibility has a far reaching impact. |
| 2 | Social media marketing is important. Twitter, Facebook and leaving comments on posts of other bloggers will bring in traffic . |
| 3 | Be open to criticism. Internet is full of it. Beneath all the name calling and abuse, there may exist valuable nuggets that will help improve your writing. |
| 4 | Publishers say Instagram and Twitter aren’t used for promotion of books as much in India. Tweeting links to your blogposts and using hashtags on Instagram may help in getting published eventually. |
| 5 | Write as much as possible. Whether it is for online magazines, newspapers or guest posts on other blogs, credibility is established and publishers are likely to take you more seriously when you approach them. |
