What a perfect book prompt for today:
As far as the business side of your own writing, what are you looking forward to in the near future?
Why perfect, do you ask? (or even if you don't...)
Because today is pub day, aka book birthday, aka - the day that my new book releases!
That's right, book 3 in The Bangalore Detectives Club series - A Nest of Vipers - is out in bookstores across the US, UK and India today. It's my third published book of fiction, and my seventh book overall, but the feeling of happiness, the excitement that a new book is out there in the world, interacting with readers, is still the same. And thank goodness for that!
Today is also a very special day because I very recently also got the news that the New York Times featured book 1 in the series, The Bangalore Detectives Club, in its list of Best Books Since 2000 - one of 21 mysteries in the list, surrounded by so many terrific writers whose work I deeply admire.
The Top Books to Read From 2000-2023 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
So - back to the question - what am I looking forward to on the business side of things? Well, I'm a writer based in India, and I do most of my in-person promotions in bookstores, talks, events and the like in my home city of Bangalore, where the series is located. It's difficult for me to make it to promotional events outside - I did make it to the Motive Crime and Mystery Festival 2023, in Toronto last June, and had a blast, but I haven't been able to participate in any bookstore events or writer fests in the US or UK.
I try and do as much book publicity and marketing as I can online - podcasts, blogs, online conferences - but I know how limited that is. Ultimately, though, I have realized one thing - the best way a writer can promote her books and reach wider audiences - is to spend more time on what I like best, which is to write!
I just returned from a fabulous research trip to the misty mountains of Coorg, where book 4 in the series - Into the Leopard's Den - is set. I got to explore an 18th century wooden palace with an underground dungeon that is so pitch dark, it was used to terrify prisoners kept in solitary confinement into confession. A 300 year old ancestral home where ancient traditions of the Kodava warrior clans are still upheld. A devara kaadu - sacred forest - on the top of a hill where a family was holding special prayers - they welcomed us into their fold and insisted on feeding us and sharing holy prasada with us before we left.
And I returned with so many stories. Of coffee plantations and exploitative colonial planters; of forests cut down in the name of progress; of leopards and wild boar attacks; and so much more. Rich grist for a writer's mill.
The business side of writing is best served by more writing... or anyway, that's the fun part, so that's where you'll find me hanging out!
4 comments:
Congratulations Harini - so much to celebrate!
Congratulations, Harini! I'm really looking forward to reading the third installment of your series. In addition to the writing and plotting, I think one reason for the success you're having is the way you conjure up a time, place, and society that feels so real.
Thanks Brenda! Indeed a lot to celebrate, and feeling very grateful right now to the book gods... :-)
Susan, thank you - I really hope you like this one! It's been fascinating to learn more about the growing calls for Indian independence and the complexities of the time...one of the perks of writing historicals is the legitimate excuse to dive into the research!
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