With an increase in the number of writers in the city, authors are doing everything they can to make their books stand out. While authors like Anand Neelakantan ('Ajaya') and Aroon Raman ('The Treasure of Kafur') made animated videos for their recent releases, a lot of them have taken to social networking sites and other creative means to promote their books. Making comic strips, memes and maintaining blogs seem to work better, as authors say that video trailers are not that effective anymore. “They just have to be there, along with the other usual specifications,” says author Anand Neelakantan.
Author of 'Asura' and 'Ajaya', both mythical fiction works, Anand feels that authors personally put in a lot of effort into selling their books and don’t just let publishing houses do the job. “When we made a video trailer for 'Ajaya', I sat with the publishers and gave them each line that you can see in the animated video. But I don’t think these trailers are promotion tools anymore. It’s something that compulsorily has to be there, like a hygiene factor. If it’s not there, people will ask you why you don’t have it,” he shares.
If video trailers aren’t working anymore, then looks like a good conversation with their readers is helpful. Preeti Shenoy, who recently released 'The One You Cannot Have' had Twitter chats for hours together, answering questions her fans asked, of course, with a hash tag of #TheOneYouCannotHave. “I have adopted several other ways of promoting, but those are all just little tools. It’s most important for your book itself to have an emotional appeal,” says Preeti, who is very popular among readers because of her approachable and friendly manner. She also maintains a blog to keep in touch with her readers.
Not only that; getting youngsters to pose with the book and having them post it on Facebook is also trending amongst relatively new authors. Kartik Iyengar, who released the second book in his 'Horn OK Please' series, put up a few memes and is also going the broadcast way. “I did a few interviews on Radio Indigo. And I recently discovered that pod casts can be a big hit in India, as the mobile market is growing massively,” says the author, who is known for giving away his proceedings to Tibetian Children’s Village and travelling the world to fill his pages. He concludes that, “Every author wants to be read. And you have to do your homework to tap the audience in the right way.”
