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I feel as long as people enjoy what they read and learn something more, I have done my job as a writer.
Ravi Subramanian
I read almost everything that comes my way.
With social media, one can target the audience and reach out to the segment in a very precise, cost-effective manner.
Most MBA graduates are hungry for intellectual glamour.
To make time for writing, one has to take time out from somewhere. Obviously, a fair amount of time that you spend with the family gets compromised. But my family has been very understanding and supportive.
The distribution might which Penguin brought to the table and the stature they gave me as an author is unparalleled.
If somebody says that they want to write a book but do not know what to write about, they will never write a book.
There is some confusion in my mind whether to continue to write on banking or try newer pastures.
When you write, you put your thoughts in the public space. You get both positive and negative feedback.
I find writing to be a great stress-buster.
I believe if you've written a book, you have to stand up and say, 'Guys, buy the book.'
It is important to send your work to as many publishers as possible. For every one publisher who may show interest in your work, there will be at least five who will reject you.
If you are careful about the content and writing style, readers will not feel that you are in a hurry.
I look at every book as a new learning opportunity.
Bitcoin is complex: the entire private and public key issue, the transfers, the mining of bitcoins... but if you tell it as fiction, people would understand and remember.
I firmly believe that there is no better thriller writer than Harlan Coben.
After my first book, I figured that since it was successful, I wanted to continue things better.
A self-confessed fan of Harlan Coben, I find it difficult to not read a new Harlan Coben novel the week it comes out.
I am very adventurous with authors, but not very with genres.
Any author gets inspired by the experiences and events that happen to him or his immediate circle. While that's where the seed or the idea germinates, by the end of the story, it accounts for hardly anything in the book.
I cannot write in isolation. I write with people around me.
While a lot of management development books try to teach you a lesson or give you a scenario of what corporate culture and work practices are about, they're theoretical and written in a sermonizing way. Most people don't get past the first chapter, and they just look nice on the bookshelf.
A profession which is seen as intellectually glamorous is often the most misunderstood when it comes to the commerce involved.
If there is one currency that helped Wikileaks take on the might of the U.S. Government, it was Bitcoins.
My favourite authors are John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer. Grisham rapidly established himself and now completely owns the legal space of fiction writing, something I want to do in financial space. I like Archer because he keeps his readers engaged: every chapter is a page turner, and he keeps his writing simple.
To me, a good storyteller should be able to tell stories across genres.
Kids who read are bright.
I am not a great fan of serious, heavy writing. I prefer simple, short sentences, light on prose.
If a reader likes a particular author, they keep reading all his books, and if the supply is not kept up, then the reader shifts his loyalties.
For 'The Bestseller'... there was hardly any research, but I had to give each person a quirk and develop their stories so that it would relate to who they are.
I believe Bitcoin is a very convenient way to shop and to transfer money to any account around the world. Governments should work around a framework for the currency instead of putting restrictions on it.
It is almost impossible to win back a reader's loyalty once it's gone.
I enjoy writing and promoting my books. I enjoy the feedback. But all this is because I don't depend on it commercially. I don't need that money. I have a career.
Generally, people who crib about corporate politics are, more often than not, those who've played the game but lost it.
People think writing is a very distinguished, cerebral thing, where all you do is write. It doesn't work that way. People have to see online promotions, see piles of your book in stores, and you have to make sure the guy recommends it!
I write about banking because it is something I'm familiar with. Also, I don't have to do much research on it.
An author needs to be in the market. He or she needs to come out with a new book every year. That keeps you alive in the public mind and gives a push to your older books.
At times, parents foist their own choices on kids and try to get them to read the classics. But kids have very high filters and don't take to it. At other times, parents simply don't know what books to select for their children and end up giving books that aren't appropriate.
A lot of things that I write about have happened to people around me, if not necessarily to me or in the organizations I've worked in. Having said that, it's fiction and has a lot to do with my imagination and creativity.
I always felt that one needs to be remembered long after one has gone.
As authors, we know that it is very difficult to unleash one's creativity.
For me, writing is fun. The day I quit my job and take up writing full time, writing will become just another job. A commercial necessity.
With thrillers, I tend to concentrate on the research and pace more than the characters.
I'm an executive director at a company which gives out retail loans.
The royalty any author gets is dependent on his track record and marketability and often on the price of his book, too. The higher you price a book, the more comfortable your publisher will be in paying you a higher royalty.
I've always wanted to write, but coming from a small-town background - I was born and brought up in Ludhiana - you think you're not the kind of literary person who will write books that will sell. There was always a kind of defensiveness in me.
I get to office early at about 8 A.M., and I'm back home by 6 to write.
People take shortcuts to meet ends in MNCs.
I'm probably one of the few authors in this country who could very comfortably live off my writing.
After my first book, many of my readers came back to tell me that the female characters I had created were not strong enough. I have consciously rectified that in my next four books. In any case, it's true that women run the world, and men would do better to listen to them!