Waiting for that elusive book review…

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If you know any independent author (a.k.a indie author), you would probably have had the experience of the author offering you a free copy of his book with a request to write a simple honest review of the book if you liked it. Ok, you just thought of me, didn’t you? I admit, guilty as charged.

I have done it, and so have all the indie authors I have known – but why? Being in those shoes, let me explain this to you.

Have you ever wondered why there are probably 45-50 passionate photographers but not more than one or two genuine writers among all your Facebook friends?

Writing is hard work. If you do not believe me, try to write 10 pages (or 3500 words) of anything –I’m talking of original material (not adapted work). If you succeeded in writing that much, congratulations, you’re already have a huge advantage over most people. Now read aloud what you wrote? Err, now does that sound odd, or do you sense there’s something wrong?

It takes a lot of time to acquire the necessary skillsets to write well. It took me over 10 years from the time I started indulging in recreational writing (despite being somebody who diligently read as a child and somebody who fared very well in language classes in school) to acquire the minimal skills that could result in a body of work worthy of publication. I still read books on writing, and study works of renowned writers in a bid to keep improving.

Do you remember that moment when you read something I wrote and you couldn’t stop grinning, or that time when you glided back in time, or saw visuals of things happening, or felt that immense sense of sadness? None of that was coincidental; it probably took me four edits so get the words right to elicit that response you felt.

A genuine writer puts in months (if not years) of painstaking effort to write a quality book in the genre he/she relates with. He or she forgoes social connection for extended periods, choosing the solitude of a pen and paper (or a computer), sacrificing TV time, parties and leisure trips. He/She spends further time and money to get the writing edited professionally, proof read and published. Nine out of ten times, most of these books never even recover a fraction of the costs that have been put into them. The book could even be a gem and yet it may suffer a fate of eternal oblivion.

And did you ask what the reason is? More often than not, the answer is visibility, or rather the lack of it.

There are so many books out there – some are good, some are bad, and some are plain ugly. The simple truth is that a reader is more likely to encounter a bad book than a good book via random selection.

There are countless ghost written books published with minimal effort. If you read a book and found that it lacks a ‘soul’ or found it just some words strung together for namesake (I have read enough of such books), the writer might have lacked conviction or skill or may not have even written that book himself.  But, those who publish such works often know how to work their way around the system to reach their financial goals. They often end up edging out some good hard-working budding writers who just don’t know how to promote themselves better or don’t get a chance to. And who do such writers turn to so that they stand a chance in the big bad world of writing?

You, the reader.

Thanks to an excess of sub-standard books found everywhere these days, a genuine reader needs to use filtering mechanisms to get what he needs. He/She starts often by checking the book cover. If the book cover and name are appealing, the reader would probably try reading the book description. If that too is appealing, he/she would finally read what other people are saying about the book and then make a decision whether to invest time and money into that book.

Meanwhile, an author keeps his fingers crossed hoping that he/she makes the cut at every checkpoint. While the first two checkpoints (cover and description) are directly within the author’s control, the third is not. And that’s why every author frets and worries over reader reviews. Even if the author’s written a brilliant book, readers will not bother buying the book if they can’t evaluate it. Why would they invest in something that is unproven? Ironically, neither will promoters agree to promote such a book that readers have not already given a thumbs-up for it.

It’s a vicious circle.

And therefore, the authors do what they consider the best course of action. They try and locate a handful of their loyal readers (somebody who showed appreciation of their writing earlier) and give away free copies of their book with just a request to write a line or two about how they found the book once they are done reading. Months of pain and sweat in exchange for a few honest lines; invaluable lines.

And then the hapless author keeps following up, often unwillingly, to see those few lines come up in the book review.

Because the author knows that those few lines might just tilt that unbalanced scale a bit more towards his side. Because the author knows that somewhere down the line, a genuine heartfelt feedback could prompt one extra person to pick that book to read (out of ten who notice it). And one person from that select few might even stop to write what he/she felt about the book. With every extra pair of eyes that pick the book, the author will inch a little further to his goal of being heard by a vast appreciative audience. If the book gets a fair number of reviews, a promoter might even agree to support the author’s quest too. And if one day those numbers reach tipping point and the book turns out to be a success that would be when the author would feel rewarded for his effort.

And what set the ball rolling would have been those sixty extra seconds an appreciative reader took to write about the book.

I realise this today as an author myself, which is why whenever I get to read a relatively new author’s book, I make it a point to leave a review if I enjoyed reading it. After all, I know what it took to get that book out in front of me, and I know that each review gives an author somewhere a glimmer of hope for the future.

So dear reader, think about it and go ahead. Spend a minute of your time to gift an author a review. After all, he/she has spent many hours to gift you the magic of his/her writing…

Book Review – The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Hello. Yes, you sir. I’m sure you would be wondering whether this book is worth reading. I would say, yes it is – in my humble opinion of course.After all a Booker prize nominee would have some substance to it. Wouldn’t it sir?

What’s unique about this book? It’s the narrative style of course. What specifically? Well, it’s a long monologue by a young Pakistani man, Changez, who comes across an American in Lahore and starts narrating about his life in America – he was a Princeton graduate who once worked for a top-of-the-line valuations firm and had fallen in love with a lovely American girl with a traumatic past. The story is about his inner conflicts and his doomed relationship, which eventually led to his passage back home.

So you want to know is there any other reason why you should read the book sir? Hmm, well, the book does subtly raise the point about the prejudice a brown skin man with a beard often faces (especially since 9.11) but ignores to carry on with his life in America, irrespective of how qualified or what his credentials are. And contrary to expectations, there is no real evidence of the protagonist being an actual fundamentalist – after all there is no mention of religion anywhere.

Well sir, I think that’s about as much I should reveal so that I do not spoil your reading experience, should you decide to read it.

And did you ask what my rating is sir? I would give it a three and half. The ending didn’t really echo with me and I felt the reader shouldn’t have been left guessing. But then that is my opinion. You are free to read and form your own sir.

PS: Review originally posted on Goodreads