New Delhi Times

Gaurav Bhatnagar reporting from New Delhi, India

Writing a book

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Writing a book has been on my “TO-DO” list for several years. Perhaps because I am myself an avid reader, I have immense fascination with books and what goes in to writing them. My guess is that it takes lot of patience, perseverance and planning to write a decent book! I recently read the 700 page long “India after Gandhi” and it left me in complete awe of the author Ram Chandra Guha!
I have probably written a book’s worth of content in this blog itself. Yet, I have always considered writing an actual “book” as something different from just writing a bunch of disconnected articles. There has always been an inertia in my mind whenever I have contemplated writing an actual book. This inertia inevitable overpowers the desire to write!
However, just a few days back, I had a sudden realization – writing a book and getting it published are two distinct activities. In fact, simply writing a book has no entry barriers – nobody can stop you from doing that. Of course, getting it published is a different ball game. For that, you need to have credentials, good writing capabilities and at least one publisher who feels he can make money publishing your book. You also need to worry about cover design, promotions etc. But writing a book is just that – writing and nothing more.
So, I have decided that I shall write. Since I have already written a lot about entrepreneurship on this blog, my topic of choice would remain that. I don’t know how far I will go in the process, but I will be happy if I can churn out a couple of hundred pages over the next 6-8 months!
If you have written a book before, then I will be grateful if I can get some tips from you. If you would like to help me by reviewing drafts, then please do let me know. I can be contacted at gauravbhatnagar at gmail dot com.

Written by gaurav

October 19th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Posted in General

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  • Ashutosh

    Gaurav,
    Check out this site – http://www.lulu.com
    this eliminates need for a publisher..you can write and design your own self and it gets it printed for you and you can sell it online as well! it may change rules of publishing industry.

  • Ashutosh

    Gaurav,
    Check out this site – http://www.lulu.com
    this eliminates need for a publisher..you can write and design your own self and it gets it printed for you and you can sell it online as well! it may change rules of publishing industry.

  • Ashutosh

    Gaurav,
    Check out this site – http://www.lulu.com
    this eliminates need for a publisher..you can write and design your own self and it gets it printed for you and you can sell it online as well! it may change rules of publishing industry.

  • Ashutosh

    Gaurav,
    Check out this site – http://www.lulu.com
    this eliminates need for a publisher..you can write and design your own self and it gets it printed for you and you can sell it online as well! it may change rules of publishing industry.

  • Anon

    Hey Gaurav,
    What kind of a book are you thinking of writing? Is it going to be more on the factual part or on the opinion/belief part? Rhetorical or argumentative? Would you prefer style over substance or substance over style? Are you going to ask some new questions or answer some old ones with new insight.
    Anyway, as some one who has been following each and every one of your post since the last two years, I think you have just the right set of credentials for writing a book on ‘entrepreneurship’ in India. Just remember that as an ‘insider’ you may have to exercise a little caution whenever you make an opinion on something so as to avoid your personal bias on the topic.

  • Anon

    Hey Gaurav,
    What kind of a book are you thinking of writing? Is it going to be more on the factual part or on the opinion/belief part? Rhetorical or argumentative? Would you prefer style over substance or substance over style? Are you going to ask some new questions or answer some old ones with new insight.
    Anyway, as some one who has been following each and every one of your post since the last two years, I think you have just the right set of credentials for writing a book on ‘entrepreneurship’ in India. Just remember that as an ‘insider’ you may have to exercise a little caution whenever you make an opinion on something so as to avoid your personal bias on the topic.

  • pushpabhatnagar

    I know you can do it .

  • pushpabhatnagar

    I know you can do it .

  • http://www.itasveer.com Ashish

    Gaurav – all the best! Also, how do I pre-order this one?

  • http://www.itasveer.com Ashish

    Gaurav – all the best! Also, how do I pre-order this one?

  • sorav bansal

    wah wah.. keep it up..

  • sorav bansal

    wah wah.. keep it up..

  • http://blog.sonaljhuj.com sonal jhuj

    Hi
    I think it may be easier to publish and market your book. but tougher to write one :)
    especially the structure of the book and the discipline to write everyday is hard to come by.
    and other than lulu.com you can use blurb.com. design and package as you go.
    Hope someday i get to the writing bit, cuz i’ve got the rest of it all sorted out :)

  • http://blog.sonaljhuj.com sonal jhuj

    Hi
    I think it may be easier to publish and market your book. but tougher to write one :)
    especially the structure of the book and the discipline to write everyday is hard to come by.
    and other than lulu.com you can use blurb.com. design and package as you go.
    Hope someday i get to the writing bit, cuz i’ve got the rest of it all sorted out :)

  • Subodh Gupta

    Hi Gaurav,
    Good to read that you are about to write a book.would it be about your enterprenurial venture or something else?
    I would be happy to review the drafts.you can contact me at subodhonnet@yahoo.com.
    -Subodh

  • Subodh Gupta

    Hi Gaurav,
    Good to read that you are about to write a book.would it be about your enterprenurial venture or something else?
    I would be happy to review the drafts.you can contact me at subodhonnet@yahoo.com.
    -Subodh

  • http://pothi.com Abhaya Agarwal

    Hi Gaurav,
    To be honest, this is the first post on your blog which I landed on, so haven’t read much else yet :-) but congratulations on deciding to write the book.
    As people above have suggested lulu.com & blurb.com, you can also check out Pothi.com (I am a co-founder). We are based out of Bangalore and serve the Indian market. The idea is to provide a free publishing platform to budding authors like you.
    Do check out the website and around 70 titles already online – http://pothi.com
    Abhaya

  • http://pothi.com Abhaya Agarwal

    Hi Gaurav,
    To be honest, this is the first post on your blog which I landed on, so haven’t read much else yet :-) but congratulations on deciding to write the book.
    As people above have suggested lulu.com & blurb.com, you can also check out Pothi.com (I am a co-founder). We are based out of Bangalore and serve the Indian market. The idea is to provide a free publishing platform to budding authors like you.
    Do check out the website and around 70 titles already online – http://pothi.com
    Abhaya

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