Saiswaroopa Iyer's Blog, page 5
February 26, 2017
Book Review : Saraswati’s Intelligence by Vamsee Juluri
I had originally written the review for First Post where it was first published. Republishing here with their permission.
The fantasy genre is known to take a story-teller’s imagination to a pinnacle. In the cosmos of richly descriptive Ancient World fiction, Saraswati’s Intelligence, book one of The Kishkindha Chronicles, stays true to the promise of “intelligence” in its title and sets itself apart. The edge that this novel has over its Western literary counterparts is most of all the prese...
October 22, 2016
Book Review : Raven Song (Inoki’s Game) by IA Ashcroft
Being new to this genre of Urban dystopian fantasy, I found the story line of Ravensong, Book 1 of Inoki’s game quite interesting. Starting off with the adventures of Jackson, an adopted son of a rich businessman who also faces his internal demons, hallucinations and above all, a gift that he struggles to control. The plot thickens with him getting involved with the ‘Coalition’ for a smuggling task and things unravel with characters showing new shades. Anna, another gifted woman whose past is...
August 20, 2016
An evening at Novel London
Reading out the first chapter of your novel to an audience enthusiastic about reading and writing in a small world of books, be it a book store or a library, is an exhilarating experience. It is so much different from the the usual blitzkrieg of a book launch or a tea talk with a kind celebrity who pulls crowds for you. Because at Novel London, you are reading out to the best audience you can get, all of them authors, published or soon to be published. Your first chapter is heard by those who...
July 10, 2016
Save $150 and a week – quick how-to format a CreateSpace book interior yourself
Wonderful post on self-formatting your manuscript. Like Ana, I too got my manuscript done by a US Company and they did great. But nothing like self reliance while handling your ‘baby’
When I published Shizzle, Inc[image error]last year, I paid somebody to format the PDF interior layout. It cost me about $150 and a week of back-and-forth with a reputable company, that did a good job. Eventually. The problem is, now I have to pay them againbecause I have had the book re-edited by an Americ...
July 7, 2016
Half time 2016 – Eventful, Motivating and a long way to go
It was a unique blogging prompt from the much loved @TheBlogchattercommunity to recapitulate the first half of 2016.Honestly speaking, I have to admit these ~180 days just flew past. Literally flew past!
But wait! A lot happened. A lot lot has happened.
BooksIt was in the end of 2015 that my book Abhayawent live on Kindle. I self published it.It made sense that I wait for the readers to validate the online version before I invest in a paperback edition. Apart from being rewarded by some amaz...
June 28, 2016
Startups, Ecosystem and Empathy
This really happened. A young and inexperienced professional messaged a popular Startup founder that he needs help in finding a job. The founderdid NOT respond in a way that showed any traces of empathy. Naming and shaming him is not my job because I think the message of empathy is more important than defaming the founder.
The reason that Startups are loved and the founders are glorified is because they create jobs (of course, apart from all the innovation and disruption jazz that we hear in...
June 19, 2016
Book Review – Arjun Without a doubt by Dr. Sweety Shinde
Re-telling of Mahabharata from individual perspectives has been an ever-green favourite of the Indian literary segment. Arjun without a Doubt by the debutante Sweety Shinde stands out of the rest, giving a voice to the ever inspirational Arjuna while admirably balancing the macro narrative. It is not surprising that the author actually chose that perspective which refreshingly does not blame the world for his misfortunes. In a unique approach to balance the male and female (perhaps) narrative...
May 21, 2016
Free Ebook – Creators of Telugu epic literature
My friends and readers are aware of my love for Telugu literature. Prompted by the ebook carnival hosted by Theblogchatter, I put together a collection of my older blog posts on historical Telugu poetsinto an ebooklet.
Do please download the ebook Creators of Telugu epic literature. It is also featured in the above Ebook carnival.
Ebook Cover design
It is an ongoing work and I hope to cover more Telugupoets and composers in future. Please feel free to leave me suggestions and comments below...
May 16, 2016
An Indie author’s wishlist to Amazon [Working post]
(This is a working post and I shall take time to gather inputs, organize them and perhaps frame a petition to Jeff Bezos. If you are an indie author and/or have something that you want to bring to the notice of Amazon, please feel free to leave a comment below.)
Dear Amazon,
It has been close to six months since my debut novel went live on Amazon. Needless to say, the self-publishingand selling experience hasenriched me a lot. You made me feel empowered as an independent author and thank you...
May 12, 2016
Why your Beta Reader is more crucial than your writing coach
The year was 2013. I had wrapped up an early draft of my debut novel and had forwarded the samples to a couple of publishers and agents. The wait of six to nine weeks was followed by reminder emails from my side when replies flew in promptly with regrets and rejections. A couple of rejection mailers flew in so quickly after my reminder that I was tempted to believe they were auto generated. It was then that I came across this author and writing coach who also worked as a literary agent. Havin...
