Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 291
May 27, 2020
Decoding Insta Promos
Like all social media platforms, Instagram allows you to promote posts if you have a business profile. While I should have tried it way back in December, when my first book ‘Death & Darker Realms’ was published, as the old saying goes – better late than never.
Yesterday, which was a Monday, I decided to do a little experiment and see if paying for an Instagram promotion is worth it. And if boosting a post helps in getting your profile some visibility. So this write-up is for anybody who is interested in know how that works.
To be able to promote a post, your Instagram profile needs to be connected to a Facebook business page. I have a Facebook page called Writer_Jaiswal and linked my Instagram profile to the same.
The cheapest promotion offer costs a little over one dollar (Rs 95 with taxes) for a 24 hour promotion. According to Instagram, this ad is capable of reaching a maximum of 300 people. So I opted for the lowest denomination for a post that talked about my poetry book.
Here is the deal, my Instagram page is very new and had only 61 followers. On an average, a post of mine gets 10-22 likes. So it was easier to understand how much the promotion was actually helping me.
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Before opting for the paid ad, I saw a video by a popular blogger, who had paid 10 dollars to promote a post and see how much it helped her. At the end of the 24 hour promotion, she gained a few followers and according to the promotion statistics, she got only 11 profile hits through the promotion. She probably gets way more than that on an average anyway.
Coming back to my post. After the 24 hours were over, I had about 595 likes. But here is a BIG BLUNDER that I committed. Instagram says that you can pause your promotion anytime and resume it whenever you feel like it. What I thought was that I could spread those 24 hours over a bunch of days. So when at one am in the night, the likes stopped coming on the post, I paused the promotion and thought about resuming it the next day. By then I had used up 9 hours of the promotion. Through the night, my promotion was paused for about 8 hours. When I woke and resumed the promotion, it showed that I had only 7 hours left to promote, not 15 hours. Which means, if you pause your promotion, that doesn’t mean you save the rest of the promotion time. So I lost 8 hours worth ad time.
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Well, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I had over 500 people like my post because of the promo. That’s a lot more than Instagram estimated. And is a decent amount of visibility for an unknown user. Although, as far as followers are concerned, only 4 new people followed me after the ad.
And one person also bought my book. So that was awesome. I guess, I am going to try and do a promotional post on the weekend again.
In conclusion, I think that the Instagram promotion tool is best for beginners who want to gain some visibility.
And now for some promotion out here too – if you are interested in poetry, please go and buy my book ‘Death & Darker Realms’. The ebook is available for less than a dollar (Rs 49) on Amazon/ Amazon kindle.
Following are the links – (the paperback is available on Amazon.com)
(Please check your country’s amazon if I haven’t listed it or just on your kindle/kindle app)
May 26, 2020
Death & Darker Realms #1
‘I won’t live your dreams
Or your unfulfilled life
Why make me suffer education?
If all you wanted in the end
Was for me to be a wife…’
These are the first few lines of the first poem in my poetry collection ‘Death & Darker Realms’.
It’s perhaps the longest poem in the book, spanning over 80 lines. And was penned in my diary when I was 18 or 19-years-old. That wasowas a decade ago. My grandfather was the first person to read it.
Anyway, this is me trying to promote the book. I will be doing it a lot more these days, so bear with me.
Anybody who is interested in poetry, you can find the e-book on Amazon. It costs less than a dollar.
Following are the links – (the paperback is available on Amazon.com)
(Please check your country’s amazon if I haven’t listed it or just on your kindle/kindle app)
May 25, 2020
Writing for kids
A college friend of mine is a teacher and has asked me to write essays or edit stuff meant for school kids several times. And most of the times I have said ‘no’.
While as a reader, I still consume a lot of literature that was originally meant for kids; when it comes to writing, I don’t think it’s in me to pen stuff for kids. Whenever I sit down to write, the first urge is to either write something depressing, dark or morbid or the other end of the spectrum – something too realistic, bordering on mundane.
Kids want fun stuff, magic, fantasy, adventure, action. Fantasy fiction is still a genre that youngsters love. Adults tend to gravitate to the genre to escape realities of a normal life.
In 2015, there was an opening in a very popular Indian comic company for a writer and I decided to apply. The stories in their comics were fun and the age group they targeted was about 7-12 I think. When it was time to send out a resume, I realized that all my short stories were absolutely inappropriate as samples.
But I applied anyway. After a few days they called me to their office and asked me to write two short stories on the spot for kids. And being the morbid idiot that I am, while I did write the stories, both of them had a death in it.
The guys at the comics were honest enough in telling me that while my writing was not bad, they didn’t think I could actually write for children. Something I already figured out but gave it a shot anyway.
After that written test in 2015, I don’t think I have ever written anything that could classify as ‘children’s literature’. It’s probably going to stay that way.
May 24, 2020
Castlevania Fan Art
I have only been doing one minute doodles the last few days. The last decent piece of work I sketched was a wallpaper art work of Castlevania – a really cool animated series based on Dracula.
Here’s the first pencil draft
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Then all of it nicely bordered and finished off with a black pen.
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Since I do not paint much, I ended up using a mix of paints and water pencils. And this is how it turned out –
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May 23, 2020
Are You My Mother?
Most graphic novels are the kinds that you could binge-read and be done in a few hours. That’s not the case with “Are You My Mother” by Alison Bechdel – a stunningly honest memoir that explores the writer’s relationship with her mother.
The book took years to write and can only be truly appreciated if it’s read over a few days. It delves heavily on psychoanalysis to draw parallels between the two key protagonists. Donald Woods Winnicott’s theories find a lot of space in the panels, especially what he said about the ‘true self’ and the ‘false self’.
Virginia Woolf is another figure who influences the narrative to understand the writer’s interactions with her own mother. Bechdel talks of how Woolf was obsessed with her own mother and could get past her unresolved issues with her parents only after writing the book ‘To The Lighthouse’. It makes the reader rethink their own ties with their parents through a whole new lens.
Just like her first memoir ‘Fun Home’, which was very raw and personal, ‘Are You My Mother?’ too gives us a front row seat in the head of the writer. The way Bechdel is able to share such intimate parts of her life is just awe-inspiring. A comic panels are goofy, witty and full of life. As a reader, you might find yourself laughing out loud at the humour of every-day life.
Bechdel also brilliantly brings out the despair, desolation and deep envy writers tend to feel about their more famous peers in the panels. I only wish I had bought this book a lot earlier.
May 22, 2020
Locked Up
I have been struggling to finish a collection of short stories since March this year.
“Do you lock yourself in a room the whole day to write?” asked a friend of mine excitedly on the phone.
I laughed and said “that’s not how it works for me”.
Sure, there are writers who write for hours and hours endlessly, but this whole business of ‘locking yourself up’ to write as much as you can, has never appealed to me. Only yesterday I read an article about a writer who challenged himself to write a book in a month and publish it by the end of it.
“It felt like I was working eight days a week,” he claims. All his days were spent inside his room, writing away. Perhaps that’s an admirable way of doing it. But as far as I am concerned, I don’t think I can write continuously for more than three hours. I need food break, music break, balcony break, coffee break, nap break, reading break, blog break, texting break, video calling break… well you get the gist? All sorts of breaks. Multi-tasking is not my thing. I need to have my coffee in peace, with some music in the background and me doing nothing.
Until a few years back, even I sort of had this blind belief that you need ‘the right kind of ambiance’ to be able to write in peace. Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘A Room of One’s Own’ strengthened that belief. The essay argues that in order for women to produce great pieces of literature, they need to have a room of their own and be free of domestic chores like male writers. She also goes on to say that the woman also needs to be free of financial worries to devote that kind of time into writing. Which did make sense.
But then you have a Stephen King, who was living in a trailer, barely making ends meet when he published his first bestseller – Carrie. King was so short on cash that he had to get his telephone line cut to save money. He is on the other end of the spectrum. He wasn’t like the men Woolf talked about in her essay, the kinds that didn’t have any financial woes and were gaining rich experiences through travelling to exotic locations to write interesting books.
If I’ve understood one thing about writing fiction, it’s this – it all boils down to personal discipline. It doesn’t matter what your financial situation is, or if your room has a sea-side view to fuel your imagination. All of that is pure bullshit. Every writer is unique and their motivations are unique too.
May 21, 2020
Bizarre Romance – Review
It took me about two days to finish ‘Bizarre Romance’, a short story collection by Audrey Niffenegger & Eddie Campbell.
The problem with this book is that it doesn’t really live up to its name. Out of the thirteen stories in the book, only 3-4 of them were weird enough. The others bordered on boring, not bizarre.
Picked up this book because I really like odd stuff and am absolutely fine with stories that don’t make too much sense. We have enough practicalities bogging us down in the real world. Fiction should be allowed to be unreasonable. But Niffenegger’s tales are pretty mundane and quiet digestible.
What was even more disappointing was that Eddie Campbell’s illustrations were mediocre. Some of them just seemed like real photographs edited by some phone app. Others looked like quick scrawls by a kid on paint.
This is neither a graphic novel nor a regular text heavy novel. Some stories have no illustrations at all. And a lot of them have already been published somewhere else. So I felt like the blurb on this book was a little misleading –
‘Once upon a time, a writer and an artist got married. ‘Let’s collaborate,’ said the writer. ‘Ugh, no thanks, darling,’ said the artist. But lo and behold, they collaborated and here’s the result: thirteen stories about oddballs in love, infestations of angels, nefarious fairies, cats, spies, monsters, more cats…’
I was under the impression that these stories would have been fresh and that each one of them would be illustrated. Most of the plots are pretty forgettable. There was one with a cat lady that I liked best.
Over-all, ‘Bizarre Romance’ is not a bad pick. I would give it a 3 on 5. And I loved the hardback, it’s a nice looking addition to the book shelf.
May 20, 2020
The Cat Returns…
‘The Cat Returns’ is a 2002 film by Studio Ghibli and is just pure joy. It’s a fun, zany film about school-girl Haru who saves a cat’s life, only to learn that the feline was no ordinary animal, but the prince of the ‘cat kingdom’.
The king of the cat kingdom wants to thank Haru by getting her married to his son. How Haru tries to get herself out of the bizarre situation forms rest of the plot. As I watched the film in the comfort of my couch, I felt like a happy kid, feeling all warm and fuzzy due to the cuteness of the film. Almost all the cats in this 75 minute film are so damn adorable.
Haru makes friends with a fat cat Muta and the suited-up Baron who was first introduced to the Ghibli audience in the 1995 film ‘Whisper of the Heart’, another gem. The three of them find themselves on a crazy adventure in the Cat Kingdom, which is shaped like a paw.
‘The Cat Returns’ infuses magic, fantasy & fun, while at the same time it subtly deals with themes like existentialism, despotism & romanticism. The animation is rich in little details and there are lots of easter-eggs to remind you of other Ghibli films.
The animators have taken a lot of effort into each character that features in the story, making them look literal representatives of their personality traits. For example, the king of the cat kingdom is obese, wears bold gold jewelry, has crazy hair – just like his greedy, autocratic, irrational self.
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Baron, the soft-spoken & intelligent cat on the other hand is well-dressed, just like his polished self. There is Yuki, a darling feline, who is the first to come to Haru’s rescue and looks just as demure & sweet as her character is. It’s hard not to go ‘aww’ when some of these cats come on screen.
Despite being a lot shorter than most animated films from the same studio, ‘The Cat Returns’ is a sparkling little wonder from their kitty. Pun intended.
P.S – The film is available on Netflix.
May 19, 2020
Whisper of the Heart
It’s been a while since I saw ‘Whisper of the Heart’, a Studio Ghibli film from 1995. So why write about it now? Because I just saw a spin-off film called ‘The Cat Returns’ and it just felt wrong to write about it without having said anything about its predecessor.
Well, it doesn’t matter how long ago I saw the film, because it’s hard to forget how it started – wistfully, with a beautiful rendition of John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’, while the screen showed dazzling city lights and beaming cars zooming through bridges and busy concrete roads. A pretty paradox.
The main protagonist, a teen called Shizuku, lives in a crammed flat with her parents and an elder sister who is in college. The teen is a voracious reader and realizes that all the books she has been borrowing from the library have already been read by the same guy. This makes her curious to find out the other reader’s identity.
Shizuku then meets an enigmatic cat on the metro that leads her to a new street and an odd little antique shop filled with little wonders, including Baron – a suited up cat statue with alluring eyes. The shop is also a key connection to the mystery readers she is chasing after.
[image error]This little cat statue has its own interesting back story dating back to World War II
‘Whisper of The Heart’ is a classic Studio Ghibli film, which charmingly mixes the mundane with the magical. It has the innocence of a teen romance, the maturity of an adult drama with a dash of the mystical. Some might find the slightly dramatic turn of event towards the final leg of the film a little weird and out of place. But I usually savor the bizarre, and this film has the right kind of eccentricity to it, at least to my liking.
Visually, like most Ghibli films, it gives a you nice slice of the Japanese way of life. The musical scores are uplifting and the over-all tone of the narration is optimistic and uplifting.
The movie might take you back to your first love, that rush of restlessness, the desperation of wanting to have a happy ever after, of wanting to go to any lengths to see if you can make it work. It’s all too adorable. A leisurely paced film that’s perfect for a lazy summer afternoon.
May 18, 2020
M(a)Y Book Haul
Six new books are going to join my book-shelf. Two of them are hardbacks. I love hardbacks and wish they were a little more affordable.
The last two times I paid a visit to a book-store, I returned empty-handed, because everything I liked was very expensive. This time, I had birthday money from my grandfather. It just doesn’t feel too bad too splurge gift money on nice new hardbacks. And Graphic Novels.
So here’s what I got –
Manga Messiah by no idea who. Because the writer’s name is written in Japanese. The blurb was interesting, it said “From the biggest-selling book in the history of the world… comes the greatest story ever told… about the most controversial man who ever lived… presented in the most popular graphic novel format on earth…” Why the hell not? It’s got Manga Jesus. That’s exciting enough. (The writer is called Hidenori Kumai – found the name inside the book)
Are You My Mother by Alison Bechdel. She is the author of Fun Home, an absolutely amazing & honest memoir in graphic novel format. Unlike Manga Messiah, this was not an impulsive buy. I already knew about the book, so I just picked it up.
Bizarre Romance by Audrey Niffenegger & Eddie Campbell. Another impulse buy, because I had never heard of it but the back said it’s by the author who wrote The Time Traveller’s Wife. I haven’t read it, but the movie was interesting. How bad can it be? The blurb was cute – ‘Once upon a time, a writer and an artist got married. ‘Let’s collaborate,’ said the writer. ‘Ugh, no thanks, darling,’ said the artist. But lo and behold, they collaborated and here’s the result: thirteen stories about oddballs in love, infestations of angels, nefarious fairies, cats, spies, monsters, more cats…’
Half The Night Is Gone by Amitabha Baghchi. This one had a pretty book design and had favourable reviews from leading Indian newspapers. So just rolled with it.
East into Upper East by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. ‘Plain tales from New York and New Delhi’. Never heard of the author, but he is a booker winner and short stories are always appealing.
Vietnamese Legends & Folk Tales – this little book caught my attention on my way out and was very cheap, so I thought ‘why not?’. I loved my Vietnam trip last year and want to go back to that country some time later again. So a book that would give me glimpse into their culture sounded appealing.
