Amit Shankar's Blog, page 7
July 7, 2013
The Fifth Estate, Is It?
Scene 1: Who is a blogger? Well, someone who likes to write and share. The writing could vary from day to day activity, some special event, incidence or even nothing much in particular. His love for writing and sharing becomes the reason for his existence.
With the penetration of Internet and technology, smart phones and tablets, the reach and impact of blogs have assumed a mammoth proportion. They have started affecting thoughts, actions and controlling actions. Their potency has been acknowledged and used by political, religious and other groups. Somewhere during the time when it was acquiring the status of fifth estate, some smart people started making a consortium and using bloggers for a specific purpose…for ‘opinion making.’ Of course, this ‘opinion making’ exercise cost money.
Scene 2: The publishing market was booming in India. People were reading more and more. Publishing houses, authors and the genre of pulp fiction was skyrocketing. The competition was getting intense. Some smart ones, using social media like Facebook etc. launched an online PR club for writers and publishers. These entrepreneurs formed a cartel of bloggers, charged money from the writer and the publishers for getting their title reviewed. Package varied from 20 reviews for 10,000 to 50 reviews for 20,000 and 30,000 for managing reviews and FB page.
The Conflict: The initiative of consolidating bloggers for any purpose, even for reviewing books, sounds like a harmless move. But if we probe deeper, the real danger becomes apparent. Apart from few serious bloggers, who come with an impressive cred and resume, most of them are amateurs wailing their time over the net. With nothing better to do, they become bloggers, as it is free. For sure, many of them grab the coat of a reviewer too. After all, getting free copies is not a bad proposition. Also, from being a ‘no one’ they become the ‘makers’ as they assume that their reviews ‘make’ or ‘break’ a writer’s career. This power corrupts the whole innocent looking venture of reviewing books.
Needless to mention most of the so called bloggers cum reviewers come with no literary, writing background and have been fed on a staple diet of ‘third rate, pulp fiction’ produced by writers of dubious origin. The sudden transformation from being a ‘loser’ to a ‘king maker,’ fills them with a sense of déjà vu. And the nightmare begins.
The Incidence: I had the opportunity of buying into one such ‘review package.’ 20 reviews for 10 k. For my earlier titles, Flight of the Hilsa and Chapter 11, I kept off these dubious online PR agencies and reviewers, as my TA was ‘serious, adult reader’ who did not care for ‘poodle reviews.’ The third title, Love is Vodka, being for younger audience, I decided trying out the online medium. Over a couple of mails, negotiation was done and one such package was bought and my nightmare started. The first mail I got stated that one of the reviewer found my work to be so sub standard that she refused to write a review. I was stunned. I was no Dan Brown but then I was not a 95-rupee author either. However, being respectful to the reviewer, I told her that she could send in the review and I would post it on my page. As expected, It never came. Then a couple of them happened. Some of them rated my work good, some average and some bad. But for the 4 reviews, two which thought my work was good and 2 which said that it was average, rest of them were a bag of confusion. One of the reviewers, rather offering her reader some insight, took great pain in describing the bookmark of my second title, Chapter 11, which was enclosed with the copy of Love is Vodka. Instead of critically examining the characters, the plot, the build up, the conflict, the resolve, they just concentrated on narrating the story, over and over again. I realized that my work was in the hands of jokers. But then it was too late.
One day, I posted few lines on my FB page, which just stated how people who could not even hold a bat become commentators, people who never even directed a scene become film critics and people who could not write become book reviewers. It was just an observation, made in good humor. And the ‘makers’ pounced upon me.
I did not want to hurt anyone. And moreover my post on FB was just a general observation. The moment I realized that it had hurt the sentiments, I immediately apologized. But there was more to come. Within no time, a hate club was formed. Led by some Ms. Pillay whom I would not even hire as my maid, this hate club threatened to ruin my career and me. Pages and blogs were launched to consolidate bloggers and tell them how unfair I was as I doubted their skills, integrity etc etc. Here I would like to mention this guy, Mr. Gupta, who looked like the third row, sidekick of the main villain in south Indian movies. On my page he had the audacity to post that authors ‘licked a****’ of reviewers, to get their work reviewed. Well, if he were the reviewer in question, even a dog would not lick his face, leave alone his rear-side. Also, with the ‘financial transaction’ in place there was no need to beg or plead these reviewers. Just an RTGS and they reviewed. The facilitator of my deal also started showing attitude and telling how angry the blogger community was. Damn, I did pay money. Why this attitude? It was meant to be a p[aid review.
So on various blogs I was ridiculed and fellow bloggers were warned against reviewing me. They pledged that they would pull off their reviews from goodreads, flipkart and other sites. Oh God, I felt so threatened. Lol. This Mr. Gupta and Ms. Pillay continued pouring fuel in the fire.
And then my friend’s advice, ‘those who don’t appreciate humor would never appreciate an apology too’ hit me. Also, the fact that my being gentle was taken by them as a mark of weakness. Who were they? Just a bunch of losers whom I would not even hire as junior copywriters in my team. SO go and fly a kite and stay off my page or else I will whack you hard, was the advice posted for them on my page. Silence prevailed.
Lesson learnt: 1. Stay off people who promise review against a sum of money. Most of them are students who want to make a fast buck.2. There is a difference between ‘blogger’ and ‘reviewer.’ Most of the reviewers are bloggers but it is not the other way round. 3. It is worthwhile pursuing reviewers worth their salt than taking the easy way out by paying posers.4. I will have my work reviewed, but only by reviewers I know.5. Lastly, let readers read and review your work.
Inference: Who let the dogs out?
June 16, 2013
Creating Metanoia
LIV REVIEW
"In the 3rd week of May, 2013, when Love is Vodka, Amit Shankar’s 3rd title was launched after his two earlier superhit titles Flight of the Hilsa and Chapter 11, I ordered several copies to gift them to my teenage students and some of the tough moms who are my close friends. Needless to say, as per their personal feedbacks to me, after reading LIV, the youngsters are totally at ease with themselves and their quests for love. They are handling their search and experiences in love with an effective, honest approach. The tough moms are now able to empathize with their daughters.
Amit Shankar is all set to become the inner voice of Homo sapiens that has mustered up all the courage to speak up honestly and defy the societal norms regardiing love. Through Moon, our lovely, probing, gutsy, naïve protagonist, the author has explicitly and accurately expressed the two absolute freedoms of human mind – thinking and feeling, with delightful weft and warp in all hues and designs. He has taught all of us through his powerful gift of story-telling, how to love ourselves first and engage in meaningful work, how to identify true love if it happens to come across us in the form of a Gautam.
Of the 12 identified areas of Human Resource, viz., Body system, Traits, Interests, Skills, Experience, Feelings, Situations, Cognition, Imagination, Will Power, Values and Conscience, the first 7 areas are common to animals and next 3 are common with non- human primates as well. However, Values and Conscience are unique only to humans. In a research colloquium held on 6 May, 2013 at Dayalbagh University, Agra, I presented my thoughts on consciousness where I proposed a 13th area – Spirituality, to be added to this list, which will be found in an advanced species of humans – Homo spiritualis. This species is formed after a process called metanoia which implies a permanent shift in the thinking of the mind.
I must congratulate and edify Amit here, for creating metanoia and contributing to the evolution of our society. In my opinion, he is one of the first few Homo spiritualis authors, who will continue to shape the mindset of all the lucky readers who get a copy of his titles and read them. I am yet to come across such easy and honest methodology of helping the masses to internalize profound learnings in love, thereby raising the bars of this beautiful phenomenon called love , towards a state of Higher Consciousness.
Thank you once again Amit, for enthusing your writings with your spirituality. Thank you for making us realize that true love is achievable only after more than one journey and experience, and that there is no shame in accepting this fact. There should be no taboo or feigning loyalty in love unless one genuinely feels it. Till then, goodluck and happy trying!"
Reshma Batra Bhatnagar
"In the 3rd week of May, 2013, when Love is Vodka, Amit Shankar’s 3rd title was launched after his two earlier superhit titles Flight of the Hilsa and Chapter 11, I ordered several copies to gift them to my teenage students and some of the tough moms who are my close friends. Needless to say, as per their personal feedbacks to me, after reading LIV, the youngsters are totally at ease with themselves and their quests for love. They are handling their search and experiences in love with an effective, honest approach. The tough moms are now able to empathize with their daughters.
Amit Shankar is all set to become the inner voice of Homo sapiens that has mustered up all the courage to speak up honestly and defy the societal norms regardiing love. Through Moon, our lovely, probing, gutsy, naïve protagonist, the author has explicitly and accurately expressed the two absolute freedoms of human mind – thinking and feeling, with delightful weft and warp in all hues and designs. He has taught all of us through his powerful gift of story-telling, how to love ourselves first and engage in meaningful work, how to identify true love if it happens to come across us in the form of a Gautam.
Of the 12 identified areas of Human Resource, viz., Body system, Traits, Interests, Skills, Experience, Feelings, Situations, Cognition, Imagination, Will Power, Values and Conscience, the first 7 areas are common to animals and next 3 are common with non- human primates as well. However, Values and Conscience are unique only to humans. In a research colloquium held on 6 May, 2013 at Dayalbagh University, Agra, I presented my thoughts on consciousness where I proposed a 13th area – Spirituality, to be added to this list, which will be found in an advanced species of humans – Homo spiritualis. This species is formed after a process called metanoia which implies a permanent shift in the thinking of the mind.
I must congratulate and edify Amit here, for creating metanoia and contributing to the evolution of our society. In my opinion, he is one of the first few Homo spiritualis authors, who will continue to shape the mindset of all the lucky readers who get a copy of his titles and read them. I am yet to come across such easy and honest methodology of helping the masses to internalize profound learnings in love, thereby raising the bars of this beautiful phenomenon called love , towards a state of Higher Consciousness.
Thank you once again Amit, for enthusing your writings with your spirituality. Thank you for making us realize that true love is achievable only after more than one journey and experience, and that there is no shame in accepting this fact. There should be no taboo or feigning loyalty in love unless one genuinely feels it. Till then, goodluck and happy trying!"
Reshma Batra Bhatnagar
The Times They Are Changing
Bhiwadi—a small sleepy town in Rajasthan. Well sleepy almost, if you don’t count its proximity to Delhi and the various industries which have been dotting its landscape. Apart from these two factors, it is a replica of any non-descript Indian town. Devoid of mall culture, glitzy European showrooms and the pot holed roads being shared by rickshaw, cyclists, truck, tractor, pedestrians etc.But then this morning something made me think otherwise…of this town and our great country; India. On my way to Delhi, I was surprised to see a yellow and red McDonald’s signage. ‘Holy cow, what would a Mcdee be doing here?’ I thought to myself. Out of caffeine, I decided to take some from this outlet, which had both; a ‘dine in’ and a ‘drive thru’ option.
It was close to 11 am. The parking was deserted. I thought to myself what would have taken the American brand to invest in Bhiwadi. But then I remembered a conversation with one of my friend who told me that it was run on a franchise model. I could not help but pity the guy who would have invested in fortune for the red-yellow color franchise.
The restaurant was uninhabited. The counter guy told me that they would take five more minutes for the first order. I took a corner seat, looking out of the window. It took five minutes to change my perception. One girl walked in. Then a family. Then another. And another one, and it continued…
10.45 am, the outlet had around fifty people of all shapes, age and background. Before I could grab my coffee and leave in semi-shocked state, the parking had some fifteen odd cars. Residents of Bhiwadi walking to a Mcdee for a Sunday breakfast/brunch? But then the times they are changing.
My recently released, Love Is Vodka, A Shot Ain’t Enough is doing well. The reviews, which are coming in, from professional reviewers, are quite encouraging. If you are on to my page, you can read the reviews. You lazy bum, I know you wont do it. Let me paste the links here.
http://bookmarkks.blogspot.in/2013/06/love-is-vodka-amit-shankar-book-review.htmlhttp://shilpaagarg.blogspot.in/2013/06/love-is-vodka-shot-aint-enough.htmlhttp://nandinireviews.blogspot.com/2013/06/love-is-vodka-book-review.htmlhttp://iamagreedyreader.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/love-is-vodka-a-shot-aint-enough/http://vaultofbooks.com/a/review-love-is-vodka-a-shot-aint-enoughhttp://sankshvet.blogspot.in/2013/06/book-review-love-is-vodka-shot-aint.html[image error]
The pre-order figure from Infibeam and Flipkart are also reassuring. Fingers crossed. From chic-lit to erotic, the title is been placed under different genres. However, the good part is that everyone is liking it. Well, I am not counting the spillovers.
What else…order your copy of Love Is Vodka if you still haven’t. I am sure you will love it. Maybe I will do a sequel to it. What say?
And yes, Modi is making the Congress nervous.
