The Immortals of Meluha - and the story behind it.

When we look at the beautiful book cover of our favorite bestsellers, we often fail to appreciate the hard work that went behind it. The greatest being of the writer who struggles at every little step right from the first word to the first sale of his book. Most of the stories behind that shiny book cover might sound similar and inspiring, but there are some that take the inspiration quotient a notch higher.

The story of Amish Tripathi, the author of the best seller "The Immortals of Meluha" is one such example. Did you know he got over 20 rejections and publishers had told him no one would like to read his book? Yes. He did and when no one agreed to publish it, his agent (God bless him!) did it himself. He invested in the book and came out with 5000 copies as against the normal 3000 for debut authors in the first run. Did you know that the marketing and distribution of the first book of this Shiva Triology "The Immortals of Meluha" was handled by Amish himself? Yes it was. Thanks to his IIM education and great ideas, the marketing worked well enough to make the book a bestseller in just a week!

Amish's case is a great example of how self-publishing can go right if handled professionally. When he was turned down by every one in the industry in spite of good reviews from celebrities like Prahlad Kakkar and Devdutt PataNaik, he had not lost hope. Amish decided to take things in his own hands when his agent decided to publish the book and fulfill Amish's dream. Amish roped in his friends in the industry to design book covers, advertise book videos on YouTube (the first of its kind in India) and give out the first chapter for free at counters ( thanks to some great convincing skills. Again a first in India). Innovation came to play big time and the word spread like fire. A book was trying to make its presence felt and it was resounding for several weeks. In 15 weeks, Amish had sold over 45,000 copies of the books! An impressive feat for a book backed by no publisher!

Now, his second book of the triology "The Secret of Nagas" is being published by Westland Publishers as Amish decided to turn it over to professionals. I guess he would rather spend the time writing the wonderful story he started with his first book.

I loved the first book, and am eagerly waiting for "The Secret Of Nagas". I am not sure how am I going to lay my hands on it from US but if you want to order it, click here and get a great discount! The book released quite recently.

I am really proud of Amish and his agent who could deliver the books to us in spite of the fact that everyone shut their doors on them. He did not lose hope and so should every author who is facing rejections. It is not the end of the world and if you really want it out there, you can do it yourself! Just like Amish did.