Portrait of a writer’s mind

Savi Sharma talks about her second novel, and how she topped the charts by self-promotion techniques and unique marketing skills
Savi Sharma
Savi Sharma

On the third floor of a mall in Kochi, author Savi Sharma sits in front of a banner announcing her new novel, This is Not Your Story. The audience sitting in front of her consists of a large number of youngsters. Following a short reading from her novel, the floor is open to questions.

A young man, with a backpack placed near his feet, asks, “Is it possible to achieve your dreams?” Savi smiles and promptly says, “I am the best example.”

Yes, indeed, Savi is living her dreams. Since her school days, she has always wanted to be a writer. When she wrote her first novel, Everyone Has a Story, in 2016, she self-published it, as a paperback and stocked it on Amazon. Then she marketed the book through Facebook. Within a month, it sold 5,000 copies. Thereafter, it reached No 1 in the Contemporary Fiction category (Indian writing), and No 2 in the Romance category of Amazon.

Asked the benefits of self-publishing, the 23-year-old from Surat says, “You don’t have to face rejections, or wait for a long time for traditional publishers to revert.” However, it’s not an easy task. “You have to be a one-man army. I had to learn editing, book design, marketing, and distribution. You need to work round the clock. And that can be tough.”

Savi’s hard work paid good dividents when her book hit the bestsellers lists and big publishers got interested. And, eventually, she signed a deal with Westland.

This is Not Your Story has also hit the top of the charts. So far, 70,000 copies have been sold. One who is not surprised is Deepthi Talwar, Chief Editor of Westland. She says, “Savi’s books are very readable. Her characters have a simplicity and one can relate to them and empathise. She also addresses issues that many young Indians face these days.”

Her fan, 14-year-old Subin Joseph from Kochi, says: “I could connect with the three different characters and the problems that they were facing.” He added that Savi has a nice writing style. The way she describes things also moved him. “Her comparison of a train to a ‘metallic caterpillar’ was very unique.”
Her second book is semi-autobiographical. Like Savi, one of the characters, Shaurya, did not complete his chartered accountancy, because he wanted to be a filmmaker.

Other characters are Anubhav, an aspiring businessman, and interior designer Miraya. The book is about thwarted dreams and how to overcome it. Many of her readers are in the same situation. “They tell me, ‘Maam, we are doing engineering because our parents want us to do it’. Whereas, they want to be artists,” she says. And Savi, who followed her heart and started writing, relates to her fans. “There are times, when we tend to do things that our friends and family want us to do. But this is not what our soul wants. So that is not your story. You need to find your yours.”

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The New Indian Express
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