The Shiva Trilogy wins!

Some attribute his success to the fast paced story line, others attribute it to the philosophy attraction in the book, while a few others think it is all about the marketing of the book, but Amish Tripathi believes that it is the blessing of the Lord Shiva! Here, Varsha Verma finds out more about the secret to his success story.Amish Tripathi, better known for his Shiva Trilogy - The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras, which has become the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing, with 1.7 million copies in print and over Rs 40 crore in sales. More recently, he made the headlines for bagging Rs 5 crore as advance for his next series of books from Westland. What made this banker-turned-full-time author a household name, finds out Varsha Verma in conversation with Amish Tripathi.

A modest beginning…

“Since I do not belong to a well-to-do family, I started writing alongwith my job as a banker. The first book – The Immortals of Meluha – took me 5 years to write,” shares Amish. Interestingly, the manuscript was rejected by several publishers and Amish had no choice than to publish it himself, in association with his agent Anuj, who happened to start his own publishing unit at that time. “The primary challenge was to how to get noticed – people were not willing to try a new author and a new publisher. So, we came up with innovative marketing ideas. We were the first ones to distribute the first chapter of our book free of cost to the prospective readers – never been done before in the book publishing industry. We also came up with a trailer for our first book and we were very active on the social media space,” shared Amish.

“The market initiatives were expensive. But, since we are a double-income family, we decided to invest money with the assumption that we might not recover our cost. But, we got an overwhelming response for the first book itself, ” he added.

From banker to a full-time author… 

“After my second book, my wife Preeti Vyas and my elder brother Anish Tripathi encouraged me to become a full-time author as my royalty income was much more than the salary I was earning at that time. Though I wanted to continue my job, it was exhausting and I decided to pursue writing as my career. And I would say that I am a lucky guy to have an opportunity to make living out of my passion,” shared Amish.

Secret to success…

Though different people have different analysis for the success of these books, Amish strongly believes that it is the blessing of Lord Shiva. “A few analysts say that the series has been successful because of the fast-paced story line, while a few others feel that the philosophy in the book was a major attraction and a few others believe that it is all due to good marketing. But, I know this is the blessings of Lord Shiva,” he added.

From books to films…

The book The Immortals of Meluha is now being adapted for a film by Dharma Productions. “I am the creative consultant of the team but I am not involved in the writing of the film script. But, I believe that since they are equally passionate about the subject, the film should come out well,” told Amish.

Writer’s viewpoint…

Amish strongly believes that one cannot be a good writer unless he is a good reader. An avid reader himself, he is currently reading the translated version of Valmiki’s Ramayana.

On asking about what Amish wants to achieve while writing, he replied, “My only aim is to be true to the story and it has worked.”

And what’s the hardest part of writing a book? “When the character in the book suffers or dies, the author suffers too – those are not imaginary characters, they are real for an author. I remember when the first character in my book died, I wept like a baby,” shared Amish.

Message to readers…

Since there are numerous choices for entertainment, Amish feels that a book is a different experience than a movie. “For example, a movie is a short-term relationship (2-3 hours) while a book stays with you for a week or two. Though each form of entertainment has its own joy, the book has its own importance,” he told.

What next?

“Though I have not decided on the subject of my next series, but one thing I am sure is that it would be in the space of mythology and history,” concluded Amish.