Dreamspeak

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Not always muse-driven I am. I've my share of superstition too. Say about a dream I had a week back. It was something like this…if I recollect the contents well.

Venue of occurrence: not known. Time: possibly the morning hours. There was a high-rise building and I had gone up to its top floor. It might be a godown…or possibly a post office, or something as cluttered as that. Nobody was with me but I was aware that some people were just around. I had not taken the lift to reach there and had climbed all the way taking the stairs. Having gone there I looked down and my goggles fell off-yes, I was wearing a pair of black goggles. The object went away from my sight quite rapidly, bobbing up and down the stairs; and for a moment I could not decide what to do. Then suddenly I came to the ground. I cannot recollect precisely if I had taken the lift route. Reaching the ground floor I could retrieve my lost pair of goggles. Wow! It was intact!!

I don't know if interpreting a dream of this nature could be always correct, yet I feel I should try it now.

For sometime in the past, I've been considering if I should go for a reprint of "The Remix of Orchid". The stock is rapidly getting exhausted and I've not yet got any big orders. I'm expecting a few such orders from the libraries and the distributors. If I get them, I might need to reprint. Or else how do I supply them?

This means again some investment, some risk and some chase of the difficult people responsible to give me BIG orders. Is it possible? I feel shaky. Business is not my cup of tea. Whatever small leisure I get, I invest in reading, browsing, and creative writing. And if I go into book business so much, I'll not be able to write much. Then, how do I write my next book "The Roadshow" I've promised my readers?

Confused mind is dream's workshop-what more can I interpret for the present?

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A. N. Nanda
Bhubaneswar
23/06/2007
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Just a Memorabilia

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I’m now rapidly distributing my book and the principle is ‘First come first serve’. This means people nearer to me get the first chance to have the book. And it has exactly happened so, so far.

My curiosity had led me to enquire who exactly buy my book, for it is possible to track down the buyers in some cases. What I found really surprised me…and to some extent, saddened me too. All those who are in possession of the copies of my book in exchange of a paltry sum of Rs 250.00 are not likely to read them. They have bought them as the objects of memorabilia!

Didn’t I write the stories for taking long six years’ time, correct and refine them during the course of last three years, spend hours with the pagesetter and photoshop professionals, fight with them for a perfect design, borrow money to self-publish? Were all these done just for the sake of creating a thousand pieces of memorabilia? Why all my readers not able to compete with these collectors of memorabilia?

It’s a difficult job to reach the booksellers for they do not want to source their books from an individual author--a poor self-published author. One has to go through the established channel of book distributors, spend on them and jack up the printed price to accommodate these middlemen in the trade. Despite all these, I have arranged with some bookshops in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Vashi, Trivandrun, Hyderabad, Banglore, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Raipur, Shimla, Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur, Port Blair, Vadodara, Rajkot. Full list is available at the link . I’ve even arranged online sale of my book in US with a portal linked to this . Still my readers are miles away.

Yet there is a silver lining.

Of late I’ve got a few e-mails ordering for the copies of the book and a few other comments at my blog expressing desires to buy my book. They are from the respectable people like the principals of an engineering college, a high level functionary in a voluntary organization, a publisher who once rejected my submission, a diplomat from a prominent European country, a fellow netizen and the like. This is gratifying. An author probably needs that, to start with. And the rest are just incidental.

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By
A. N. Nanda
10/06/2007
Bhubaneswar
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Hot Cakes---An Exchange of Love

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The area I live in has a baker's outlet known as "The Cake Shop". It's a shop frequented by people who don't mind spending money on cold drinks, ice-creams, fast food. For birthday cakes, one can visit the shop, for it charges reasonably, delivers in time with a guarantee of full satisfaction.

Only yesterday I gave the shopkeeper an idea:

"Would you mind displaying my books and selling them?"

"Oh yes," I was surprised to get the response. Of all places, my book should be displayed in a baker's corner!

And today I took only two books, quite hesitatingly, repenting for the impromptu request I made yesterday. But as I entered his shop, there was a shopper who saw the book in my hand. He looked at it wistfully--believe me for honesty's sake--he did that wistfully at the attractive cover page of my book! Curious as he was, he asked--or rather the shopkeeper indicated and the shopper responded almost simultaneously--and I said that the book was on sale.

Then promptly he paid Rs. 250.00 and bought a copy of it. I asked if he was an avid reader and he replied in negative. He said that his wife loves to read and he wanted to present the book to his wife.


I didn't return empty-handed. My customer bought the book for the sake of love and I must emulate him. I spent the entire amount on a few packs of cookies, Amul cheese and Top Raman noodles that my sons would love to munch at this afternoon.
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By
A. N. Nanda
Bhubaneswar
02-06-2007
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