Hey Book Lovers,
I am so excited today to have with me for virtual coffee, Santosh Avvannavar. Santosh has authored many books like Surrogate Author, Adhuri Prem Kahaniya, Dear Wife, Your Husband is not a Superhero,
Second Heart etc.
His latest release is called "Title is Untitled" and tackles the sensitive social issues in India and aims to create an awareness among people.
Welcome to Njkinny's World of Books & Stuff, Santosh!
Let's start the interview.
Q1. Tell us something about yourself.
I am presently working as a counselor at Karnataka State
Women’s University, Vijapur, Karnataka training to 127 affiliated college women
students under a theme ‘Mission Empowerment’. Continuous traveling has paved a
way to various books. I have published 9 books, 25 research papers, 16
conference papers, some articles appeared in Vijaya Times (Mangalore), The
African Bulletin (The Netherlands) and magazines. In brief, what I do is travel,
training, writing and praying.
I do not have specific genre while writing. It has happened
vice-versa all ways. However all the books so far have theme for example Second
Heart dealt with Kidney issues; Be a B.A. was specific to Business Analysis;
Title is Untitled was on 11 social elements; Black Grey and White was on
HIV/AIDS related issues.
Q3. Which one of your published books is your favourite and why?
Q3. Which one of your published books is your favourite and why?
This is a challenging task to zero down to one as each book
is of different theme. I would like to put my views as – Enjoyed writing was
‘Surrogate Author’; Satisfaction writing ‘Black, Grey and White’; Emotional
writing ‘Title is Untitled’; Challenging and attention seeking were ‘Be a B.A.’
and ‘Get a Job WITHOUT an Interview’.
The cohesive environment that constituted of people,
situation, facts, and objective have coupled to form a book. Surrogate Author
was out of criticism for the book ‘Adhuri Prem Kahaniya’.
Q5. According to you, what is the hardest part of writing?
Post writing session – Editing and Re-working on the
manuscript found it to be draining exercise.
Q6. How do you approach your writing so as to make them
relatable to readers?
Unfortunately I’m not into business writing. I write because
my heart goes out to it and it automatically moves from heart to brain to hand.
Q7. What kind of research do you do for your books?
I have tried to treat each story with sanity and see it from
various views not to hurt people. Keeping that objective in mind I look for
various technical details. For example ‘Black, Grey and White’ need technical
details of post office information. A questionnaire and cross-examination are important.
Newspaper cut outs, magazines, visit to victims place are part of process.
Q8. What other books have you written and where can we find
them to buy?
Adhuri Prem Kahaniya ; Dear Wife, Your Husband is not a
Superhero ; Second Heart; Get a Job WITHOUT an Interview, Be a B.A., Paint by
Number; Surrogate Author; Title is Untitled; Black grey and White are available
at Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi, Bookadda, Infibeam and others.
Q9. What are the ten things you would advice to the aspiring
authors?
- Always listen to your heart
- Just write – Don’t let anything hamper this step
- Peer Read them
- Re-write based on point 3
- Let stranger read after point 4
- Re-write/look into view points after point 5
- Hire Editor (2-4) and Proof Readers
- Discuss with editors and proof readers
- Get promising testimonials, cover page, pricing and pick reviewers.
- Talk, write and promote – Start the next writing!
Q10. What were the steps you took to get published?
I have mostly chosen self-publication over traditional
publishing house. I feel I could reach to the audience through my own ways
rather than time testing ways. However if one is looking to make business
proportion out of writing, then its good to have large traditional publishing
house not small or med size.
Q11. What is next for you, writing wise?
I have two manuscripts ready to publish – one is likely to
published during Feb 2015 and another in March 2015. Editors, reviewers and
peer readers look both manuscripts positively with the theme in book formation.
The Feb 2015 release will bring back the memories of Meri Amrita play done by
Shabana Amzi.
Q12. How can the readers connect with you?
I’m accessible at www.facebook.com/santosh.store
or www.facebook.com/santosh.avvannavar
or santosh.avvannavar@gmail.com
to connect or write. I’m open to help aspiring writings.
Thanks for talking to me, Santosh and sharing your thoughts!
Njkinny's World of Books & Stuff wishes you the very best for the future and hope to read more from you. :)
Thanks for talking to me, Santosh and sharing your thoughts!
Njkinny's World of Books & Stuff wishes you the very best for the future and hope to read more from you. :)
Author's Bio:
Santosh started his career as a consultant and Soft Skills Trainer. After his college education from NITK, Surathkal, he worked as a researcher at University of Eindhoven, University of Twente, and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was also the Placement President while working at IISC, Bangalore. He has over twenty-five publications of mostly research documents in national and international journals. He has also authored sixteen conference papers and regularly writes articles for a national and worldwide daily paper. He also works as an advisor for different organizations. He also dabbles in fiction writing and is the author of Adhuri Prem Kahaniya; Dear Wife, Your Husband is not a Superhero, Second Heart and Get a Job WITHOUT an Interview; Be A B.A.; Surrogate Author. He likes to devote his personal time in writing for a website, namely the Amrita Foundation for HRD (www.amritafoundation.wordpress.com). He has conducted seminars and training sessions for more than 40,000 people in India and abroad over the last seven years.
Buying Links to Santosh's books:
Amazon:
Amazon IN: Paperback
Black, Grey & White by Santosh Avvannavar
Amazon: Paperback
Amazon IN: Kindle Ebook
Amazon: Paperback
Amazon IN: Kindle Ebook
Find the other books by Santosh here: Amazon