DNA on Indian authors who have embraced blogging

Daily News and Analysis (DNA) has published an article on Indian authors who are using blogs to promote their books. Samit Basu, Chetan Bhagat, Dilip D’Souza and Ashok Banker have been mentioned. Like most MSM articles, this piece doesn’t mention the URL’s of the bloggers.

Over the last 12-18 months, several published authors have taken to blogging. For several reasons, ranging from publicity for their book to airing their views on general issues for a public debate. Ashok Banker, author of Byculla Boy, and the recent Ramayana series, has a blog on Indian English. Samit Basu, author of India's first science fiction novel in English, The Simoqin Prophecies, uses his blog Duck of Destiny to promote other Indian writers.

"Blogs help you express yourself without the fear of scrutiny of editors, critics and journalists," says Chetan Bhagat, whose recent work Five Point Someone, has been steadily climbing the bestseller charts in Indian bookstores, and runs an eponymous website. "Before my twin sons were born, I was nervous and neglected at the same time. It was then that I started blogging. My blog is on fatherhood as well as my fiction. Sometimes there are ideas that do not require the space of a whole book. That's where a blog comes in handy."

Basu feels every blogger (there are more than 8.5 million active blogs) is an author. "The author creates a highly individual work, gets feedback, and can even get to turn a blog into a book. A blog is the last frontier for publishing."