Reading Habit and Authors

 Nishka Rathi introduced me to a new author a couple of years ago. In a bookstore I have explored new authors too, for instance a couple of Japanese authors unknown to me, such as Kazuo Ishigara. Liked some of the new stuff too.

But I generally prefer a few known authors of fiction, such as Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, AA Fair aka Erle Stanley Gardner (he wrote under two names, for two sets of characters he created). And the Japanese Haruki Murakami, whose writing is surreal.

For humour of different kinds, my preferences are Dave Barry, PG Wodehouse, and in Marathi, the incomparable Pu. La. Deshpande. Also intergalactic humour from Douglas Adams.

In non-fiction, I like biographies, and thoughtful people like Osho and J. Krishnamurti who write about philosophy, and life's meaning.

My book collection has not stopped growing, and I am scared I may be buried under a pile of books some day.

How to Write a Book

 Like everything else, you should want to write one, and badly. Motivation internally arising is what leads you into the exercise, in my view. For instance, a strong urge to simplify the concepts of Marketing Research had me motivated enough to pen my first book- on Marketing Research, now in its fourth edition and used by many B schools or research scholars. I wrote it in the style I taught- lots of examples, including cases written by past students. I might as well say that I am against the current trend to not use packaged software which is simple to use, and teach programming all over again to unsuspecting kids (of all ages).

The rest falls into place, unless it's fiction that you are trying to write. That I don't have any advice on, since I haven't tried writing it. Maybe other writers can offer some. The second genre I have tried is non-fiction, or autobiographical. I first wrote this autobiography around 2009, and it was entirely planned, written and (self) published within 8-9 months. Pothi was the platform I used, and my daughter did the cover design. Writing came easy, because all I had to do was pick on incidents from my own life, or events as they unfolded. 

Both types have found readers, and I got some feedback from readers, most of it positive. I also wrote a couple of other books- on Services Marketing with cases written by IIMK students, and one on Brand Management with Bhagyalakshmi Venkatesh, a friend and ex-colleague. More recently, a collated book of cases on Digital Marketing was published with Romi Sainy and me editing some original Indian cases sourced from both our alumni.

Pic from the launch of my autobiography, above. The publisher, Jaya Jha, and Sharu Rangnekar who launched the book, are with me.