Interview with eBook author Sabarna Roy

Sabarna Roy (42) is a qualified Civil Engineer from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He works in a senior management position in a manufacturing and engineering construction company.

He started writing during his University days, mostly English and Bengali poems. He stopped writing after he left University and joined work. After a gap of 19 years he started writing once again mostly to reconnect with himself.

Sabarna has published 9 Lives and a Death, a collection of short stories as an eBook through the Chillibreeze ePublishing. Another collection of his 4 stories is presented in ‘Quadrilateral’, which is going to be published in traditionally bound book format in May 2009. The 14 stories in the 2 collections form a story cycle essentially dealing with the melancholy of love and loss.

In the following interview with Radhika Chitnis and Priya Kaushik, he talks about his experiences as an eBook author and how his first eBook was published at Chillibreeze.

PK: What made you decide to offer your book as an eBook, rather than taking the traditional publishing approach?

SR: I believe if an eBook is properly and intelligently marketed then it can reach a much larger audience than a traditionally published book of same quality, at a much lower cost and by consuming lesser quantum of energy. The benefit should be passed on to the consumer while pricing the product. This belief is at the core of my decision.

RC: What made you choose Chillibreeze as your publisher?

SR: “The range of topics dealt by Chillibreeze on its site, so deftly, impressed me.”

PK: What kind of support does an author need to get his eBook published?

SR: An author as always requires support in quality editing, layout and design of a book and subsequent promotion or marketing of the book to be able to reach a wider audience.

PK: What were the biggest challenges you faced as an eBook author?

SR: The challenge still exists; that is to write a balanced text, which will appeal to the readers who read on their computers / laptops. I believe this group of readers has comparatively lower degrees of patience than readers of traditionally published books.

RC: Do you think the Indian publishing industry is easy/difficult/impossible to break into for a first-time author? Is it easier for non-fiction writers compared to those who write fiction?

SR: “…I am inclined to believe the publishing industry in India (I have no idea about outside India) is hostile to a first-time author. Maybe for the non-fiction writers it could be comparatively easier. This is because books on travel, recipe and management sell faster than fiction.”

RC: What gave you the idea for 9 Lives and a Death?

SR: “In the summer of 2007 I had decided to write a novel. Later I changed the decision to writing a collection of stories, more specifically a story cycle; the series of stories linked peripherally by the thread of temperament and setting. But I decided to write these stories, the ‘novel’ way, by introducing multiple vantage points in a given story. I decided to allow the author to enter here and there – either through internal dialogues or by direct intervention.”

RC: Can you describe the experience of working with Chillibreeze during publishing and after?

SR: “First was the submission and approval of the proposal in the standard format of Chillibreeze. Subsequently, I was asked to submit my stories for editorial approval. Once this was over, next was signing of the mutually agreed publishing agreement. This was followed by meticulous editing of the stories. This was a joint effort of the author and the editors of Chillibreeze. This of course included the finalization of the Author’s Note.
Then the cover artwork was made with the author’s approval. After this the soft copy of the final book was made and sent to me for my final corrections and approval. Once this was concluded, the book was made online. The editorial support, preparation of design and layout and the cover artwork were fantastic.”

PK: Are you working on any book presently? Would you recommend e-publishing to budding authors?

SR: After completing a story cycle and a poem cycle, I’m now writing a novel. I’ll definitely recommend e-publishing to budding authors for short stories and poems.

RC: Finally, can you give some advice to those writers out there who have a book in their heads and want to see it in print some day?

SR: “First they should no longer keep the book in their heads. They should make it readable and try their fortune with Chillibreeze, since Chillibreeze is genuinely making an effort to become a hub for good new writers.”

RC: Thanks Sabarna. Wish you good luck as an author. We hope other writers like you will benefit from Chillibreeze’s ePublishing services.