OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
I'm just back from two weeks cycling through South West India – from Mysore in Karnataka, through Tamil Nadu and into Kerala.
Here's some of what I thought about, as well as some pictures from the trip.
Write in order to live, but also to live in order to write
Since September 2011 I have been making a full-time living as an author, speaker and entrepreneur. I love my work, it's my passion as well as my income and I write because I love it, as well as to pay the bills.
But we all need inspiration and time for an Artist's Date (an idea from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way). I'm also a visual writer and setting is incredibly important to me. I find my inspiration in places, from architecture and culture, in religion and myth.
Traveling has always been central to my life, my husband even says I have ‘itchy foot syndrome'. When I worked as an IT consultant, I needed to go on holiday, to escape, a few weeks to forget how much I hated what I did. But now I love my work and my life, travel is for my soul, my creative spirit, the compost of my mind. I need to live hard in order to write, so trips like these will continue to be part of my journey.
Active meditation. Get in touch with the body again.
As writers, we spend a lot of time in our heads. We are supremely in touch with our thoughts, feelings and emotions but sometimes, we forget the physical body.
On this trip, I cycled almost every day. In hot sun and almost monsoon rain, under stormy clouds, sprinkled with ocean spray, battered by the wind. Through the high pine forests of the Western Ghats and the protected national park forest of Bandipur, where wild elephants roam; through eucalyptus forests and tea plantations, down into bamboo, rice paddies and coconut palms; on pot-holed roads filled with tuk-tuks, wandering holy cows, pedestrians, bikes, buses and cars, the ever-present hooting and organized chaos of India driving.
I have a Brompton bike in London, a small-wheeled, folding bike and I used to have a ‘sit-up-and-beg' when I was at Oxford. I have never done a serious days cycling in my life, so this was quite a change for me. A 27-geared mountain bike, 60+ kilometers a day on varied terrain (although there was a support bus, which I'll admit to using!) on variable roads … it was a challenge.
Need refreshment of the mind? Try a digital fast
I spent the 15 day trip with no internet, no cellphone, no social. This was entirely by choice as India is a highly connected nation, but it was a decision to focus on the moment and give myself some head-space.
In August, I launched ‘How To Market A Book‘ and also ‘One Day In Budapest‘, as well as keeping to the blog/podcast/speaking schedule.
Before I left, I was exhausted, ready to give up on social media, the blog and anything that didn't just let me write and sleep.
But all I needed was a break!
I love you guys, my blog readers, I love my podcast interviews, I love my twitter fun and everything I do online actually has a purpose, as well as being enjoyable. But I need to make sure I don't burn out. There's a vibration, a speed at which we rev up to when we spend too long immersed online. It's addictive, exhilarating, awesome fun – and I believe it's necessary – but it's not mandatory all the time.
Of course, I knew this before!
I removed email from my phone about a month ago and that helped a lot. I am also now tracking my hours on a timesheet using OfficeTime app on the iPhone (an idea from the guys on the Self Publishing Podcast – language warning). This helps me monitor the time I spend online vs creation. Now I am adding in at least a digital Sabbath every week, and perhaps a whole week off now and then.
In between the bouts of physicality, I had a lot of time for deeper thought, for hand-writing my diary, for focusing on the spiritual side of life that I always need to return to. These things will emerge in my fiction for sure, and I am brimming with new ideas for stories!
My impressions of books and publishing in India
- Print dominates the market and book shops seem to be mostly independent, choosing surefire Western hit authors to stock the shelves along with Indian authors. The mix of fiction and non-fiction in English is impressive and even the small bookshops I visited had a good selection.
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Chinese fishing nets at Fort Cochin Many Indians read and speak English and there are (at least) twice as many English speakers in India as there are in the UK (perhaps unsurprising in a population of over 1 billion). It's the language most used for signs and also for communications between Indians across the states as there are so many languages, they need a common one. Literacy is high in India and there is a rising middle class based on a booming economy. So India is a big potential market for writers in English, hence why Amazon has recently opened a store there …
- However, Amazon is barely known as yet, ebooks are a blip on the radar and I can't see the rise of ebooks until the internet is a faster speed which will in turn proliferate smart phones, e-reading apps and smart-phones. BUT/ given the
- I love India and I want to spend more time there. I want to write books set in India and use the rich culture, mythology and religion in my work. And yes, I want to reach that market. So I am definitely going to keep an eye on things and try to grow my online fan-base at least. For now, I am going to sort out my pricing in rupees on Kindle – the print books I saw were around 150 – 499 rupees for fiction. You might want to check your pricing on Amazon.in too.
- You can see some more photos from my trip here on Flickr – all Creative Commons. If you like the look of the trip, we went with Exodus Travel: Cycle Kerala and Tropical India.
Right, back to business as usual … please do let me know your thoughts in the comments. And, Indian readers, I would love to hear from you about your thoughts on the market in India, and how authors could start connecting/learning more. I'd also love to give away some review copies of my books for the Amazon.in store, so please leave a comment if you're interested.
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1 2 3 4 Next »What a wonderful trip and great insights, Joanna! And it's always when you're tired and near the end that the spills happen.
I know! I even felt like I should stop when I had lunch that day, as I was a bit wobbly, but I really wanted to finish the trip on the bike. Lesson truly learned!
A digital fast would be the biggest challenge for me. I am an admitted Internet/social media addict. I realize the importance of taking a week or two and doing something else. One day, one day...
It's worth it Nick. I thought it would be a struggle, but getting out of the house is what makes it work!
WOW, sounds like you had a very interesting trip to South India. It's great to read when someone from outside your country visits your place and details it so well, it makes you feel wonderful. And by the way I'm from Mysore. Sorry for your injury though, I wish you get well soon.
One thing I can promise to anyone is that a trip to India will change your life! No matter how small it may be but it's bound to happen. And if I recall correctly it's your second trip to India (First was Varanasi I guess).
I just wanted to let you know that there are a lot of young Indian writers who are taking up Indie over traditional print publishing as Indie gives you freedom to publish on your own and market your work however you want. The Indie trend is still picking up but its happening. Lots of wanna be authors are starting blogs and websites to publish their works.
The main problem with authors not being able to crack the Indian market is probably due to lack of marketing. Only the juggernauts get their books to the readers here. Nothing against them but I feel there are lot of Indie authors and publishers who would do great in Indian markets. But to do that first they have to make sure that Indian readers know about their works. People here hardly come across a book written by an Indie author unless it is already an international hit or someone is making a movie out of it.
So I hope that everyone starts taking Indian market seriously too.
Hi Shrinidhi,
Great to hear that self-publishing is taking off, and things are changing all over the place. I think the move into digital reading will facilitate more success as marketing is only effective if people can also buy the books online.
I'm going to focus on learning more about marketing and publishing in India in 2014, so I will look forward to you being part of the conversation.
Thanks, Joanna
Wow. What a vigorous post. It's obvious that your time off has served you well and done as much service to your readers. I loved reading this and feel almost as refreshed as you sound.
I've tried to do a total internet fast for the month of September. There was a crabbiness creeping up on me from all directions that didn't feel at all productive :-) I also felt a need to re-connect with story as its evolved in this new climate. I'm so glad I snuck a peek at the virtual world and read this post. Very nicely done and all the benefits of taking a break are reflected in each word of this post.
Sorry to hear you took a nasty fall, but as ever, your resilience was strengthened by viewing it from a place of vulnerability. Great stuff and a wonderful read. (Now I crawl back into my cave of fasting).
Thanks for coming out to comment, Cyd. I was feeling that crabbiness too, and it's definitely from over-consumption. Like that post-Christmas day over-eating feeling ... the time off is so necessary. I am going to enforce it more often :)
Hi, I'm @batbrat, a follower of yours from twitter. I thoroughly enjoyed this post, and I'm glad you had fun visiting my country. I've lived and traveled in southern India, but there are many places that I am yet to visit. Your post has given me ideas. I definitely enjoy reading books, and I'm glad that you wish to write for the Indian market. It's with some embarrassment that I admit to not having read any of your books, something I hope to change at the earliest. I'd love the opportunity to review one or more of your books. As someone who has made the journey that I hope to make, I'm very glad to have followed you and started reading your blog. I hope your injuries are all healed now.
Cheers!
Thanks Bharathan, and I'd love to send you a review copy of one of my books. Can you email me joanna@TheCreativePenn.com and I will reply with one. I can't get your email from your comment for some reason. Thanks, Joanna
Thanks so much for sharing, Joanna. Glad to have you back though. I missed your podcasts and blog posts. Good for you for taking time to refresh and defrag.
Thanks Scott - podcast imminent!
Congrats on your successful Indian recharge adventure. It's always nice to power down the digital and just live a little (you know, smell the roses and all that jazz). As far as digital publishing and India are concerned; there's tons of e-pub stuff flowing oozing out of India right now and indies across the globe are already competing for eyeballs against it. Yes, add the fact that many Indians are VERY English literate and very "motivated" to make money (the writing process..fugetaboutit) and you have a recipe for the current deluge of Indian digital e-publishing. The other day a review site that I read indie slush, er, uhmm, potential indie novels for review (yeah that's it) for received a "query" from India. It went something like this, "I see you review (listed the genres) and I would like to make opportunity available to you for thousands of novels for your review". The offer went on to state that they were from Indian "up-and-coming" authors and they needed US review avenues. I did kick the "offer" up the chain of command and a polite thanks-but-no-thanks response was issued. Just thinking about slogging through chick-lit (yes, that was listed as genre available) fresh out of Mumbai makes me want to pull my hair out, Uggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!
Again, glad you enjoyed India!
There will always be books of varying quality - from any country, in any genre - so I think we all just need to recognize the need for standards across the board. I just delete any pitch emails that aren't professional, and I don't read books I don't like. As I intend to try and pitch some Indian book bloggers in time, I'll ensure my own pitches are good enough!
On a writing retreat with several other authors, I had to walk a small distance for internet access. The first day or so we all made the walk. After that, none of us could be bothered. We still recall that as our most productive retreat.
I'm glad you took time just to be.
I think perhaps all internet access should be removed on a writing retreat!
I am completely inspired! I have some vacation days to burn off very soon and am in need of some time off from writing and blogging as well. This is an idea to consider and I love the pictures!
Hi Joanna
What a fantastic blog and photos! I love all things Indian and Saturday night is always Curry Night in our house with friends bringing different dishes.
Great tips too re removing email from phone and i LOVE the idea of a media-free day each week. It's such an obviously healthy move. Now ... which day? ...
Thanks again and i wish you all the best!