Aptly titled ‘Book the blog’, The Hindu promoted Mind Blogs 1.0 by calling co-authors Zahid H Javali, Christina Daniels and Nirmala Govindarajan ‘three musketeers on road to fame’. You can view the story here
Here goes an extract from the story:
They laid bare their thoughts on the world around them — first on their blogs or on pieces of paper — and then brought it to book. (And now they blog about their book.) Because hey! People didn’t seem to be thinking about things around them anymore. “You sometimes forget what living is all about,” says Christina Daniels, one of the co-authors of “Mind Blogs 1.0”, trying to explain the why and how of the book.
Fellow authors (and journalists) Nirmala Govindarajan and Zahid H. Javali join Christina in this rambling journey to find themselves. This sort of venture is not new in the setting of Koshy’s where many an idea have taken shape over coffee or beer; this book too has its roots there.
“The initial idea came from Nirmala; she wanted a book that speaks to people…not just young people…about things around them,” says Christina, currently doing marketing communications in a software firm. “From then on, it was discussions at Koshy’s.”
What prompted them to come out with a book filled with something as personal as a blog entry? “Even a personal blog is still public,” Christina is quick to point out. “It’s not like a diary and everyone has access to it. But there is a large audience out there that doesn’t blog or go onto the Internet to talk about life. And technology hasn’t reached a point where you don’t need a book.”
The book’s title too points at the nature of the pieces — thinking aloud. Moreover the format is such that of the book goes online, it’ll pass off as a blog, she says. “It’s the mind that is blogging,” offers Christina. The “1.0” indicates there will be more versions of the book in future — they have called for bloggers to send them posts, which might feature in their next book — they’ve got bout 40 since October last year. But, for starters, they wanted to keep it to the three of themselves.
“When you’re starting something, it’s easier with just three people. With a first book, you have to determine its nature or it gets diluted,” says Christina. Zahid came into the picture to add diversity — the “guy voice” — to the book. “We didn’t want it to be a ‘three women bloggers’ sort of book,” laughs Christina. Incidentally, Zahid’s company Write Wing Media has published the book.
Did they decide to publish on their own because it’s difficult to get large publishers? “No, since the format of the book was different, we felt that if we go to a traditional publisher, they might want us to compromise on the format.” So right from the beginning they wanted to publish on their own. “But all three of us being writers, we do understand what good and bad writing is, so we didn’t really feel the need for an editor. I have worked on two books on my own and I understand what an editor can bring to the table…”