Author Interview with Rajesh Konsam | Author of Bittersweet | Debut Novel

Author Interview With

Rajesh Konsam

Author of Bittersweet - Debut Novel

follow this blog for more such content!!👉

Hey Readers' Fam, we are back with another Author Interview. This time we will be having a conversation with the author of  'Bittersweet', most welcome Rajesh Konsam.

If you don't know about 'Bittersweet' book, then check out my review of Bittersweet here.

About the author:

Rajesh Konsam is a young software engineer and writer. A geek at heart, he loves programming and feel-good novels in equal measure. When not writing poems, he ticks travel destinations off his bucket list. Although Rajesh hails from Manipur, he works in Chennai after completing his B.E. in Coimbatore.

Bittersweet is Rajesh’s debut novel, and he is working on his next. Rajesh tweets as @RajeshKonsam, runs a feed on Instagram as @rajeshkonsam, and responds well to feedback at rajeshkonsam@live.com. More at rajeshkonsam.com

Follow him on Instagram: @rajeshkonsam

Reach out to his Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRajeshKonsam/

Twitter Handle: @RajeshKonsam

Order your copy of Bittersweet here: https://amzn.to/30GvVce

Before we start, there are two options for you. You can either enjoy the video of the interview or read it here on the blog. Thanks to the author for recording the answers in the camera for you all readers! (Video is available with subtitles)

Let's Start!

Q: Why you chose this musical theme for your book?

A: I wanted to write a story about young millennials who come together and share their creative ideas, help each other out during their formative period and be emotionally available during your failures. Also, I'm a huge music fan and my brother is a musician, so yeah!

Q: The protagonist had many flaws yet your readers connected with the character and found very relatable, so what was the idea behind that character?

A: The protagonist here possesses the mindset of a lot of disturbed young millennials from our generation. So I decided to leave him that way. I think, he is more or less younger version of me. I remember having the same set of thoughts when I was younger and I remember this quote from my favorite authors, Anthony Doerr. A real diamond is never perfect.

Q: How important it is to follow passion according to you?

A: I think it's very important whether it's your daytime job or whether it's your secondary or tertiary passion. Passion is what keeps driving a life. Passion is important to make your reality better than your dreams. I wake up every morning knowing that I have so many things to look forward in life and they makes me happy.

Q: How is it being a writer in India and how was your experience publishing your debut novel?

A: I think it's a good time to be a writer in India. If you look around there are so many stories that need to be talk, there's a lot of culture and a lot of diversity. Yeah. I love being a writer in India. Coming to the second part of your question, how was your experience publishing your debut novel? I think it has been rather a very long journey for me. It was depressing in the beginning, a lot of publishers rejected me. But then again I met this wonderful literary agent Suhail Mathur from The Book Bakers literary agency. He helped me find a couple of publishers out of which Vishwakarma Publications came to my life and it has been an uphill journey ever since.

Q: What steps are you following for improving your language?

A: I must say, if you want to improve your language, you need to follow very good authors. In my case, I love reading books from Booker Prize shortlisted or Pulitzer Prize shortlisted authors, they write very well. But since I'm a contemporary fiction novelist, I love reading magazines, magazine interviews, I also watch Talk shows, they are very interesting and they help you improve your language.

Q: How’s been your journey so far as an author?

A: I think it has been a very good learning experience. I met a lot of new people, I met a lot of readers, I've learned a lot in just one month and the book is surprisingly doing well. I think I have to thank all my readers, I have to thank my publisher, I have to thank my literary agent, thank you so much. I'm starting to enjoy my success.

Q: You favorite book, author and genre and why?

A: I wish I could name any other book but my favorite book is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It's my favorite because there's very good character development in the book, I felt for the male lead, I could feel his pain and anguish throughout the book and it's one of the best examples of the good characterizations. Secondly my favorite author, I like Paulo Coelho who wrote 11 minutes, the kind of satisfaction I got when I read 11 minutes that I don't get from a lot of writers. And my favorite genre is modern classic because it has an artistic touch to it and is still set in familiar world.

Q: The most cliché romance plot you’ve ever read.

A: I once read about this novel where in, protagonist ends up in a mental hospital because he broke up with his girlfriend. I think its fine but then again the execution was very bad. And no, I didn't like it.

Q: 3 reasons why people should read your book ‘Bittersweet’?

A: Number 1: The thorough research done for the book. When you read the book, you'll see.
Number 2: Cultural diversity. There are characters from Kerala, characters from South India and Indo-Portuguese female lead and minor characters from the North-East.
And Number 3: There are a few surprises in the book.

Q: Three secrets about the book which readers don’t know yet.

A: Number 1: The book was written when I was a college student. I did my engineering in Coimbatore and that's when I completed the first draft of the book. It took some time for the book to get published.
Number 2: The Mumbai which you find in Bittersweet is an entirely fictional one. I have never been to Mumbai but I plan on visiting Mumbai soon.
Number 3: I maintain a colored chart for every book I write and in Bittersweet I used different colors to track flow of different characters and I did this primarily for shadow some of the characters and to help them throughout different chapters. I don't want some of my characters to go missing from chapters and that's why I used character chart using different colors. I think that's all. Thank You!

Thank you so much for being here Rajesh! We all wish you the best!

Show some love!!

Order your copy of Bittersweet here: https://amzn.to/30GvVce

Instagram: @rajeshkonsam

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRajeshKonsam/

Twitter: @RajeshKonsam

==================================

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮

Author Interview: Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of 23:59:59 | Dhiraj Sindhi (Part-2)

Author Interview

Sadashiv Pradhan

Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59'

Giving Advice On Pursuing Unconventional Career Options!

Hey readers' fam, welcome back to the author interview with Sadashiv Pradhan, the author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59 The Journey of survival in the B-Schools of India'. I have reviewed the book, check it here, if you haven't yet. And I can't recommend it enough.

FOR MORE SUCH CONTENT, FOLLOW MY BLOG (Click the button here somewhere👉)

Again, let me introduce y'all to Sadashiv.

Sadashiv Pradhan has completed his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is currently working in Star India Pvt. Ltd. He is a passionate writer and prolific storyteller. He started writing 23:59:59 when he was in XLRI, where he believed that there is a story to be told- the story behind the curtains of otherwise glamorous B-school culture, which every graduate goes through but hardly anyone speaks about. The story of survival in the B-schools of India.

Follow him on Instagram: @storytellersada

Check out his Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sadashiv-Pradhan

Twitter Handle: @storytellersada

Order your copy of 23:59:59 here: https://amzn.to/2WuH6GE

Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of Amazon Bestseller 23:59:59

"If you want something then have the courage to do anything in your power to earn it. There is no right or wrong in this world! Grab it before someone else snatches it from you"

Today, Sadashiv will answer the most important questions we face in our lives. Again, which I think, will be helpful to all readers, students, parents and budding authors. I hope this interview will be resourceful to writers and readers.

Q: What do you enjoy the most apart from writing?

A: I do enjoy investing and trading in the share market. I have been an investor since last three years, recently I have started trading as well. I enjoy the process of research-analysis of stock & learning various strategies to maximize returns. I do believe money is an important part of life and you should try to create multiple income sources – if worked out diligently, Indian share market can become an excellent income source.

Q: Your answer to the ultimate question ‘Money vs. Passion?’ and message to your readers and their parents.

A: My position on this debate is simple – ‘Life me passion ka boz mat banane do!’ Many people from our generation mistakenly assume that for ‘following passion’ you need to leave the job (money), then and then only you can be successful – it has become fashionable to do so! Although it might have given success to a few, I would always recommend against it.

Money brings stability in life, and financial security gives you a cushion to try different things while following your passion. If you have a good amount of bank balance then success while following passion doesn’t become a necessity and failure becomes a learning experience.

Yes, juggling both things is difficult, it wasn’t easier for me either, it took me 3 years to write a book, and I hardly get time to promote my book, but my well-paying job ensures that I am not dependent on the success of 23:59:59. Hence, my advice to everyone who feels that they are stuck in their job and want to ‘follow passion’ is to start doing what you love the most without quitting the job – a point might come in the future when passion will give you sufficient money but before that, it would be too risky to quit job.

Q: What would be your advice to aspirants who may want to pursue unconventional career options?

A: Be selfish! Be selfish to yourself, to your passion, and to your dreams! Our generation is spending or rather wasting too much time on toxic relationships and on worthless jobs/corporations that would not think twice before replacing us. I don’t understand when someone says ‘I am crazily in love with him’ or ‘I can do anything for her’; that craziness, that ‘deewanapan’ should be reserved for your dreams; the person for whom you are willing to do anything should be YOU! Love is a choice, and in today’s world, that choice is just one right swipe away. Those, for whom you are willing to do anything will not hesitate to leave you, but your dream and your passion – that is something no one can take away from you. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe in love, it’s a wonderful feeling, we need someone in life to grow old with or to share everything with but that person should not be bigger than our dreams. if you want to pursue an unconventional career then first you need to be crazily in love with that dream, rest of the things will take care of themselves.

Q: Any upcoming project you’re working on? Tell us a brief about it.

A: Absolutely! There are a couple of projects I am working on, but if I tell you about them then it would be nothing less than a joke. As I said earlier, one should never hesitate to dream bigger, if your dream doesn’t sound like a joke then you are not aiming higher – if ten years ago, a boy who did his schooling from a Marathi medium, who could barely speak in English would have announced that he is going to be a bestselling author then everyone around him would have laughed but again, here we are! So, yes, there are a couple of things on my mind, let’s see how that turns out to be, maybe after ten years, will again refer to this question, until then…

Again, Thank you so much, Sadashiv for being with us and for giving advice on pursuing dreams and discussing unconventional career options, that would definitely help readers with quality decisions and great content.

So, that was the Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59' The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India.

My audience and I, wish you the best for the journey to come.

Comment down below and let us know if it helped you in any way.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Author Interview: Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of 23:59:59 | Dhiraj Sindhi (Part-1)

Author Interview

Sadashiv Pradhan

Author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59'

Sharing His Invaluable Experiences With Us!

Hey readers' fam, we are back with another, yet precious blog post. So, without wasting further time, welcome to the author interview with Sadashiv Pradhan, the author of Amazon Bestseller '23:59:59 The Journey of survival in the B-Schools of India'. I have reviewed the book in the previous post, check it here, if you haven't yet.

FOR MORE SUCH CONTENT, FOLLOW MY BLOG (Click the button here somewhere👉)

First, let me introduce y'all to Sadashiv.

Sadashiv Pradhan has completed his MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is currently working in Star India Pvt. Ltd. He is a passionate writer and prolific storyteller. He started writing 23:59:59 when he was in XLRI, where he believed that there is a story to be told- the story behind the curtains of otherwise glamorous B-school culture, which every graduate goes through but hardly anyone speaks about. The story of survival in the B-schools of India.

Follow him on Instagram: @storytellersada

Check out his Quora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sadashiv-Pradhan

Twitter Handle: @storytellersada

Order your copy of 23:59:59 here: https://amzn.to/2WuH6GE

Sadashiv Pradhan, Author of Amazon Bestseller 23:59:59

"If you want something then have the courage to do anything in your power to earn it. There is no right or wrong in this world! Grab it before someone else snatches it from you"

Now, we will get to know more about Sadashiv and how he managed to write and published his debut novel. And also we will discuss career and passion. Which, I think, will be helpful to all readers, students, parents and budding authors. I hope this interview will be resourceful to writers and readers.

Q: Who is your favorite author and why do you adore him/her?

A: It has to be Agatha Christie! I always had a fascination towards crime – mystery genre. The most difficult part as an author is to keep a reader enticing till the very last word, especially in the mystery genre.

Q:  What was the inception point of 23:59:59?

A: The moment I walked inside the gate of XLRI, I knew there is a story to be told! A life that we expect while aspiring to be a part of elite B-schools is completely different from the one we get to experience. The euphoria of getting admission dies down or rather reality hits within a week, and you realize that beating two lac candidates in a rat race was the easiest part and the worst possible rat race of your life has just begun! Throughout my XL journey, I met various ‘characters’, followed their journeys, and started penning down those stories which eventually turned into 23:59:59!

Q: How long was the procedure, writing 23:59:59? How was the entire experience?

A: It took me 3 years to complete 23:59:59. I started writing it when I was a student at XLRI. Post XLRI, I got a job in Star India. Taking time out to write a novel while working a full-time job that too in travel-intense sales job was the most difficult part of the process. However, in a weird way it was peaceful, during my loneliest and most hectic days of work in a small town of Latur where I spent a year as an area sales manager, writing 23:59:59 gave a purpose!

Q: Which was the most difficult part of the writing process, in the entire course from drafting to publishing 23:59:59?

A: Selling! Hahaha! Honestly, getting a word out and convince people to buy your work is the most difficult part of the process. Being the first time author, I was inexperienced about the industry and unknown of the nitty-gritty of the sales and marketing part of the book publishing process. I must admit, I have committed many mistakes along the way, starting from printing an incorrect version of the book (that’s why you will see few grammatical errors in the book) but it has been a wonderful learning experience, and hopefully 23:59:59 will achieve greater success in days to come.

Q: What was your best XLRI experience ever?

A: Graduation Day! To be honest with you, academically, I wasn’t the best student at XLRI, I wasn’t even in the top half of the batch. For me, the entire XLRI journey was the journey of survival – day in day out! At top B-schools of India, we have daily competition, quizzes, & assignments – that rat race became even more intense, and sometimes, it did get excruciatingly taxing. But the moment I saw happiness and pride in the eyes of my parents on the graduation day, I knew, it was all worth it! My parents worked extremely hard to give me a wonderful life, my graduation was the reward of all their hard work, hence, yes, XLRI graduation day was the best day of my life.


Thank you so much, Sadashiv for being with us and for narrating us your writing journey and sharing your experiences.

There are few more questions to come in the Part-2 of this interview with Sadashiv Pradhan. So, stay tuned.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Don't forget to subscribe. Don't forget to subscribe for more content. Thank you so much for reading!

Will catch you all in the next part!