After my talk at SaaSBOOMi in early March, a number of people came up to me and said, “I have read your book, and loved it.” Some even mentioned sections that they liked. It felt good. The book has sold 5,000 copies in India but I don’t know who the buyers and readers are. So, its always good to meet people for whom the book has made a difference. And most of all, I like the “published author” feeling.
In December last year, I was on one of the stages at the Bangalore Literature Festival in front of an audience of a few hundred discussing my book. I also signed copies for many who had bought it. For an author, there is no better feeling that meeting a reader.
When I speak about the book, I now end with the story about work-life balance (page 220 of the book). I read out much of it because it has been written so well and I want to make sure the words are spoken right. After a recent talk, a woman came up to me and said, “What you said I had told my husband after our son was born. But he did not listen and kept working long hours. And it now shows in the father-son relationship.” I was so moved listening to her. These are things few tell us when we are in the midst of building our company or furthering our career. Lost family time can never come back. It is stories like this which make the satisfaction of having written a book come alive.
Over the years, many have lost the love for reading. Time has been fragmented – just long enough to consumer short messages on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and WhatsApp. If the story is in short video form, even better! But I feel people are losing out on the joy of holding a book and getting lost in the world and words of the author. There is a voice, a story, a message. There is a lifetime of experience that a book has. That’s what one gets when one sits down in a cosy chair and reads for an hour or two, free from digital distractions. We may remember the pithy one-liners served on social platforms, but true learning happens with the stories and the world the author conjures.
Writing the book made me a better reader, listener and thinker. It also has helped me tell stories better. And the blog is my outlet. Somewhere between all these writings is my next book. I just need to figure out which!
