Interview with Koustuv Basu
Published 2015-05-09.
Describe your desk
Its simple but a colourful one. I am an adventurous person. You will find pictures and certificates of similar things all around and yaa it has a picture of me too on the top of some mountain.
What's the story behind your latest book?
Well, I was in Nepal during the recent Earthquake and its basically my experience of the recent Nepal Earthquake and the how we were rescued back home by the Indian Air Force. This is one incident that, I can safely say, has changed the way I looked at life. The most tragic experience I have ever had..... so far atleast.
When did you first start writing?
I do not consider myself a writer. I write very occasionally only to express things I feel I should. The first time i wrote something was in high school.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
It wasn't a story actually. It was a poem. Not a very short one though. On Sania MIrza - I was a huge fan of her then and one of my friend had sketched a photo of someone he was a fan of. I wanted to do something similar and i knew i was terrible at sketching so i wrote down a few lines.
What motivated you to become an indie author?
Well as I said I am not a regular writer and this was something I absolutely wanted to share with everybody - so I went ahead with self publishing. There are lots of advantage of being an independent author - you can go about your story exactly how you would want it to be. And the few challenges that indie authors face are taken care of by sites like Smashwords of course making it even easier
What are you working on next?
As of now nothing.
As I said this is not something like a routine work for me. The moment I feel I have something I would want to share with you - I will.
Who are your favorite authors?
I like Indian authors. I don't know why but there is always an instant connect with their work.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Well first story I read has to be in school as a part of the text. I was never a voracious reader then.
This was definitely not the first but a book that I still have with me and I loved it then was 'Village by the Sea' by Anita Desai again as a part of our school text - and am not too sure but may be this is the book that is the reason for my inclination towards Indian Writers.
Other than this as a kid I read a lot of bengali books - Satyajit Ray is one of my all time favourite.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
That I can share my experience with all of you. That I can express in the way I want.
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Fortunately I have been able to use social media to good result.
For that matter I think now-a-days social networking has become so popular that you can market absolutely anything to extremely good effect. And for a book, there is nothing better than a reader spreading the word.
How has Smashwords contributed to your success?
Well I would not call myself "Successful" as an author at least at this point in time. But definitely its because of Smashwords that my experience could reach others and I am grateful to Smashwords for that. This is my first book with Smashwords. I really hope we would have a long and fruitful relation ahead.
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