A WhatsApp message arrived from an author earlier this week. Like an overexcited schoolgirl, I hit the forward button immediately, sending it to Renu Kaul Verma, Vitasta's director (no harm in the editorial team at Vitasta scoring brownie points, with Renu, I thought to myself).
Here's what the author had sent in her whatsapp message: "After seeing your work, I now feel that editing is also an art just like a musician or a painter". Overnight, she has become my favourite author! And I must admit that I went to sleep quite happily that night.
What our readers see is always the sleekly designed, smart book that they pick up at a bookstore! The book they now hold in their hands is rarely like the raw manuscript that we receive at first. It goes back and forth between author and editor, and in that thorough churning, gets an editing makeover.
Sometimes, if need be, we ask the author to brave those tiny labyrinthine bylanes together with its nonexistent parking to visit our office in the vicinity of Ansari Road to sort things out and brainstorm with the team. Enthusiastic authors do pop in regularly. Then, for those couple of hours, these authors, especially of our rather strong nonfiction segment forget they are experts in their field, and become one of us – perching themselves up on available tables so that they have a better view of the designer's screen on which they comb through their book, now in pdf format, clearing whatever doubts our editorial coordinator, Saumya, may have raised. Finally, they watch the designer play around with design elements, fonts, titles and visuals to freeze on the cover and design, so necessary for that final go-ahead.
Sometimes, we need to call in authors urgently because we suddenly find—and these things always seem to crop up at that proverbial 'last minute'—that those superscript numbers and end notes are simply not matching! These footnotes and endnotes in nonfiction books, I tell you, can be the bane in an editor's life. It's always in your last check that you discover that those tiny numbers are repeated…or worse, wrongly numbered!
Thank God, editing fiction can be a lot easier—and often—it is far more fun to edit. For one, it comes minus those references, sources, citations, and quotes, even if it may involve some fact-checking that a careless author might have overlooked. Or some sections may need to be completely rewritten to ensure an element of easy flow in the story. That's really what fiction is all about—suspension of reality, all right, but in a way that is believable and plausible, flowing and still making for compulsive reading, all at the same time.
Talking about believable stories, we had horror fiction writer, Siddhant Shekhar recently launch his spine-chilling potboiler, Join Me in Death at Kunzum Books in GK, New Delhi, with a discussion on this increasingly popular genre. Panelists included popular YouTuber Vedant Rusty, Renu Kaul Verma, and literary agent, Suhail Mathur. It was house full, with readers queuing up to have their copy of the book—in which a trekker falls in love with a ghost walker—signed by the author.
In Gurgaon, Dr Aruna Kalra, author of autobiographical memoirs chose her birthday to unveil the cover of her upcoming book, I Want a Boy, at C K Birla Hospital where she is HOD. Here is a bold book that exposes the direct, and often callous clamouring for a boy baby in our largely patriarchal society. The doctor exposes the horrors of what women undergo in their quest for a male child. The bold theme of the book, peppered with the author's own riveting story of medical studies, residency, pregnancy and motherhood is what gives this book that special twist to shake up not just the medical fraternity but every woman in this country.
Another fiction title ready to roll out is the exciting crime-cum-suspense thriller, The Last Witness, the story of an ISRO scientist accused of selling the nation's space secrets to foreign buyers. The narrative follows two brave women who team up to clear his name—while moving from Germany to Indore to Delhi. Will they be able to outwit the cold-blooded killers on their trail? Watch out for this unputdownable book by G V Subba Rao.
Sudesh Verma's book, Transforming India: Gamechanger in Action out just last month is already into its second print run, benefitted in part by the BJP once again being placed at the helm and by PM Modi's historic third term as prime minister. Pick up your copy now to know what are the solid reasons behind this historic third term for the charismatic Modi.
A book on Demystifying Madrasahs and Deobandi Islam is also due to hit the stands. It is a sincere attempt by ex-BBC journalist Asad Mirza to clear up the air surrounding Muslim Madrasahs and their role in guiding millions of Muslims to embrace advancements in education while retaining the pristine form of Islam.
And last, but not the least, is this delightful treatise on money, profit and loss, and making mega bucks through savings and planning, MoneyVilla: How to be Money Smart, which targets kids between six and ten to learn the rudiments of making money, holding on to it and multiplying it. This Activity book by financial whiz, Bilal Ahmad Pandow, woven into a charming tale of a scampering squirrel called Sammy is sure to put a smile on your face as you read it along with your children. Tell their teachers to stock up on the book. It will take them a long way.
