On Bookbub

Aug 31, 2024 | damyantiwrites.com | Damyanti Biswas |On Bookbub

I started writing You Beneath Your Skin in 2012, after the infamous incident of violence against women that came to be known as the Nirbhaya Gang Rape and Murder. On that evening a group of men in a private bus molested, raped, sodomized a young woman on Delhi’s streets, and left her to die, with her intestines splayed on the street. I blogged about it, here. You Beneath Your Skin, published in 2019, spoke of the spaces women occupy, and how violence against women is omnipresent.

Jul 20, 2024 | damyantiwrites.com | Damyanti Biswas |On Bookbub

One of the consequences if you’ve published a few books is that writers starting on the journey decide you know enough to give advice. In my case, that may or may not be true. Most days, most times I haven’t a clue what I need to do. Recently a writer with a finished manuscript asked me for input on the next steps. The internet is filled with all kinds of advice, but the points below summarize what I told them based on my years of being agented and published.

Jun 14, 2024 | damyantiwrites.com | Damyanti Biswas |On Bookbub

If you’re a traditionally published author, you must keep playing the same game, for years and aeons on end hoping to strike a win, with the level of insanity and addiction of an inveterate gambler. In each writer group I’m part of, traditionally published authors work like lone beavers building dams: drafting, editing, querying, agent edits, going on submission, editing and marketing. It never ends, and none of it guarantees results.

Jun 5, 2024 | damyantiwrites.com | Damyanti Biswas |On Bookbub

The other day someone asked me what I liked best about publishing, and without batting an eyelid, I said it was community. The publishing community, and the community I’ve been blessed with on this blog for the last sixteen years. The writing life can often be grueling, but I’ve almost come to prefer it to the publishing part of it. The one bright spot about publishing is community. Here’s why:— As a debut author in trad publishing, it was a steep learning curve.

May 23, 2024 | damyantiwrites.com | Damyanti Biswas |On Bookbub

I happened to scroll through my list of subscribers while working on a blog widget and stumbled upon blog friends I’ve lost to the grim reaper over the years. I strolled over to their blogs, scrolled through a few posts, and even read a few comments we’d exchanged. Their internet presence is still around: a ghost town of sorts, but filled with beloved, friendly ghosts.