Friday, June 30, 2017

Eternal Dance of Love..

Photoshop art



Unable to forget, Unable to move on;
 I live like a zombie,
Chained to the past,
 By your slowly rusting memories...


You were my last thought before I slept.
You haunted my dreams,
I woke up to myriad memories of you.


 In them I was with you; 
Your face crinkling into a smile,
my heart drumming, 
Our eyes speaking a million things...


 Sadness engulfs me,
I feel it in every inch of me, 
An overwhelming pain that threatens my sanity,
A constant ache to remind me, of you.


 Your silence hurts ,
Your disdain taunts,
Weren't you the one who vowed,
You are mine, forever?!!


 Maybe from a past life,
we have promises broken,
Perchance, an unrequited love.

 We will meet again,
If not in this, in another age.
Our souls will dance eternally till the music ends,
To keep those ancient promises alive.

Rest not till we fulfill them,
Dance to the same tunes,
Till we master the dance,
 Rest not till we fulfill the vows.

Come to me beloved,
I am tired of this dance...
I will forget the pain you gave,
Do forget the ones I gave.
And while we forget, let this music end,
Let us begin our dance anew,
With no promises or vows,
Just you, me and love galore....

--- Preethi Venugopala-----




Wednesday, June 14, 2017

List of Indian Book Bloggers (Book Reviewers)

Book reviewers are the most sought-after group of bloggers when an author launches his/her book. They help in giving the book a digital presence, boosts the confidence of the author (in most cases), and spread the word about the book through social media. 



Here is a list for the benefit of those seeking active, dedicated Indian bloggers who are open to review books. You can find their contact details on their website which I have mentioned next to their name. The genres they prefer are also listed.


I have interacted with these bloggers online, via their blogs or social media. 

Also included in the list is a dear friend, Jean Spraker, who is a US-based writer and blogger who supports Indian writers whenever possible. I feel she is more Indian than many of us. Being an editor herself, her reviews are mostly detailed and constructive. 


Anamika Annu Website )
Genres: Romance

Anmol Rawat (Website )
Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian/Fantasy, and Stephen King

Amrita Misra Website )
 Review Policy )

Aparna Nayak Website )

Genre: Any except educational

Arti Blog

Genre: Childrens books and romances

Arvind Passey Website )
Genre: Mainly fiction. Prefers historical thrillers, and thrillers. Also Autobiographies and Biographies.

Banaja Prakash Website )
Genres: Any

Debdatta D. Sahay Website )  Contact: dds at ddsreviews dot in
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy, Contemporary

 Deepti Menon Website )
Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Romance, Travelogue, Mythology, History, YA, Literary fiction

 Deep R Downer Website )

Genre: Not Specified

Dhivya Bhalaji Website )

Genres: Thrillers

Enakshi Johri Website
Genres: Nonfiction, Romance, Sci-fi, thriller, poetry

 Floryie ( Website )

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Adventure, YA

 Geeta Nair ( Website )
Genres: Thrillers, Fantasy, Mythological, Historical, Motivational, Humour, Romance.

 Inderpreet Kaur Uppal  ( Website )
Genres: Loves Romance, thrillers, and mystery. Any fiction and nonfiction expect horror.

 Ishieta Chopra ( Website )
Genres: Espionage, Mysteries, Paranormal, Biographies, Autobiographies, Travelogues, Poetry

Ila Varma Website

Genres: All except Horror.

Jaideep Khanduja ( Blogspot )

Genres: Any except horror and Sci-fi

Janani Blog 


Genres: Young Adults , Mystery, Mythology, Science fiction, Short stories 

 Jean Spraker ( Website )
Genres: Any genre except Romance and Horror

 Kritika Rajat Sharma ( Website )
Genre: Romance, Thrillers, Crime, Mystery, Nonfiction, Fantasy.

 Lata Sunil ( Website )

Preferred Genres: Romance, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Thrillers, Mysteries, Mythology, Children's books
Not Preferred Genres: Erotica, Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy

 Mahesh Sowani ( Website )
Genres: Crime Fiction, Memoirs, Short stories and Self help

 Maitreyi ( Website: English Malayalam )
Genres: Any

 Manisha Garg ( Website )

Genres: Romance, Thrillers, Motivation

 Mayuri Nidigallu ( Website ) Contact:  mayurisharrma at gmail dot com
Genre: Prefers Fiction but accepts anything well written and interesting

Mitul (Bookish Elf) (Website)
All Genres.

 Namrata Kumari  ( Website )
Genres: Fiction with a liking towards YA

 Nehali Lalwani ( Website )
Genres: Any genre in Fiction

 Nidhi ( Website )
Genres: Fiction, prefers Romance featuring Real-life stories

 Nikita Jhanglani ( Website )
Genres: Any except horror.

Nikita Soni ( Website )

Preferred Genres: Mystery, Romance, Historical, Mythological, Motivational, YA, NA, Paranormal, Scifi etc. 
Not preferred Genres: BDSM, Erotic, Gay/Lesbian, Non-Fiction (Political, Controversial topics)

 Nilima Mohite ( Website )
Genres: Any except dark, paranormal or horror.

 Niyati Gogna ( Website )

Genres: Any

 Poornima Kulkarni ( Website )
Genres: Picture Books

 Prasanna Rao ( Website )

Genres: Prefers crime, thrillers, horror, and fantasy.

 Puspanjalee Das Dutta ( Website )
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mythological Fiction, Nonfiction, YA series and Children's books.

 Rajan Mogha ( Website )
Genres: Any except Romance. Prefers mystery thrillers.

Rajesh D Hajare ( Website ) Contact: contact at rdhsir dot com

Genre: Any

Ramya Abhinand ( Website )
Genre: Any

Ramya Rao ( Website )

Genre: Any book with an interesting blurb except science fiction

 Reema Michelle D'souza ( Website )
Genres: Fiction- Crime, Mystery, Fantasy, and Romance

Sarath Babu ( Website )

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Romance, Motivational & Self Help

Satyam Sholankey (Instagram)
Genres: Romance, Mystery, Thriller and Horror

Shalini Baisiwala ( Website )

Genres - Fantasy fiction, detective, Courtroom, Romance except historical romance.

Shalet Jimmy ( Website )
Genres: Not specified

 Shilpi C ( Website )

Genres: Not specified

Shoma Abhyankar ( Website )

Genres: Any except Politics, Sports, and Inspirational 

Srilakshmi Indrasenen ( Website )
Genres: Any genre (loves thrillers) except Nonfiction

Susmitha Padhi ( Website )
Genres: YA and New Adult books

Swarnalatha Suresh ( Website )

Genres: Any except Science Fiction

Swathi Shenoy ( Website )

Genres: Any

Tarang Sinha ( Website )

Genres: Women Centric Stories. Romance, Women Fiction, Mythology, Psychological Thrillers.

Tina Basu ( Website )

Genres: Sci-Fi, Romance, Thrillers

Tulika Singh ( Website ) Contact: tulika20 at gmail dot com

Genres: Any 

 Vasantha Vivek  ( Website )
Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Motivational and Children’s picture books.

Vidhya Thakkar ( Website )
 Genre: Romance, Thriller, Mystery, Mythology and Biographies.

Vijai K sharma ( Website ) Contact: vijaiksharma4 at gmail dot com
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction except crime, mystery, fantasy, horror, detective, historical books.

 Vinay R ( Website )
Genres: Any (with a blurb that catches his interest)


P.S: This list has been updated on 6th June 2021. Inactive bloggers have been removed from the list. 


A few names have been added and a few more interested bloggers whose details I couldn't verify can be found in the comments section.

Are you an Indian Book Reviewer? If you wish to be listed here, tell me so in the comments.





Friday, June 9, 2017

List of Professional and Freelance Book Editors in India

A published book is a cherished dream for many. Editing makes your manuscript publishing worthy. Almost every other blogger is an aspiring writer in India.
Yet, trouble begins when you begin searching for a professional editor. Unless you have good contacts within the publishing industry, you might have to run to your English teacher from school/college. 


This blog post aims to lessen the hassle by listing the most dedicated editors who have been recommended to me.

Most of the vanity publishers these days offer editing packages. I am focussing more on individual editors in this post. But first, let me list a few agencies which came with excellent references.


Indian Agencies offering editing services:

1) Book Bakers Literary Agency


The Book Bakers is a literary services company which serves as a catalyst for authors & publishers to bring their ideas to fruition by offering a full menu of services under one roof to assist them in having their stories and manuscripts published.
The Book Bakers' range of editing services includes editing, proofreading, and content development to make manuscripts read better.

2) Happy Self Publishing 


Founded by Amazon bestselling writer Jyotsna Ramachandran, they provide various literary services like angel writing, editing, book covers, formatting etc. They have a talented bunch of professional editors.
For more details, contact the page where the team is online 24/7 to guide you through their various services.

3) Urna Creative

Website
Varun Prabhu is an entrepreneur who recently created Urna Creative to offer help to creative and corporate professional in the matters of content development, production, and branding. Urna specializes in editing and ghostwriting, graphic design in the form of covers and illustrated artwork. It has an excellent track record in serving its clients better because of the personal attention given to each client's requirements. As a company, it seeks to be a full-fledged creative studio.
He accepts any genre except non-fiction.

4) DD Proofreading and Editing Inc.


DD is a professional writer and Author. Besides writing fiction and non-fiction books, he also undertakes Content Writing, Proofreading and Editing projects from other professionals and corporate, globally.

Indian Editors

All of these editors listed were recommended by published authors and I am happy to introduce you to them. Listing them alphabetically.

 Aarti V Raman 
Aarti is a writer-editor, a business journalist, a copy editor and a naptime enthusiast. In an alternate universe, all she does is read books and write them.

 Dr. Amrita Basu

Doctor, blogger, mompreneur and author of two books. Freelance editor. She accepts only select genres for editing and proofreading. 
Her preferred genres are:
Nonfiction: Self-help, blogging, writing, entrepreneurship, gardening, home decor, most categories.
Fiction: Murder mystery, Court room drama, Detective stories.
She also provides book launching and marketing services for all genres.

Dagny 

Passionately devoted to the written word, she began her writing career with developing content for corporate training- initially for herself and later for other trainers. She has been writing professionally for over twenty-five years; ten of them on her blog (www.serenelyrapt.com). She has edited corporate documents, short stories and essays, and manuscripts for two books published in-house by a corporate house.

She accepts fiction manuscripts in any genre.


Dhivya Balaji 


A reader, reviewer, writer, editor, and blogger. She has been reviewing books for more than four years and is also a freelance editor. She has edited various fiction and nonfiction books in different genres.
A published author, she occasionally dabbles in poetry. She has edited historical thrillers, memoirs, romantic fiction, paranormal thrillers, political thrillers etc., and prefers to read and edit thrillers.


Dola Basu Singh
Twitter @shiuli_dola  Facebook

Dola Basu Singh offers developmental, copyediting and proofreading services for fiction manuscripts in the Romance/Erotica, Crime/Mystery/Thrillers, and Horror genres. For novels belonging to other genres than those stated above, she offers only line editing and proofreading services.
She also offers a sample edit of the first chapter of the MS to help a client determine whether to work with her or not.
The best way to reach her at the moment is through her email: dolabsingh at gmail dot com.

Her website www.shiuli.com is currently under development. 

Harika Bantupalli 
 Website 

A graduate in Mass Communication and Journalism. Currently, she works as an English teacher at a School in Hyderabad teaching Cambridge Curriculum, and also works as a story editor at AkkarBakkar.com
She has been editing various kinds of content for the past three years, including articles, human interest story, features, poems, and books. She has edited more than 7 books (Including Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Anthologies).
She enjoys editing Chick Lit, Romance, Thriller, Mystery and Young Adult Fiction alike.


Inderpreet Uppal    
Website   Twitter: @indywrites

Inderpreet edits manuscripts, writes for her love of writing and reads endlessly. She is a Masters in Human Resources Management and an Army brat, she now joins her adorable Army hubby across the country. Books, editing, reviews, freelance writing, sponsored posts, and blogging keep her busy whenever she gets a breather from mothering her ‘too tricky to handle son’.


She edits all genres except horror. Drop her a mail with your requirement or a sample for a quote and a free sample edit at inderpreetedits at gmail dot com

Mahesh Sowani 

( Website )
Mahesh Sowani is a blogger, writer, book reviewer and an editor. He has edited books for Blue Rose Publications. He will be also working on the book in the Peshwa series which will be published by Westland

Namrata 


Contact: privytrifles at gmail dot com

Namrata has been an editor for a leading publishing house before pursuing it as a freelancer since last few years. Having quite a few published works of her own, she understands the importance of the written word. Being a reviewer has helped her gain valuable insights into a book which has been further nuanced with various courses. She has been a UEA India Fellow-2016. 


Prachi Sharma

An author, blogger, editor, bookworm, content writer and book critic by night, and a pharmacist, medical writer and aspiring scientist by day. She also counts herself as a foodie, coffee freak, and experimental cook.
Preferred genre: Crime, Fantasy, Slice of Life, Thriller

Priyanka Agarwal 

A Mumbai-based screenwriter, author, blogger, and editor. 
She has 12 years of experience in professional writing and editing, including 3 years each on the editorial desks of Condé Nast Traveller India (digital writer) and Spenta Multimedia (subeditor). While working with Priyanka, authors can expect a detailed assessment from her on their stories, along with tips and advice for improvement. 
Preferred genres: everything, though she avoids horror and extremely technical literature.

Puspanjalee Das Dutta 

Website 

Puspanjalee Das Dutta offers developmental and copyediting services for books in the academic and nonfiction genre. She was the chief editor in a leading publishing house in Guwahati before starting her own freelance services. She also offers editing services for M.Phil dissertations and Ph.D. theses in Arts & Humanities.


She regularly blogs about her journey as an online entrepreneur at her website and review books at her blog. Puspanjalee also shares writing and blogging tips on her Facebook page


Rasana Atreya:
 Website     Twitter: @rasana_atreya

A self-publishing pioneer in India. In addition, she's a reporter, content writer and marketer, and editor. She also formats eBooks and print books.
 She accepts all genres except horror.

Reshmy Pillai 
Website  Twitter: @reshmypillai

A freelance editor based out of Mumbai. She loves stories in all forms and looks out for those special ones that will excite the reader in her. She believes only a good reader would know what to edit out.
She is also a blogger, book critic, and writer.
She accepts all genre manuscripts in fiction and ancient Indian history and mythology in the non-fiction category.


Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
Website Facebook: Cover To Cover Writing Studio Twitter: @BookLuster

An ex-full time and current freelance journalist, she began editing manuscripts after having ample practice during her days of journalism and then working with publishing houses. Her current work profile and other details along with services offered can be viewed at www.samarpita.in

She also provides social media promotions for authors (and brands) as well as content creation as services.

Shivani Adib

Website LinkedIn Facebook Twitter: @shivaniadib


Graduating from JNU with top honours in M.A. (Spanish studies), Shivani Adib worked as translator/editor for an e-newspaper and freelanced as a translator for Spanish and Portuguese before the advent of two boisterous young brats. After many years of full-time motherhood, she is now additionally a children's author and a freelance editor and content writer.


Shruthi Rao

(Visit here for contact details)

An award-winning writer and author of books for children. Her short fiction and essays have been published widely.

She is a copy editor with kitaab.org and Linguistic Data Services. As a freelance editor, she accepts manuscripts in the following genres:

Fiction - All genres, both adult and children's literature. Short story collections. Particularly experienced in working with translated material, and with writers whose primary language of communication is not English.

Non-fiction - All genres - especially science, technology, health and fitness, parenting, history.
Srilakshmi Indrasenen 

A freelance content strategist, who does content management and creates content strategies for startups. She also edits website content, professional documents, and manuscripts. In her leisure, she blogs, writes stories, and travels. She has co-authored one full-fledged novel and has contributed to 2 anthologies.

She prefers to edit fiction books that fall under the genres of thriller and romance.


Suneetha Balakrishnan
website Twitter: @SuneethaBala

A bilingual translator, editor, writer, and journalist working in English and Malayalam languages. She edits content, fiction, nonfiction (including textbooks and academic papers) and translations into English and Malayalam.


Contact her at suneethabalakrishnan at gmail dot com

Tara Khandelwal Website 

She is an editor and bibliophile based in Mumbai. She has worked at companies such as BloombergQuint, HarperCollins, Penguin India and SheThePeople.TV. She graduated with a degree in Economic History from Columbia University and is also an alumnus of the Columbia University Publishing Course. As a freelancer, she works with Writers’ Side, UK-based Eyewear Publishing, among others. She is the founder of Bound. Bound hosts writers’workshops, curates literary events and writers’ retreats, and helps authors promote and launch their books. 

She provides editorial services for authors, biographers, business writers, academics, journalists and non-profits. She is comfortable working with all genres, fiction and non-fiction.



Varsha Naik

Website Twitter @varshanaik
After working in the US as a journalist and the Middle East as a copywriter with an advertising agency, Varsha has worked as a features journalist and copyeditor for DNA After Hrs. Soon after, she worked as an editor with Harlequin India and Bloody Good Book and currently does regular work with Pepperscript Publishing. 
She freelances as an editor, working directly with authors referred to her by writers whose books she has edited. She has found that many writers get stuck after writing their first draft and want to improve the manuscript but can't find a way to fix problem areas. She focuses on structural editing, providing detailed feedback on gaps in plot lines, character development and the general story arc that can enhance the writing. This is her core strength as an editor and she thinks it's most crucial to spend the maximum time on fine-tuning the story.
Being a voracious reader with the ability to read a book a day, she has recently started writing book reviews for the Sunday edition of the Free Press Journal.

She accepts both fiction and nonfiction manuscripts except science/medical fiction.

Vineeta Praveen
 Twitter @vineetapraveen LinkedIn


A freelance writer since eighties, writing articles for various journals. Currently writing her own books, short stories, Haiku and recipes.

She accepts fiction and non-fiction manuscripts.

Vrinda Baliga
Website  Facebook Email: vbaliga at gmail dot com
Vrinda Baliga is a writer and editor based in Hyderabad. She is the winner of the 2017 Katha Fiction prize and has also won prizes in the FON South Asia Short Story Competition 2016, New Asian Writing Short Story Competition 2016, Unisun Short Story Competition 2011 and the Katha Fiction Contests 2010 and 2012. She is a 2014 Fellow of the Sangam House International Writers' Residency. 

Genres: Fiction - Novels, novellas, short stories, short story collections

*****************************************************************

P.S: This list was last updated on 4th May 2022. Some of the previously listed editors with inactive websites have been removed. A few names have been added.


Are you a book editor and wish to be included in this list? Tell me so in the comments. 
Or mail me your details (in the same format followed by the other editors) at authorpreethi at gmail dot com.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

The Three Skills I Value Most

This Thursday the #ThankfulThursday prompt is to talk about the three skills that you value most.

Skills are valued everywhere. Hence it is important to hone and honor our skills.

Skills can be functional, personal or knowledge based. They might define us.
 They might be the fuel behind our earthly life or they might be the Zen that keeps us grounded.
The three skills that I have developed over the years are:

 Portraiture and Painting

Art came to me very early on in life. But I have maintained a hate-love relation with it over the various periods in my life. 

Either I was completely in love with it or I hated it. Then it came back in 2011 with a bang. I couldn’t stop painting. 

Most of my art are not for public consumption. I rarely do commission art even though I get many requests. But I have a hard time accepting such work. I can only draw when it is born out of passion. 

I am extremely grateful that I am an artist. It is my way of relaxing.

Here are some samples of my work.


You can also see my works HERE on my blog. You can follow my art page on Facebook or my Instagram art page.

 Writing

I fell in love with writing quite late in life.

 I was a reader most of my life. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that one day I would have the author tag associated with me.

 But now, writing is my biggest passion. It is one skill that I spend the time to honor and hone daily. 

I invest time and money to hone my skills in this field. This is one gift that I am thankful for having.

You can find links to purchase my books right here on my blog. You can follow my Amazon Author page and Goodreads Author page for latest writing updates.

Editing

Editing is yet another skill I cherish and am thankful for. It helps me to edit my blog posts, my stories, and manuscripts. 

I take care to update myself about the various editing methods. Patience is a necessity when it comes to editing.

 I can go over the same page over and over again till it becomes error free. It earns me money as I work as a freelance editor.

 My only frustration is that it is very difficult to edit one’s own writing. 

Very difficult to kill one’s own darlings. But yes, I am working on it. I have two books published where I am proud to be one of the editors.


What are the three skills that you value most? Do tell me in the comments.



This post is written for #ThankfulThursdays hosted by Tina, Amrita, Mayuri and Deepa