KNOCKED UP: Realisation of a Dream

Today I am feeling very happy and satisfied. The feeling is equal to a pregnant lady who has just delievered her child after months and months of wait and anticipation.

When I look back, the entire journey of Knocked Up can be put up as a book itself. It all started one fine day in September 2009 when the writer in me was itching to write something. I wanted to write something very close to my heart, something that I missed about my growing up days with my friends. I took out my old photo album and was going through them when I remembered the funny things that we used to do as a group. Slowly my thoughts and memories got translated into a beautiful manuscripted named 'Knocked Up' which was earlier titled 'Friends Forever'.

After I finished the initial few chapters I gave them to my best friend Praveen who was equally excited and wanted me to publish this book as soon as I complete it. Once I finished the entire story I gave it to other friends of mine to read it without telling them who the author was and the reaction I got from them was equally encouraging. Then I started sending out sample chapters and synopsis of my book to publishers who showed a lot of interest and wanted to publish the book, but at a later date.

I got contracted with one of the leading publishing house in India and the book was announced to be released by April 2010. However, destiny didn't want the book to be released by anyonelse other than me and maybe because of that maybe I faced a lot of problems with the publication house, as the management team kept on changing and so did their terms and conditions. So finally I thought of releasing my book under my own publication "Magic Moments Publications."

In the journey towards publishing my book I came across so many good people who guided me and helped me realise my dreams. I would want to name them here to show my gratitude. Aditya Kripalani, author of the bestselling novel 'Backseat' first guided me in this process and also helped me find an Editor to edit my work. Jasmin Lord my Editor who gave shape to my words and corrected my sentance structure and grammatical mistakes. Then Aditya guided me to Vasant Kamat who helped me understand the publication business as he himself is the CEO of Dolphine Publications. He believed in my work and still promotes it to everyone he meets.

Vikram Nandwani my friend from my school approached me to do the cover design and I agreed. He came up with the best design I could ever imagine off. Anees Palayakodan a friend and colleague of mine introduced me to Sakhi Bansal who helped me compile the book and we both designed the inner pages using Indesign.

Then the best part happened, my brother who is a successful e-Publisher wanted to release my book in a limited edition to check the reaction of the readers and also to raise some funds for a charity that we believe in. He sent emails to his patrons inviting them to purchase the author signed limited edition. Initially we released 100 copies but the demand was so huge we ended up selling 500 in total. The reaction we got from the readers were all positive. Few compared my book with 3 Idiots, few compared it with Malgudi Days and Swami, while few compared my work with Jerome K Jerome and Sue Townsends Adrian Mole series... I am totally floored with all these feedback and reviews that I got directly from the readers.

I was in need of a good website to promote my work and I found Shrijit Nair who not only designed my website but also hosted it successfully. I am also happy that today when the book is on the verge of release I alongwith my friends and creative team are going through the same pangs of anticipation but are totally confident that people will definitely love my simple story and we can acheive what we set out for.

Thank you everyone and thank you for still supporting my work...