Self-publishing: Why you should (or shouldn’t) approach Vanity Publishers?

Self-publishing and vanity publishers have existed in various forms for a very long time. Despite the contrasting views about the pros and cons of this approach, the market for vanity publishing has grown within the writing community, especially for first time authors.

And there’s a reason for that. The traditional publishing model makes it very difficult for new writers to break into the industry. In comparison self-publishing allows anyone who wants to be known as a published author an equal shot at the game.

Read more

Literary Agent: (Why) Do you need one for your novel or non-fiction book?

Literary agents play a key role in the international publishing industry. Yet not many new writers are aware of what a literary agency can and cannot do. In simple terms, a literary agent represents authors, pitches their manuscripts to publishers, negotiates deals and manages the commercial aspects of the deal. In return the literary agent charges a percentage (usually 15%) of the royalty for the author’s books.

You’ve done all the hard work in writing the book. Why should you pay your hard-earned royalty to a literary agency?

Read more

How to write a book and get published

Whether you are a fiction or non-fiction writer, it helps to understand the entire life cycle for a book. If you are just getting started, here’s a short primer to set the ball rolling.

Writing the book

Your writing will fall under two broad categories – fiction and non-fiction.

In a novel (another label for fiction books) is where you create a plot (imaginary or inspired by the real world), characters (that your readers will love or hate) and bring them to life with your narration.

The sub-genre (romance, thriller, fantasy, young adult, humor, chick-lit, erotica, horror) will decide the twists and turns in your plot and the tone, style of writing.

Read more

Author Spotlight: Ankita Chadha – Anything else but love (Romance Fiction)

Ankita Chadha, an MBA student, has managed to accomplish what a lot of young writers can only dream of – write a book, get a publishing contract and see the book entering into the re-print cycle in a short span of time. So I invited her to share her secrets (well, not exactly) with the rest of the writers who hope to get published some day


Ankita, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the book?

First of all, thank you for interviewing me. I am currently pursuing my MBA from Indore. Apart from regular studies I have been into writing since my school days. The book I have authored is ‘Anything else but love’, which belongs to the romance genre – an adult contemporary fiction – published by Pustak Mahal (Cedar imprint).

Read more

How Guy Kawasaki leverages social media to promote his books

Guy Kawasaki | Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Author
I recently interviewed Guy Kawasaki on MBA Crystal Ball, a blog that focuses on topics related to business and management education. The discussion revolved around his early days at Apple (working with Steve Jobs and being one of the key reasons for the success of the Macintosh), his life as a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Don’t worry, I’m not going to regurgitate the content from that post here.

Read more

Ever considered a writing career in the publishing industry?

How often have you picked up a book and thought, ‘This author writes such cr@p and he still gets published by a top tier publishing house. I’m sure I can do a much better job,’ then you’ve got yourself a writing career option for strong consideration. Maybe you should pick up the quill, dip it in ink and take some scented handcrafted paper to start your writing career. If you have access to a computer, your journey might get speeded up a little.

A writing career can take on many forms.

Read more

Management Consulting Jobs: Strategy, Operations, Technology

Management Consulting Jobs are the most sought in India and abroad for the rich experience, exposure, network and compensation that the industry showers on a select few. MBA Crystal Ball offers a suite of training and mentoring services for those who are keen to bag Strategy consulting jobs (or Operations consulting or Technology consulting). Your … Read more

MBA MiM MS Admissions Consulting

MBA Crystal Ball is an MBA admissions consulting initiative that helps candidates across the world get into the top international MBA programs and Masters degrees / MiM degrees. The website also hosts an MBA Blog that covers business schools, essays, interviews, MBA jobs and careers. And a list of the best free online courses. Apart … Read more

Launching the Blog

I’ve had another blog (MBA related) running for quite a while now. There were a lot of topics that I couldn’t cover there. I felt that was a good enough reason to launch another one. Easy part over. The tough part would be to juggle multiple blogs within the same 24 hrs. For a while … Read more