Thank you for stopping by I'm delighted to be sharing a great guest post by Raj Dhaliwal about his journey to publication as part of the blog tour today for his book The Love Lottery. First of all though let's take a look at the description for the book...
In our fast-paced digital age, never has finding the
one felt more like playing the lottery. If anyone knows about the cruelty
and chaos of dating in the 21st century it’s Raj Dhaliwal; accountant by
day, hopeless romantic by night. By his own admission, Raj is a tax wizard
but a clumsy disaster area when it comes to matters of the heart. This book
charts his misadventures in the art of looking for love in an age when a man’s
best intentions can be coldly dismissed by a swipe to the left. The Love
Lottery: a comic tale of lessons in life, love, dating and the odd samosa
party explores the emotional rollercoaster of dating, charting the epic
excitement and anticipation, highs, lows and disappointments
of our ever optimistic search for romance. As a British-born Indian gent,
Raj compares and contrasts the social and cultural distinctions between his
family, his friends and the women he meets on the dating scene; a route to
romance that’s littered with speed dating, online dating and feverish
matchmaking, in this funny and heart-warming book. As self-appointed United
Nations Love Ambassador, Raj has made it his mission to date the weird and the
wonderful in the pursuit of lasting love. Want to play The Love
Lottery? Then read on.
Purchase from Amazon UK:
The Journey to publication.
The intention was never to write a book, but merely to
evaluate where I had come from in terms of relationships and where the future
could be going forwards. The fact that it then became a book was coincidental
as I am not an author. I am simply an accountant at a luxury car manufacturer.
Basically, what had started out as a couple of lines in a
rant, had expanded into a couple of paragraphs and then slowly evolved into a
document that then became a finished book with chapters.
It was only upon mentioning the fact I had written, what I
would describe in a poor use of the English language ‘a kind of book, but not
quite a book’ that my brother and some of our friends were intrigued.
The manuscript was printed out and my brother and his wife’s
friends passed it around in their informal book club of sorts. The reason for
this was to ascertain if it would appeal to all in terms of gender and race
etc.
Apparently, a friend of my sister in law had been in
absolute hysterics over one of the chapters. I subsequently had the same effect
with a couple of my friends with whom I had read out a couple of chapters to
over the phone.
‘You should get this published!’ they would exclaim.
Were they being over generous with the compliment or
serious? I had no idea on how to go about publishing anything! The world of
books was and still is completely overwhelming, daunting and alien.
In the day job, numbers could always be fudged and formula
error blamed in spreadsheets, but writing something that all can see and
critique would be either character building or character demolishing! What is
written and printed cannot be taken back.
The precious commodity I think we all need to have a plenty
is time but it’s common to hear people complain about the lack of time. Being a
busy man in the day job and in addition to helping out in the family business
also, I did also have a lack of energy let alone time available.
Therefore, self-publishing was not really an avenue I wanted
or felt comfortable to pursue. I would have to do my own marketing and
promotional work and trust corporations in ensuring that both parties got a
mutually beneficial arrangement.
Google amongst other search engines then became my friend
even more so. I searched for the top fifteen UK based publishers as well as
listening to the book reviews on my way home from work on Radio 4’s A good Read
and taking note accordingly.
The issue I found, and this is a sweeping generalisation, a
lot of publishers whom I had contacted were after the next Game of Thrones or
Scandi Noir Crime Thriller. My book did not fit into either of these or
anything else they mentioned.
To say I was disheartened was an understatement. I had built
myself up thinking that maybe there was a chance that someone or a group of
people would be interested in my experiences and thoughts. I had basically
taken time out to smooth off, as best I could, the edges of my book and poured out a part of me into it for all to read and now no
one cared. What a waste of time and effort!
Then after having taken a step back and evaluating the scenario,
I thought to myself ‘forget it, you are not an author, fortunately you have a
day job in an industry you are crazy and passionate about, don’t stress and
just come back to it in a year or so’.
That was exactly what I did.
Now and again my brother and some of my friends would ask me
‘how’s that book coming along? Is it finished? Is it published yet? What’s the
score with it?’
It was only as a result of the constant questions when
catching up with friends and family that I decided I had to do something about
the book. The response ‘oh nothing’s happening at the moment, I’ve given up and
not bothered with it’ did not go down so well. They had been expecting more,
especially after having sample chapters read out to them.
I recall a certain book had received a lot of attention but
was regarded by the literary world as well as the general public as not being
well written. Poor use of grammar etc etc yet a couple of films had been
produced as a result. This particular author had been good at E –marketing and
promoting their work.
This was an avenue yet to be explored. I had nothing to
lose. After some more searching online, I then came across Authoright Clink
Street publishing.
After a few emails and phones calls explaining how the world
of publishing worked and what was entailed, a new relationship has been formed.
I felt relieved that my work was important and wanted. What I had to say and
express was valid. I was valid.
My personal thought is the hardest part of the journey
should only be getting the thoughts and ideas in one’s head and then
translating those emotions effectively out onto paper and hope it comes across
to the reader the way it is easy for the originator of those thoughts and ideas
to understand. Nothing else.
We all have a story to tell and may one day want to express
it.
Then again, it could be argued I am new and naïve in this
world.
Living
in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire Raj Dhaliwal works as an accountant for the car
manufacturing company Land Rover.
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