Where do you get your new book recommendations from? Your favourite celebrity book club, one of the lesser-known Substack lists, Booktok/<a href="https://thenodmag.com/content/book-girl-summer-reading-tips-from-book-instagrammers">Bookstagram</a>, <a href="https://thenodmag.com/content/fable-best-book-reading-app">Fable</a>/Goodreads, or the book that photobombed your friends’ daily coffee update? Apart from those who belong to IRL book clubs or work in the hallowed publishing circles, for the rest of us, social media is how we decide why we read what we read. Word of mouth is now a primarily digital activity. So, in our hyper connected lives, how does a new writer capture a reader’s attention on social media?It’s a question that plagued me for months leading up to the release of my debut novel All The Right People in November 2022. Even after working in the magazine world for over a decade, book publishing turned out to be a completely different beast. As a publishing veteran once told me, it wasn’t enough to write the book, the onus of marketing books and driving sales was now firmly on the writer. The author is now the publicist, the marketeer, the content creator, the sales director, the social media manager, and the face of their book!Of course, it greatly helps if the author has a large social media following that she can galvanise. In the lead up to her latest cookbook, Baby Knows Best, Shilarna ‘Chinu’ Vaze used her 376k strong community to spread the message. “I felt I was reclaiming power for my generation of <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/parenting">Indian mums</a> by making dahi, sprouting ragi, whipping up a malt hot chocolate pre-mix, or family meals that ticked just the right boxes of nostalgia and nutrition,” she says. In 2016, Vaze’s content creator life started by sharing what she ate first as a pregnant chef, and then what she fed her baby. “My Instagram became one of the best places to promote my book because 80% of my followers are moms,” she explains. To further target her message, she launched her book at The Mommy Network Pop Up co-hosted by All Things Baby in <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/mumbai">Mumbai</a>, guaranteeing a captive audience. But what can authors do when they do not have that reach? Spotify playlists, food hampers, book trailers, fun merchandise (tees/totes/mugs/hats), and building smart (and hopefully viral) social media campaigns, the list grows by the day. Even bestselling names aren’t spared today. For her debut book, Cleopatra &amp; Frankenstein, author Coco Mellors hosted a pizza-themed launch in New York inspired by the pizza joint meet-cute of her rom-com leads. For Intermezzo, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/strandbookstore/reel/DAV7oUXvm44/">launch parties </a>across the world featured chess-inspired merch and trivia nights where the sunny palette of Sally Rooney’s latest book cover became the moodboard for the evening.&nbsp;

Both authors and publishing houses are constantly on the hunt for new and innovative ways to market books. The team at Penguin Random House believes in working with authors to target readers, and have opened up to brand-collaborations to help spread the word. Their most recent campaigns include ‘Moods of Monsoon’ which coupled a good book with a steaming cuppa in partnership with Chaayos. Here, curated gift hampers (alongside a lucky draw) were activated across the tea-chain and select bookshops. Then there was the #UberReads partnership, where the team equipped two Uber EV Shuttle Buses with 60-80 titles spanning genres, encouraging people to read during commutes. “For Birds on the Brain by Uma Krishnaswami, we partnered with the Green Panther Club in <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/bengaluru">Bengaluru</a>, where 17 enthusiastic children embarked on a guided bird walk, and at the end two winners were presented the book as a prize. For Akshat Gupta’s new series The Naga Warriors, we collaborated with Etihasik—a niche graphic T-shirt brand that aims to glorify early traditions, fables, and forgotten faces of ancient India—designed exclusive t-shirts for influencer and blogger outreach,” says Pallavi Narayan, Manager Corporate Communications at Penguin Random House. “It’s about creating a space where people are eager for your work and willing to support it.”

Narayan goes on to warn on the fine line between building a real connection versus publicity stunts. “My advice would be to stay genuine. While trying to stand out is important, being overly gimmicky risks creating something that’s easily forgettable and quickly replaceable. Instead, focus on being real, relatable and creative in ways that leave a lasting impression.”For Sidharth Singh’s The Extraordinary Life of Max Bulandi, a novel about a forgotten rockstar, HarperCollins India attached a QR code with the book that linked to a Spotify-playlist that the author had created. For my debut novel, a story revolving around three friends, set in the privileged world of crazy rich Indians, I curated a care package that would stand out amongst the slush pile of daily package drop. Designed by Luxe Box’s Hina Oomer Ahmed, the box included a porcelain coffee cup by Sokka Tableware in the same navy hue as my book cover, a mini chocolate cake by Mama Z, a friendship bracelet designed by Studio Love Letter, and a copy of the book—each add-on item becoming a little easter egg to tease my novel.But all this is usually pre-and during launch, what happens after the book has hit the shelves? US-based publishing house, 831 Stories, tackles the post-launch gap with a new disruptive publishing model. “When you finish one of our books there’s an extended universe to explore that’s made up of things like epilogues, fanfic, music, products, and so on. Think of them like ‘DVD extras’—the bit of content you’d turn to when you finished a good movie to try to juice a little more out of it,” says Claire Mazur, who co-founded the romantic fiction entertainment company with Erica Cerulo. Their first book Big Fan by Alexandra Romanoff debuted last September, with a hot pink and red cover and a strong message to enjoy reading for pleasure. “The thing that inspired us to create 831 was this realisation that a lot of romance readers aren’t just readers—they’re true fans.” Inspired by how committed these fan bases are, 831 creates trope merchandise—such as baseball hats with phrases like ‘Enemies to Lovers’, or a hotel keychain that says ‘Only One Bed’, which have proved to be hot sellers. The big lesson learnt here is that building a community seems to be at the heart of real success for authors today. Even the best writing and books can fall under the radar, if you don’t have readers rallying for the cause. Just weeks before her debut, a young author, who wishes to be anonymous, told me that her publishing house insisted on her growing her social media presence, something she had been putting aside to focus on her writing. An industry veteran, on the other hand, tells me that her advice to all authors is to have a long-term plan even before the manuscript is completed.So before you sit down to pen the next great Indian novel, maybe ask yourself: Can my book be supported by a website? A Substack? A video game? A playlist? An AI integration? But most importantly, introspect on the kind of content you want to put out there as the author and the marketeer of your book. In short, the stories you tell today must go beyond just the pages of your book.

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Let’s be clear, authors aren’t just writing books anymore

It's not you, it's your job

It was a rare sunny London morning as I walked to college. My earphones blaring my daily Spotify Blend with my best friend of a lifetime. Lost in the urban tide of The Square Mile, a jarring notification snapped me back: my phone’s location had (finally) switched from India to the United Kingdom, triggering an app reboot. In seconds, my Spotify wiped clean—and with it, the five-year-old, ever-evolving Blend playlist I had shared with my best friend.We grew up together in Calcutta. I’d witnessed her fall in love with Joni Mitchell for the first time, and dimmed the lights when Vikram Singh Khangura’s renditions of Tagore’s love ballads moved us to tears. Over the years, our clashing yet occasionally overlapping tastes scored countless shared memories. But it was our decision of going our individual ways for college—me to <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/delhi">Delhi</a> and she to <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/bengaluru">Bengaluru</a>—that put us to the ultimate test. Heading off to college, in the cities of your dreams, is the first stepping-stone towards navigating long-distance friendships in the nearly-adult world we now inhabit. From seeing each other all day in the corridors of our familiar middle-school building, to adjusting to alien metropolises alone with just text messages serving as daily or weekly updates: it’s the sort of navigation that no amount of Sally Rooney novels or Greta Gerwig films can prepare you enough for. So like most people around us, we too found ourselves bogged with similar questions: Could our friendship survive the turbulence of multi-city, long-distance college experiences? Spotify Blend thought so, with a 98% match. Blend today is what the mixtape was to the ’90s kids and the CD-swaps to the noughties teens—the ultimate declaration of love. So before we knew it, Blend became our lifeline. When calls failed (and there were plenty) and chats felt tedious (an everyday affair), our shared playlist spoke volumes. Chai Met Toast’s sonic rendering of yellow paper daisies? New crush alert. Coke Studio covers by Abida Parveen? I was knee-deep in my ‘dil aur delhi’ life. A sudden influx of bangers from the Pushpa album, and sonorous ballads by Ilaiyaraaja? My girl was making the most of her life in the heart of Bengaluru, discovering the joys of Southern Indian music. A not-so-sudden throwback to Chadrabindoo’s Amar Raat Jaga Taara? Oh boy, we both missed home. On that fateful morning in London, minutes before my weekly seminar, losing access to our Blend felt like an apocalyptic end of its own. Without our shared music by our side—classics by Pancham from the 80s for my best friend and Anusheh Anadil’s covers of folk tunes for me—how were we going to navigate the physical distance between us anymore? But like us, navigating peripatetic relationships in the modern world is something that other <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/gen-z">Gen Z</a> folks are also learning to juggle, with a little help from digital platforms. Predictably like most symptoms of our generation, our melodic choice of platform was not exceptional. There’s a growing tribe of 20-somethings connecting with remote loved ones on Blend.Himanshu Dutta, a recent graduate from the University of Delhi and a culture writer shares a similar playlist with the first friend he ever made in college. Today as the friends find themselves at two ends of the country (her in Jaipur, him in Darjeeling), and the blues of staying apart get overwhelming, Dutta finds himself seeking solace in their shared Blend. He first heard “Atop a Cake” by Alvvays on his friend’s <a href="https://thenodmag.com/tag/instagram">Instagram</a> story, and it has been a recurring musical refrain in their three-year-long friendship. “Even though it wasn't a song she introduced to me directly, in my head, it will always be her song. It has consistently featured on our Blend, and I play it when I’m on my own. It evokes emotions and memories that go back to college, where our friendship ultimately took off and established itself,” he says.While the year-end trend-fest of Spotify Wrapped might remind us of the song we listened to a million times this past year, Blend is a reminder of a real connection with someone we know IRL. Suyog Raghuvanshi, a Delhi-based student of History, agrees. “With her (his long-distance best friend) in Toronto now, there is the issue of different time zones. Blend allows me virtually to experience the same space as her,” he explains. “Although we are not experiencing time in the same linear fashion, there is solace in knowing that she could be listening to the same songs as I am, from the same Blend, in the same order, perhaps not at the same time,” he explains. But does such a transmitted, musical connection across oceans help one understand their loved one any better? “As sad as it is, I think no digital platform can make me understand her (and by extension myself) better,” he says with a wistful shake of his head.If remote friends are connecting, lovers obviously follow suit. For Anwesha Dutta, a 23 year-old psychology graduate, the Blend feature she shares with her long-distance boyfriend of five years has been a pivotal tool in navigating their distance-romance. “He listens to Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd a lot, but when he misses me, I see it reflected in our Blend. Some of my favourite indie tracks magically appear on our playlist, with his name icon next to it,” she adds with a chuckle. Srijani Datta, a climate advocate and scholar based out of Oxford agrees. “Navigating a cross-continental relationship is hard, and sometimes you are tired and don’t have the energy for a video call. Listening to each other’s music choices makes me feel closer to him,” she reflects. However, for some these blended playlists are as much about navigating the contours of joy as they are about dealing with loss. Delhi-based Deepa M. Varghese made a Blend with her former boyfriend, out of their shared love for blues. A courtship heavily marked with musical memories, she recalls tracks like “Our House” by Crosby, Stills and Nash that were a recurring presence on their playlist. Today, despite having parted ways, their Blend is something Varghese finds herself occasionally returning to. “I don't speak to my ex anymore, but I know what they're going through by just looking at the Blend,” she muses.“Each generation finds its voice through different means, and today, we have social media tools. It helps capture feelings for those who are not so articulate,” says <a href="https://thenodmag.com/content/dating-professionals-new-jobs-modern-love">intimacy</a> expert Aili Seghetti, and founder of The Intimacy Curator. Ruchi Ruuh, a Delhi-based relationship counsellor adds, “You not only share music, but also co-create an evolving playlist. That provides a sense of togetherness, and co-ordination where you are actively building something for each other, without compromising your individual taste.” Although these daily shape-shifting Blends barely hold light to the tactile constancy of mixtapes, Seghetti finds herself hopeful. “Technology can alienate or connect people and features like Spotify Blend do foster connection. It may not replicate the nostalgia of mixtapes, but it offers a new way to connect through lyrics and sharing options.”Modern-day relationships are complex in their need to exist across time-zones and geographies. But in that moment of virtual connection, through a playlist that changes in real time, one feels a moment of peace with the inevitability of navigating physical distances that threaten to choke hold our closeness to those farthest from us. In that moment, the distance notwithstanding, you are there with each other, listening to your favourite song and the lonely cost of growing up loses—at least for a brief spare moment.

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Let’s be clear, authors aren’t just writing books anymore

Move over Spotify Wrapped, Blend is where it’s at