Paving A Path For Young Writers

Paving A Path For Young Writers

Getting a book published can be a monumental task, especially for budding, new authors. You don’t know where to start and how to go through the entire process. But there are people out there who could help you take a step towards your passion. 

Founded by Sagar Azad, Champ Readers’ Association (CRA), which was established in 2016, is a group dedicated towards promoting new authors/ writers in India and launching their work through publishing companies. In January this year, Azad received an award from Urban Development and Housing Minister Shanti Dhariwal for the year-long contribution as a start-up in community engagement through reading. 
 
Azad’s journey to success is interesting. He was 19 when he went to Kota from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh to pursue his graduation. “I came to the city with a couple of friends who undertook coaching for IIT-JEE. It’s a very common thing in Kota,” he says. After sometime Azad got a job at Crossword as a sales executive. “I loved being surrounded by books and I would take out time to read a few,” he says adding that his love for books and words started at the store. Eventually, he was promoted to the post of store manager because of his dedication and love for books. 

“Through the years of working at a bookstore I realised that readers focus more on well-known authors. Popular authors have the right contacts when it comes to publishing their books and they also have the means to reach the right audience, but what about those who are new to the industry?” asks Azad. This thought gave birth to CRA, a small entrepreneurial venture, to promote books written by young authors making their debut.

Azad explains that CRA organises book launches, storytelling sessions, creative writing workshops, ‘read it and review it’ programmes (online and offline), motivational talk shows in schools and colleges, professional communication workshops, online promotions, partnerships etc as a part of their author’s book promotions.

Since the time they started, CRA has been able to organise book launch events for over 30 new writers in Kota and many other places. “As an organisation, we want to take the work of young writers to readers to generate and sustain a liking in reading,” he says. 

When a famous writer launches a book, readers have prior information about it, but when a new author writes, they face a lot of problem promoting it and taking it to readers. Azad thought that he should come up with an organisation that can help new authors promote their work. 

He recalls that he was convinced with this idea when he went to attend World Book Fair in Delhi and Jaipur Literature Festival, where a few publishers gave him the suggestion of promoting authors and books through a start-up.

From 2012 to 2016, Azad had organised book promotion events for writers like Amish, Ravindra Singh, Durjoy Datta, Sudeep Nagarkar, Nikita Singh, Savi Sharma, Bhawna Arora and Sumrit Shahi in Kota. 
“Later, when I started receiving messages for book launches from other cities, I talked to my friend Amit Chowkse in Jabalpur and formed Champ Readers’ Association to act as a bridge between young authors and readers. We want to look beyond the spectrum of publishing, we want literature to reach maximum number of people,”  he adds.
 
Keeping in mind our fast paced lives and the huge influence of digitisation, the organisation wants to promote reading among youngsters. “In the past few years, we have realised that young readers are into fiction, fan-fiction, mythology and self-help guides. There are a lot of takers for these genres. Which is why, more and more youngsters are getting into full-time writing. That is a good thing,” says Azad. 
Talking about the process that the organisation follows, Azad says that it’s quite simple, the authors can simply get in touch with them via their digital community page on Facebook. “Once we understand the book and the genre, we recommend them to publishing houses and then take it forward from there in terms of promotions and readings in bookstores that are beneficial,”  he says. 

He believes that even though many people are now switching to e-books, paperback is always going to be the mainstream way of reading. “Even with little time, people will never stop reading, and at the end of the day that is our motto — people reading more books and opening their minds,” he concludes.

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