The Market

The market for this manuscript is primarily people from the “X and Y” (or next) generations, as well as baby boomers, the 20’s adolescents, early 40 s mid life denyers, and the nifty fifty been there done thats. It’s aimed at people who travel and/or enjoy travel stories and represents a very large potential market. The author wrote a story he wanted to read, and gauging by the responses he has received from a range of men and women readers between the ages of 16 and 60, it’s a story they also enjoyed reading too.  With the travel industry booming world wide, anything catering to this market has an ever growing audience.    

See Amazon reader reviews here

 

    Also a selection of professionals, ranging from authors, agents, writer's groups and literary reviewers also highly commend the book as been very marketable.  

See industry reviews here


The Competition

There is a range travel memoirs written by foreigners visiting India, but this genre is not oversaturated with material. To the contrary, books on this topic have been very successful. This means that Shanti Bloody Shanti (SBS) has a ready-made market. There are three principle competitors for SBS. These include international bestsellers; 

Shantaram                                          (click here for details), 

Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure   (click here for details)

Are You Experienced                      (click here for details). 

All three are based on true stories of the writers’ experiences in India. They are all quite different accounts and all three have proved very popular with contemporary readers. SBS falls uniquely between them and therefore creates its own niche market.

William Sutcliffe’s, Are You Experienced? (paperback, 256 pages, $12.24 USD +p/h, Amazon.com), published by Penguin 1999, is a light comedy of a young British traveller taking three months off in his gap year before commencing university. It is his first trip abroad and his naive enthusiasm sees him soon missing England and its first world creature comforts.

SBS differs from Sutcliffe’s book in that something more substantial happens in the storyline. SBS’s principle character traverses the southern and northern states of the country, as well as reaching the far flung and remote Andaman Islands. There is a revolution, terrorist attacks, discovering a headless murdered corpse on LSD and the tragedy in the mountains. Not to mention an entourage of interesting characters, such as the mad and elusive Frankie the Kobra, the tax dodging, Jimmy Ambassador of the Sunrise Bacon, the Hells Angels like Shiva Riders and Alexander Templar, the HIV positive, retired international drug smuggler and Biochemist psychedelinaught. There is also the colourful past from which the principle is escaping, such as a divorce and the coke dealer’s assassins back in Australia.

Both stories share a down to earth sense of humour, anecdotes of the alternative stoner traveller circles and an ironic scepticism of some of the quasi spiritual clichés that are rampant in India. Sutcliffe’s book, although appealing to a large audience, is a somewhat limited to the young middle to upper class, English, twenty something traveller, whilst SBS is aimed at a more broad socio/economic and age demographic. It will still be appealing to this young age group but also travellers in their thirties, forties and fifties from various backgrounds as well. SBS delves deeper into Indian culture and mythology than Are You Experienced, which primarily focuses on the social circles of the backpacker community.

Sarah Macdonald’s Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure (paperback, 304 pages, $12.95 USD +p/h, Amazon.com) published by Broadway 2004, is the author’s amusing memoirs in India. Spending a year sabbatical there, she probed into many of the spiritual pursuits and elements of Indian culture, including many different ashrams.

SBS differs from Macdonald’s book in that it’s primarily set in the traveller community of India, whereas her story is more of the perspective of somebody living in the country. Both books discuss spiritual aspects of India with frankness and humour and both characters sample some of these esoteric activities. However SBS also draws upon a spiritual experience that occurred whilst in Australia with the Yorta Yorta Aborigines and deals with the very real factors of the tragedy in the mountains. SBS explores the seedy underbelly of the more drug debauched, dysfunctional and misguided travellers in a refreshing self deprecating sense of humour, which Macdonald’s story does not. SBS’s principle character, as well trying to find himself, is trying to desperately get laid which leads to a series of pathetic but amusing situations.

Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram (paperback & hardcover 944 pages, $25.95 USD + p/h, Amazon.com), published by St Martin’s Griffith (reprint 2005), is the incredible fictionalized story of an Australian escaped convict’s epic fourteen year adventure in India. He went from a slum doctor, to an Indian jail bird, to a passport forger and smuggler for the Bombay mafia to finally a guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan against the Russians. This international best seller is now being produced into a film starring Johnny Depp.

Obviously SBS cannot compete with the magnitude and depth of knowledge of India as Roberts provides. However, anyone who enjoyed his story will enjoy SBS. Both the principles are colourful characters from Melbourne’s underworld with a similar seedy criminal history and both on the run, be it Roberts’ character is a substantially heavier player. SBS is definitely a lighter read and focuses more on the humorous side of the experience, although both characters cope with death and tragedy and experience a sense of spiritual growth.

Some other titles that are related to SBS’s genre but do not directly compete with SBS’s market are; The Age of Kali: Indian Travels and Encounters, by William Dalrymple, published by Lonely Planet Publications 2000, (paperback 394 pages, $10.17 USD + p/h, Amazon.com), Backpack, by Emily Barr, published by Amazon Remainders Account 2001, (paperback 320 pages, $6.63 USD + p/h, Amazon.com), Traveler’s Tales India: True Stories, Authors various, Published by Traveler’s Tales 2004, (paperback 518 pages, $13.57 USD + p/h, amazon.com).

 

Promotion Ideas

I have compiled a mailing list of interested readers in my travels who I give updates and teasers to maintain interest. I will also build a better website when the manuscript is published to promote the product. I am willing to travel for book signings, and past professional acting training makes public speaking and interviews a breeze for me. Once the book is published, I would be more than happy to carry a stock of pre-paid books with me on my travels to sell to the many travelers I meet on the road, a permanent book publicity tour.

Even though I am aware cover art design is not the decision of the author but rather the publisher, i have included some mock up ideas that may or may not be useful.  

Book Cover Ideas