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The Telegraph
- Amish (32nd batch/1995-1997) reader meet, March 7
Amish left us on tenterhooks with The Secret of the Nagas about Shiva and his future amidst the Meluhans, Chandravanshis and the Nagas. No wonder the third and final book in the Shiva trilogy, The Oath of the Vayuputras (Westland, Rs 350), has been flying off the shelves since its launch on February 27.
What started as The Immortals of Meluha and a whole new perspective on the myth surrounding the Neelkanth has gone on to become a literary wonder for India, and Amish’s third book has shot up the best-selling list in little less than a week.
Now, the writer on a red-hot streak will be hitting Calcutta on March 7 for the city launch of The Oath of the Vayuputras, presented by Starmark and Westland, in association with The Telegraph.
The insurance banker-turned-author will be sitting in on an interactive chat with readers at Starmark, South City Mall, from 5.30pm on Thursday.
“I am delighted to come back to Calcutta so soon, right after Kolkata Literary Meet 2013. All I would like to say for now is that I hope Calcuttans who have already read the third book like it. I wouldn’t want to play a spoiler for the rest,” said Amish Tripathi when Metro called him on Friday, before the Pune chapter of the launch.
The trilogy has not just weaved a mythological spell over a wide cross-section of readers, it has also been a marketing wonder. According to the publishers, Westland, the last book in the trilogy has been released with a rare print run of 5,00,000 copies; 3,50,000 of which was pre-sold.
If The Immortals was boosted by a free digital download of the first chapter and The Secret had theatrical trailers, The Oath has its own marketing USP: Vayuputras: The Soundtrack of the Shiva Trilogy Books was launched on February 14 with nine songs featuring the likes of Taufiq Qureshi, Sonu Niigaam, Palash Sen and Bickram Ghosh.
Amish has also gone places, The Immortals being published in the UK this January by Jo Fletcher Books.
In Calcutta, Starmark sold 250 copies of The Oath of the Vayuputras, on day one itself and that does not include the pre-order of around 300 copies.
“When the first book was released no one knew Amish, the author, and he had approached us personally for the launch back then. We have seen him grow into this really big name and we are glad to host the event in Calcutta. I am already on to the third book and it is very lively and interesting,” said Gautam Jatia, the CEO of Starmark.