I’ve pushed myself harder and harder with every novel I’ve written, both in going deeper with my thoughts and trying to get purer in the craft.
The Result (Annual Book Sales in Year 1 of Launch)
Yes, the better I’ve gotten as a writer (not just my assessment—below are the average Goodreads ratings), the more my book sales have plummeted.From once being considered a major mass market pull by my Indian publishers, I’m just a touch above the midlist. Reliable but not blockbuster. Relevant but dispensable.
I’m not particularly surprised.
If I’ve learnt anything in my corporate career, it’s that a product earns mass success when it meets the unmet needs of the masses. Every time I’ve created an advertising campaign that works or launched a successful new product in my job, I’d done my homework to know my consumers inside-out and created something that satisfies an unmet, often unarticulated need for them.
I’ve never done that for my writing.
I haven’t kept the consumer in mind for my books. On the contrary, I’ve written to answer questions that have tormented me—the meaning of success in Johnny Gone Down, the nature of suffering in The Seeker/The Yoga of Max’s Discontent—and enveloped them in the same kind of pacy narratives that interest me as a reader.
It doesn’t work, at-least from a mass sales perspective.
The less mainstream the questions I’ve asked myself have gotten, the less my books have sold. To sell a million copies, you need to touch a million hearts. To touch a million hearts, you need to know their hopes, their dreams, their aspirations, their burning pains.
I don’t.
I can guess. People are consumed by conflicts of love, the drama of relationships, the dreams of upward mobility.
Max wanted enlightenment.
That’s why The Seeker didn’t sell a million copies.
It didn’t deserve to. I hadn’t done my consumer work.
But curiously enough, I’d write it all over again. And for my next book, I’m likely going to skip the consumer research again. Because each book I’ve written has opened windows to new worlds for me, helped me find meaning where I felt none existed, and transformed me in immeasurable ways. And in answering my own questions, I hope I’ve touched a few lives along the way.
The one decision you need to make as a writer.
Are you creating a product for people or are you trying to deepen your own soul?
Either is fine.
Both have their consequences.
In the former, you’ll end up selling a lot of copies, garner adoring audiences, and become someone whose voice is heard and respected above the din of individual opinion.
In the latter, you’ll lose out on all of these but you’ll gain something else. A growing profundity, the quiet joy of an unadulterated pursuit in a noisy world, and the enthusiasm of boundless personal curiosity as you seek deeper, more meaningful experiences with each creation.
Both have their place. That’s why I don’t understand the vitriolic directed at a James Patterson in the US or a Chetan Bhagat in India. They know their exact consumers and are creating the exact products that meet their consumers’ needs. Much to admire there–even if that’s not a choice you decide to make.
My one advice for a debut novelist.
I’m a hypocrite. For all my talk about writing being a personal journey, I love publishing a novel. My editors at both Harper and Random House have challenged my stories to help me grow tremendously as a person. Readers’ emails and messages never fail to lift my heart. I get excited when I hit the bestseller lists. All in all, I like everything that comes with being a “traditionally” published novelist.
If I’d started with a novel as personal as The Seeker, I’d probably have none of those.
I got lucky. Unknowingly, Keep off the Grass satisfied the growing market demand for campus stories while being a personal passion project since I wanted to write a trippy, road-trip adventure, being a personal fan of the genre.
Be more deliberate than me to get a major publishing deal though. You don’t have to be a sell-out. Just figure out the intersection of your personal passion with a market need by looking at what genres sell, what people are talking about, and where the zeitgeist is going. That’s the recipe for a winning story you’ll also dig writing.
Who knows I may try it next time as well? Time to start selling a few copies again
Of course, if you have that one idea that grabs you such that it doesn’t let go, then forget all this above. Just go for it. From Fifty Shades to Amish, each year there’s at breakout that defies all analyses. Here’s wishing it’s you!
P.S: What drives your writing? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

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28 Responses to “The Toughest Decision You’ll Make as a Writer”
Insightful as always Karan. Think this will help me resolve my current decision making.. Have you moved to Mumbai already..
Indeed, in Mumbai now!
Hey Karan,
How you? Hope you doing good. Your avid reader her again.
Well written article, much needed.
Needed this article at this time.
Karan I am trying to consider self publish my book by January 2017.
I never got any reply from major publishing companies, for the proposal and Outline manuscript I have sent.
I have a strong sense in my mind, that I have written something out of my heart, which people would love to read , leave them a feeling and marvelous impact after reading the last word in the last page of my book.
Karan could you give me some advice or check list or “How I did it?” tips for self publishing.
Chaitanya, I’d love to, man, but I’ve never self-published so I don’t know if my advice is any use. Good luck, man.
Hi karan
Please clarify. Want to write which sells more. Is this decision determined by outside activities? When will you change your natural alignment and for what ,you will change.
Dr Prabhu Venugopal
I’m not sure I understand the question, Prabhu.
Hi Karan,
Its regarding the novel The Yoga of Max Discontent and The Seeker. I read both and they both are same
I was really excited and placed an order for The Yoga….. but to my dismay it was the same as The Seeker
My apologies man, do send me a paypal so I can refund your purchase.
I just loved your book The Seeker. There were many points in the book that lent itself to deep reflection. I would actually, love to write such a book but I know I can’t. I love reading and writing romance and I don’t feel authentic when I do something else. I spent the last two years trying to write a thriller and it didn’t work out because I don’t like reading thrillers!
It’s sometimes embarrassing for a woman with growing kids like me to tell people that I like reading and writing romances but I’ve realised that it’s what I love and I can’t help it. I have to be true to myself.
Romance is terrific for a woman with growing kids
And thank you for liking The Seeker, that means a lot.
Your first book, when I got around to reading it, was already a big hit. You were called a thinking man’s Chetan Bhagat, which back then was a compliment. I remember not liking Keep off the Grass at all… I thought I could write a better book & I kinda did (How I got My girl back, a nerd’s guide to dating)…
Johhny Gone down was again wasnt well written, the subject was too intricate & you were too young to write it. I again wrote a much better book in the same Genre (The Underdog)
Both these books 40000 copies in total, which is much lesser than yours in spite of being better books.
But I am a fan, not of your writing, but of the fact that you are not a sell out. It would have been so much easier for you to keep coming out with different versions of Keep off the Grass, but you didnt. For that courageous decision, you have my respect. Keep writing.
Thanks man, I’d love to read The Underdog. Where can I find it?
I have just started my journey for real. Earlier I cornered the feelings in my head and they were never published. Now I have started blogging and I must tell you ,JOHNNY GONE DOWN was the very book that fueled the reader inside me and brought the writer out as well. I couldn’t thank you enough. And on the question on what drives me? Its the struggle to decipher the unanswered questions of my life.After I hit bottom,both in love as well losing a loved parent,I had to unleash the seeker that have been trying since so long to come out. I developed undying faith in Nichiren Buddhism and it metamorphosised me to a new human being. I was reborn. To quote Robert Frost..”Two roads diverged in a wood,I took the one less travelled by…and that what has made all the difference”…Thank you Karan..!! God bless you
Thank you Bhanupriya, you and I have a lot in common–I’d love to read your book.
Hi Karan.. The Seeker might not have sold million copies, dont worry about that. You are not a commercial movie producer who selects scripts for the mass. How many people really think about their purpose in life? How many of us would actually think of leaving this materialistic world for the sake of enlightenment? Not many… so you should be feeling awesome that your heart could conjure such deep meaningful thoughts. This book certainly changed my heart.. though I practise Buddhism, I was not able to get any direction in my life. After reading The Seeker I was a changed person. I am going re read it as many times till I can get to the bottom of every of word, every sentence in the book.
I have never tries writing, if I ever do that it has to be something that touches my heart. I do like the idea of knowing what people would want to read.. but that wouldnt be creativity anymore. That would be just a product. Writing like any form of Art has to be your own creation.. your individual feelings and thoughts. Thank you Karan. Keep following your heart.
Very, very kind of you, Sonia, that truly means a lot. I appreciate how deeply you’ve understood the book.
Dear Karan,
Thanks for taking the trouble to discern and write about this and then share it!
I can relate to this completely, although my context wasnt writing novels, but facilitating experiential growth-promoting workshops. Same downward spiral from 1995 to 2013… eventually stopped even attemptiing to oragnise them in the last 3 years.
And I couldnt agree more with the fact of how each choice is valid. I do suspect there’s a process from the outside-in, and perhaps some writers remain (with awareness in some cases maybe) at the ‘stage’ of making a product…
Be well! Warmest greetings for Divali – may it light up your inner path even more brightly
Sujata Potay
Lovely thoughts Sujata! And the happiest Diwali to you as well
Yes, but. There are 2 thoughts i am trying to hang on to. First, I don’t have anyway to quickly access information on this, but isn’t there the long term value of a book to consider? Not the blockbuster value? Not the fad? I’m thinking of ‘Siddhartha’ and ‘Search in Secret India.’ I’d love to know what Hesse and Brunton would have to say about it.
Also, what would be the effect of your reasoning about writing for your perceptions of the needs and desires of others eventually do to your own sense of who you are? It seems to me that there are at least 2 kinds of artists and you need to figure out which one to be. It’s possible to do both–but maybe rare? I’m thinking of 2 southwestern artists I have always loved, Amado Pena and R.C. Gorman. They both produced tons of quick pieces and, with printmaking, made tons of money–and they caught a lot of criticism for it. But both continued with very serious work, I think. Maybe Pena has gone deeper now. I haven’t kept up. But you already figured that out.
Anyway, I wait with anticipation and affection to see what you will do next.
Thank you Pat. I think it’s difficult to write a book with long-term value in mind. My guess is these things just happen, surprising the writer as much as they surprise the reader
‘Better to write for the self and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.’
-Cyril Connolly
Lovely!
No offense, but Keep off the Grass was the best. Seeker was ok. Haven’t read Jonny, so can’t say. It not my place to suggest, but since you’re good with adventure-type backgrounds, how about a simple adventure story the kind Michael Crichton wrote. Or something like Indiana Jones.
Hi Karan! I keep on coming to this blog of yours. I like the angle you provide. Actually, it is very difficult to delve into ourselves for everything we want to do, I mean doing everything for a reason and then, you have this world where vanity I guess plays a pretty important role. I have just finished writing a book and I am self publishing it, actually vanity publishing it. I just love to write, I don’t like to market it or promote my book. Now when the book is complete, it has absolutely no value to me. Even while I am honestly writing this comment, I am not sure whether I am trying to promote my book at the same time. What’s your take to all this “creating the right balance” jargon?
I have been a voracious reader who has been struggling to read with a struggling motherhood…I loved what you wrote. It is matter of fact and non objective. I really do not care about genres…I like writers. I like your work. Keep it up.
Yes its true we have to choose what we want all the time, not just in writing, in everything. From the most trivial, what should I eat today to the most profound,what do I want to do with my life. Once you make choices the path is laid out. We, however, do not know where it will lead us. I am no one to suggest anyone anything but I believe Karan,you would be more at peace with yourself if you remain true to yourself. I rest my case.
Well said, Shalu, thanks–and I can well understand the paucity of time to read/write with parenthood. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Karan, I love your writing and also this has been a productive blog. Thank you for sharing a detailed insight.
I aspire to be a writer and want to start working on it, but somehow the moment I sit down to write a novel, words and thoughts don’t flow in the manner I expect them to. Can you guide me through how an amateur writer should start off? That’d be a great help! Thank you
Sir,
I am also facing the dilemma while writing my book. Earlier I have written a book which failed, Yes I didn’t do my homework. But I see that majority of Indian writers are youngsters and youngsters are nowadays driven by love, relationships. Therefore Writing in a genre other than romance is really a challenging task