He's been a Sherpa to some of the brightest minds in the country. Ashok Chopra, the publisher, has toiled with the marathon men and women of the Indian literary world. He's lugged their baggage of dreams and ideas to the peaks of success. He's untangled their monstrous egos and scattered petals in the path of the 'Queen of Indian Fiction', as he describes Shobhaa De. He's saved his writers from the frostbite of indifferent reviews and descent into sudden oblivion... He documents the many twists and turns of his astonishing career.... he's been able to dazzle us with his fervour for the great and the glorious.... He creates a series of vignettes that are often quite irresistible....If the earlier portions of the book brim with the froth of human interest, the last part is invaluable. There's sweetness about Ashok Chopra's interventions that makes one enjoy his journey.
Click here to read the full review: Title tattle
Click here to read the full review: Title tattle
A publisher's anecdotes about the people he has worked with in a career spanning four decades and their idiosyncrasies.... Maybe a hundred vintage sketches from Indian publishing recalling standout people of the last four decades and memorable events .... Episodic, anecdotal, even whimsical, the Scrapbook format highlights the situations Chopra has been in and the people he has worked with in four decades of publishing.... There are insights into the lives of the rich and famous who do books or become their subject. Chopra refreshes with his plain talking, a rather rare trait in the world of commissioning editors, who do like to keep up appearances in order to nurture deathless friendships. One wonders why the unnerving disclosures in this book do not mark a closure to Chopra's lively career in Ink Street. In less capable hands, this would have been an act of professional suicide.
Click here to read the full review: Once Upon a Time |
Ashok Chopra's close association with the publishing industry is thoroughly reflected in his latest book... He has a microscopic eye for detail. And an ability to know just where to cut things out. And it reflects in his written word.
Click here to read the full review: Journey with the written word |
A gripping collage of memories spanning a forty-year career of Ashok Chopra wherein he had the opportunity of publishing the top-notch authors of India.
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We recommend... A Scrapbook of Memories. Written by a veteran of the publishing industry, this is a memoir about interactions with authors, celebrities and celebrated authors. Ashok Chopra's experiences while commissioning books by some of the most celebrated authors of our age are given in detail alongwith delicious vignettes. These profiles of authors not only serve to outline the dimensions of Chopra's career but the tensions that accompany the job of a publisher. In detailing the coaxing and pursuit of people to write on time, emerges an interesting memoir that offers an insight into how publishing works.
Click here to read the full review: We Recommend |
Unfurls like a contemporary Bayeux tapestry of India's literati. Everyone who wanted to be anyone is there. He reveals his author's idiosyncrasies with discretion, their writing habits with patience, and their impatience with genteel derision. He analyses the Indian publishing industry with geometric precision... A fascinating, riveting read, faultless in construction, tone and content, moving without being mawkish.
Click here to read the full review: Publish and Befriend
Click here to read the full review: Publish and Befriend
Ashok Chopra’s book A Scrapbook of Memories raises some very pertinent questions and goes on to answer them in quite a plausible manner.... In chapters devoted to subjects relating to publishing, Chopra discusses at length such issues as sourcing manuscripts. He also writes about book launches and their usefulness (or lack thereof) in selling the publications. He rightly concludes that word of mouth recommendations contribute largely to the sales of books
Click here to read the full review: Unfading Memories |
Recaps a journey that began in Chandigarh. He writes about the life and times of authors, artists, actors, literary agents and painters -- some of whom he published, others he interacted with. He gives us stories of their inner worlds - some known, others largely unknown.
Click here to read the full review: With love and a touch of malice |
An encyclopedia of the world of publishing, where Ashok Chopra has gone down memory lane to pick out many memorable stories, including a few disappointments, some astonishments, everlasting friendships and complex working relationships. It is a world he shares with his readers by narrating stories of acquiring manuscripts, of several gambles that failed to mature into concrete deals and of the satisfaction for not burning his fingers in a failing project. Without hiding facts, he has recollected countless moments that would stay in the mind for a while and might often come back when you see the book on the shelf. Stories like these make the read interesting as they give an idea of power struggle, ego tussles and network building that form the bedrock of the publishing business. Chopra has woven the narrative in delicate thread that perfectly paints the picture
Click here to read the full review: Indians would rather spend on shoes, than books
Click here to read the full review: Indians would rather spend on shoes, than books
