Interview with Sanjay Lunia
Sanjay Lunia
Founder – EnGame Publishing House
Book Publisher, Book Editor, Book Coach
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Q1. Please share your incredible journey as the world’s youngest publisher? What did attract you towards Book Domain like Editing, Writing, Publishing and many more at a very young age?
At the age of 16, I read three books, and I had recently passed out from class 10 at that time. I had a little time on my hand that is the reason why I wrote a book. After writing a book, i.e. my first book, “In the name of Love,” I found that it had many grammatical and punctuation errors. So after publishing the book at the age of 16, I got to know that my friends used to talk behind my back, mock me, and that led me to find my ways into writing, editing and publishing. After this bitter experience, at the age of 18 to 19, I prepared myself for being a book editor. I took various courses and worked as a freelance editor. At the age of 19, after gaining the required experience, I finally started my own publishing house. So it was the criticism faced at the young age of 16 which led to choosing this domain. The best part of choosing this domain is that creating art is not a sign of survival but conquering life. We as human beings have the sense in us that we have to leave something behind, and I believe that with writing and editing, we get the feeling of being immortal. That is why I was attracted to this field.
Q2. You are a founder at EnGame Publishing House. What kind of services do you provide at your Publishing House?
Yes, I am the founder of this Indian Publishing House. The service we provide ranges from mentoring to much more. We mentor new budding authors to help them become bestselling authors; we provide proofreading, editing, marketing, publishing services with press releases. Now, we are also going to launch our own magazine. The company is also into helping new content creators decide what they have to post on various social media websites.
Q3. What exactly is a Manuscript in the Novel world, and what is the importance of a Manuscript for you as an Editor and Publisher?
As a writer, once you complete the book’s writing, that is known as a manuscript. A manuscript can be called that version of the book that can be edited, proofread before submitting for further editing. The manuscript is essential for a publisher as well as the author because having a look at the manuscript, the publisher then will decide if the book will be published or not. The manuscript is helpful to the editor in such a way that the basis of editing starts with the manuscript, which is then brought to the pre-publishing stage, where the book is then ready to publish.
Q4. Multiple types of Publishing are running nowadays. Which one is best for a new Author to start his career in Writing World?
Yes, as you already know that there are various types of publishing options available to you, which can be Traditional, Self-publishing and third is Hybrid publishing. If you have an idea, but you are looking to invest in the book, then Traditional publishing is the best. Whereas, when you are ready to invest the time and energy required in making the book, then you can go for Self-publishing. Hybrid publishing is a combination of Traditional and Self-publishing which is new in India. Nowadays, various self-published authors often become traditional publishers after their book becomes a massive hit. So as per my suggestion, if you are a new author, you should opt for self-publishing.
Q5. Ebooks are growing rapidly compared to Hardcopy, which is not good for Physical stores. What do you say about this change? Which one is good for new Authors to start their journey?
Yes, Ebooks are definitely proliferating but what I believe is that this change should be adopted by the masses because when you are reading something dynamic like the stock market, crypto market or your Instagram, Facebook or something that is on a constant change, then Ebooks fit in right. Ebooks are perfect in the scenarios where you know the content which citing will be changing in a year or two, and then probably you can use Ebooks. If you think that the content which you are writing will not change for years together, then going for a hard copy is best.
Q6. What kind of problems have you faced maximum in your Book Editing work, and which one is your favorite category for Book Editing??
The maximum amount of problems I have personally faced in editing is that the client or the new writer has not spelled checked their content before submitting the manuscript. This becomes a huge problem where I have to focus on the spelling, as well as on the sentence and also on the structure. Most of the time, the new writers narrate their stories to their friends and family, who are very supportive, and they don’t recognize the potholes. When these mistakes are pointed out, the writer tends to defend and cross-question me. I do enjoy editing mythology fiction books.
Q7. People are mostly coming in the writing domain nowadays due to the Self-Publishing Platform. Is it harmful for actual talent?
Writing has now become a shortcut way of creating a personal brand via self-publishing platforms. It takes years to publish content through the traditional method. I think self-publishing is not harming the actual talent, whereas it is helping the talent to get recognized. If we see the story of Amish Tripathy, he is a mythology fiction writer, and he started his journey by self-publishing his book. Through this, he created a new niche for himself, and with this, he not only became viral but also various traditional publishers then offered him money to get his book published with them. So I think it has helped the talents because the reader being the audience, can actually recognize the actual talent and promote it.
Q8. What skills would you recommend for new Authors to grow their careers?
My suggestion to every author would be to read at least 100 books before writing one of the different genres. These 100 books should belong to various other genres like 5% of the books should be of finance management, 10% should be from historical fiction. You should also be flexible to the changes in your career because many a times, what happens is you are stuck in writer’s block. Reading these different types of books helps then jump through new ideas. These are the skills and tips I would like to give to the new authors to help them grow.
Q9. Tell us about one of the moments which changed your perspective towards life?
The moment which changed my perspective towards life was after reading “5 People Who Meet in Heaven”. The boom starts on a different note that the narrator, which is interesting, begins with informing us that the character named Eddie is going to die in the following hours, 4 hours henceforth. So I think after reading the book I released that we are all going to leave this planet one day. I felt that if I really want to make a difference, staying immortal won’t be through my body but by my work. The realization that one day everybody and everything will be no more gave me a sense of the importance of time, and once I started valuing my time, my life changed drastically.
