Interview with Ravish #AuthorChatter #anshuasks

He was a good Samaritan to many during the BlogChatter Ebook Carnival as he read stories after stories and provided some much needed encouragement to first time writers. His writings are inspirational and food for thought.

“If you want your work to be critically appreciated, you would want him to read it.” ~ Sunaina Sharma, Blogger & Writer. That’s what fellow blogger has to say about him.

He is none other than Ravish Mani, well-known in the blogosphere for his philosophical personality and author of 3 books.

Ravish Mani – Author of 3 books

What made you opt for an audio book instead of an ebook?

I promised Richa to give something new for the third season of Blogchatter Ebook Carnival, and the audiobook was new for Blogchatter. Apart from this, you don’t have to manage extra time for listening audiobook, like you need to have for reading a book. You can listen to it while resting on your bed, stuck in traffic, etc. Also, audiobooks directly communicate with your subconscious mind. In my opinion, audiobooks are a better medium for self-help books, and mine was one.

Any particular difficulty that you faced while recording for your audiobook?

Yes, I found it difficult to manage the pace of my audiobook.

Tips or suggestions for people who want to try an audiobook.

Well, the question can be seen from two perspectives: one from the perspective of an audience and another from the perspective of an author.

For audiences who want to try audiobooks, I’d say go for it. You can get the knowledge while driving, walking, cooking, etc., without giving any extra specific time for reading. You can find some public domain audiobooks free at LibriVox.

For authors, audiobook provides an opportunity to reach a greater audience who prefer to listen over reading. Most of the time, authors are also speakers. In these cases, audiobooks help in improving one’s oratory skills. For some reasons, if you are using some text to speech software for making your audiobooks instead of your own voice, I’d suggest you go with the ones that have natural sounds – the professional ones.

What would be the major takeaways for readers from your book?

It’d be easier for me to answer your question if you had asked about a specific book of mine. Anyways….since I haven’t written many books so far, it’s not a problem at all.

From my book Make Success Your Way of Living, you’ll learn to hone a successful attitude. Success is not a one-time thing. Succeeding every time requires you to imbibe a successful attitude in your personality.

My book Love is an Ice-cream Cone throws some light on the material & spiritual aspects of love & relationship through the story of Neeta and Aman. It’s a short story.

My book Break Free the Leader Within talks about the 12 qualities of effective leadership.

Which inherent qualities (leadership or otherwise) you think you lack?

You caught me off guard. It seems that I lack the ability to comprehend questions of these types.

Which 3 books you would suggest to help people develop their leadership skills.

If you are short of time and kind of busy person, I’d recommend my book Break Free the Leader Within. It’s an audiobook of about 18 min. It’s the result of reading numerous books on leadership plus my own firsthand experience in the field. If you are into reading a self-help book, I’d suggest you to read Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. If you are a person who avoids self-help books and more into fiction, then The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi is the book for you. It’ll tell you how a no one can become an inspiration for masses.

Who is that one leader you admire the most and why?

I’d say Prophet Mohammed. He was not only a spiritual leader but a political leader too. He wasn’t a leader born with silver spoon. He started very low and reached the highest on his own. He united various small tribes into one large community under the banner of Islam, which means surrender. He never made wealth. Whatever came to him during the day, he used to distribute them by night. He was a leader in the true sense. He lived for the people.

The thing that I admire the most is his honesty and courage. He never hesitated in admitting that during the early days of Koran, he was misled by Satan. He revoked some lines from the Koran, which are infamous as ‘The Satanic Verses.’ It takes lots of courage to admit one’s mistakes to masses. He risked his credibility for his honesty. It’s a rare trait.

How do you overcome writer’s block?

There’s no such thing as writer’s block but writer’s excuses. You just need to find out those excuses and get rid of them. That’s all.

Share tips on publishing and marketing your ebook.

Well, there’s nothing new under the sun, and in this era of information technology, I don’t have anything new to add that you won’t find on internet. The problem is not the lack of knowledge but the utilization of knowledge through action, as B. F. Skinner said, “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” The secret to success lies in three words: discipline, hard-work, and perseverance.

Mark Victor Hanson and Jack Canfield were rejected by 144 publishers. One publisher offered to publish their book on the condition that they would buy 10,000 copies, which they did. They had a house full of books for selling. Every day, without failing, they came out and did something to promote their book. They finally managed to sell more than 11 million copies. The book was Chicken Soup for the Soul.

For tips on self-publishing, you can read Self-publishing Manual by Dan Poynter.

Throw some light on how you research while writing.

In fact, I don’t research while writing; I start writing after my research is over. I have this habit of reading extensively, and when I have plenty of information on a particular topic from various sources that needed to be put together, I start writing. I always make notes and annotate books while reading

About Ravish Mani’s book:

Break Free the Leader Within

It’s an audiobook of about 18 min. It talks about 12 qualities of effective leadership. Shailaja V, Blogger & Entrepreneur, says: “A really good read on what makes effective leaders! Inspiring and a worth dekko especially if you are in the leadership/startup space.”

You can find Ravish’s other books here:

Make Success Your Way of Living

Love is an Ice-cream Cone

Read reviews of his books –

http://istoppedtosmellarose.blogspot.com/2016/07/make-success-your-way-of-living-by.html

http://www.mommytincture.com/2017/12/20/making-success-a-way-of-living/

https://sonaonline.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/break-free-the-leader-within-by-ravish-mani-book-review/

https://www.auraofthoughts.com/2018/06/book-review-break-free-leader-within-by.html

Click to find out more on his GoodReads page.

Well, that was Ravish Mani for you, bold and philosophical!

What did you think about this interview? Do comment and share your thoughts!!

@ravishmani, do comment and let us know how this interview experience was for you. And do read, share and comment on your fellow author’s interviews as well.

Head to Ashwini’s and Priya’s blogs for interviews of Monika and Jayanthi. 

Check out other interviews in the series conducted jointly by @Ashwini_Menon, @priyreflects and Yours Truly – Aesha, Ruchi, Medha, Manas, Mayuri, Preeti, Pragun.