Cover Story: How Amish Tripathi changed Indian publishing

The writer and columnist Anil Dharker has an astute way of describing Amish Tripathi, author of the Shiva Trilogy (The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and the recently released The Oath of the Vayuputras). “Amish has a self belief possibly bordering on arrogance,” Dharker says. It’s a compliment.

Tripathi, the banker whose manuscript was famously rejected by 20-odd publishers (he also showed a copy to Dharker only to ignore his every suggestion), has become India’s fastest selling author. Over 1.7 million copies of his books have been sold, ringing up Rs 40 crore and earning him an unprecedented Rs 5 crore advance for his next series. It couldn’t have come without self belief and almost-arrogance.