Ajitabha Bose is an author, filmmaker, designer and an entrepreneur who introduced the first pocket storybook in India.
The idea of the pocket book came to me when I was travelling back to my hometown in the year 2015. I was reading a novel and there was a girl sitting next to me who was staring at the book. All of a sudden she said,” How do you read such fat books! These fat books are the reason why don’t like reading”. Being an author myself, I was a bit unhappy with the statement. I curiously asked her the reason for the same. She said that she is a college going student and she never had enough time for the course books, leave apart the novels or the story books.
I was totally convinced and that day the idea of the pocket book came to me. I spoke to my publisher and they liked it too. I had the idea to write a short story of 6000-7000 words and make the size of the book smaller, as small as a pocket diary. After publishing 4 books, I published my first pocket book in the year 2015 and named it The Pocket Love Story. The book did an average sale but the concept was an instant hit. Everyone liked the concept of the small size pocket book. I was approached by various national record organisations and I qualified for it as well. The Pocket Love Story became the smallest book ever published in India and I became a national record holder.
In March 2016, I had published my second pocket book named In Love With Shah Rukh Khan. This book is a mega hit and became one of the highest selling books of Author’s Ink Publications. It has already been reprinted 4 times. In Love With Shah Rukh Khan is praised worldwide including big media house and celebrities including Shah Rukh Khan himself. Shah Rukh Khan had tweeted about the book on 9th of March, 2016. The book qualified for the world record this time and I was promoted to a world record holder.
It is always difficult to write a small book. You have limited words to write but convey the same emotions at the same time. You have to be very specific in your content. The major difficulty which I face is while I am editing the story. The word count usually goes up to 10,000 which I have to cut short to 7000 (approx.). The editing consumes the maximum time. I prefer writing when I am travelling. Ideas flow in very easily. I choose to write simple words so that everyone can read my story. Be it a professor or a shopkeeper, everyone should understand my writing. It helps me to connect with every kind of people.
I want to set a trend of pocket books in this literary world. People have already started adopting this concept and there are 6 other pocket books in the market by different authors. In today’s fast running life no one has time for other things. This pocket book is for the people who don’t have time for reading or don’t like reading books. This book can easily be completed in 30 mins and can develop a habit of reading. The stories in the pocket books are small but will definitely leave an impression in the mind of the readers.
