What's wrong with Indian Debut authors

I had a good time reading such incredible books for 5 years and then one day I decided, hey why don't I give Indian literature a chance? After all, I do live here. My first book like many other Indian readers was by Chetan Bhagat. Unfortunately, I seemed to have picked the worst of his books, being '3 Mistakes of my life' (reading that was a big mistake of my life) and 2 states (Because I wanted to watch the movie and can't watch without reading). Again I was disappointed. But I did not lose hope.

The problem is that I had no one to guide me. To show me the way of GOOD Indian Literature. I hadn't heard of Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh. Every time I tried to look, I'd end up with something like Durjoy Dutta which would make me lose faith even more. 

Then I discovered the Indian Publishing Markets and since I was already an established reviewer, it wasn't hard getting review copies of New books by Debut authors. Because fresh mind, new ideas, right? Right? WRONG.

What I discovered was that no one cares what they are selling as long as it is being sold. Quantity over Quality is their mantra. Stupid story? Messed up characters? Who cares? Good marketing and the book will sell like a dream.

 The Publishers don't care if the story is good or if the editing has been done properly. The writers have just the dream of getting published and seeing their book out there in the world in the hands of readers. They don't wait to think, "Is it good enough? Would I be praised because of this book or mocked by it?" 

I have seen debut authors who haven't read a single book in their entire life and they just go ahead writing bullshit and it gets published because why the hell not?

Well Excuse me sir, heed the advice of a great writer Stephen King,

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.

And I pity those people who spend money to reads such books. Because there is so much good stuff out there that they have never discovered. But how would they know that? (Frankly, I didn't either.) And with these fake reviews posted all over commending books that are visibly flawed, who can you trust?

The fact that the level of writing in India has dropped to such a level is horrible. I have reached the point where I am satisfied with a book if it doesn't have any grammar mistakes. And that in itself is a shame. Because (a) I read because they make me happy and now I cringe every time I see a word misspelt or another chauvinistic male character being an asshole. (b) Books are supposed to teach you something and that something isn’t that cheating is alright as long as you found your true love (and shit like that). (c) Even books for mere entertainment need to have strong characters and a gripping plot line, not a cheap rip-off of every Bollywood movie ever made.

And please.. please. For the love of God, someone find good editors. Because GRAMMAR IS IMPORTANT.

Every time I start reading a book by a debut Indian author, I have to sit with a pencil in my hand because the editors haven't done their job and the publishers didn't give a shit and the author doesn't care that the book with THEIR name on it has so many mistakes that it might as well be an exam paper of a kid in 5th standard (not the topper obviously).

This is the basic thing that is rotting the whole bookish community. The words that are written on these books are forever. So isn't it a major responsibility to check if it is even correct? I do not care if English is not your first language. Who said to write in English? Write in the language you know well. But if you DO want to write in English and you DONOT have a good command over it, then that is what EDITORS are for. Just find a good one (the most brutal one).

How would you like it, if you wrote a book and the reader tells you, "I got confused reading it because 'their' and 'there' were misplaced. What were you really trying to say here?"  

So much effort to think of a plot, create characters, work hard writing every day, putting your blood and soul into those words and the theme doesn't reach out because you had a shitty editor. Congratulations. Now there is a book out there with your name on it and people hate it and they will blame you for making them waste their money on it. 

The publishers need to pay attention to such stuff more than they do on the covers and publicity. Yeah every one judges a book by their cover even if they say they don’t. But don’t be just an eye candy. No one wants a book that’ll just stay on their shelf and no one would want to read it. We want good books that we can discuss about and lend to our friends and share with people. We want memorable books that connect with us.

You know how this can be solved?

There needs to be a tradition of Advance reading copies. Once the book is written and ready to go out into the market, it must be given to a few HARSH reviewers so they could give their opinions BEFORE it gets published and publicly mocked. 

I understand that I am still immature when it comes to the bookish industry and my opinions may not matter much to people who have far more experience with this. But as a reader and an Indian, I expect more. Scratch that. I DEMAND MORE. The level of Indian literature shouldn't be stuck at cheap cheesy romance novels and definitely not at a point where readers are happy with a book that just has good grammar.