News Broadcasting
Amish’s SHIVA TRILOGY crosses 2 million copies in print and gross retail sales of Rs. 50 crores
MUMBAI: The Shiva Trilogy, written by Amish, is a compelling, fictional tale of a Tibetan tribal called Shiva, whose adventures nearly 4000 years ago, morphed into the mythical legends of the Hindu God Shiva. The Shiva Trilogy (The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas & The Oath of the Vayuputras) has more than 2 million copies in print with gross retail sales of over Rs 50 crores, making it the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing.
Over the last few months, The Oath of the Vayuputras, The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas have remained at the top in the A C Nielsen bestseller list in India, one of the rare occasions where one author’s books dominate the national bestseller lists so completely!
Published by Westland Ltd, the books have been released across the Indian subcontinent in various languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, Bengali, Assamese. It has also been released in the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia. They will also be released very soon in other languages like Tamil.
Additionally, Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus Books) have bought the English language rights outside of the Indian sub-continent and has published the first book, The Immortals of Meluha, in the UK in January 2013. The book will be released in the US in Summer 2014. The book is also due for release in Vietnam soon.
The Shiva Trilogy has attracted a wide and devoted audience since its publication, with publishing gurus calling it a genre-creating book series. It has also received positive reviews from various eminent personalities. Spiritual guru, Deepak Chopra, complimented the books saying, ‘Amish’s mythical imagination mines the past and taps into the possibilities of the future. His book series, archetypal and stirring, unfold the deepest recesses of the soul as well as our collective consciousness.’ Renowned Film Director, Shekhar Kapur, called Amish ‘India’s first literary popstar’, while celebrated author Anil Dharker called him ‘a literary phenomenon’.
Many marketing innovations have also been attempted for the Shiva Trilogy. For the 1st book, The Immortals of Meluha, the first chapter had been printed and distributed, free of cost, as a sampler. A trailer film had also been made and uploaded on YouTube, probably for the first time in the history of Indian publishing. For the 2nd book, The Secret of the Nagas, a professional film-quality trailer film had been made and showcased in cinemas, once again for the first time in Indian publishing history. The string of innovations has continued in the marketing of the 3rd book of the trilogy, The Oath of the Vayuputras. For the first time in Indian publishing, an original soundtrack album has been created for a book series called ‘Vayuputras: the soundtrack of the Shiva Trilogy books’. For the festive season a box set of the Shiva Trilogy books is being released as a special hardbound edition for gifting.
Giving the life of music to the soul of the words, all the 10 songs in the album have been originally created out of various sections of the 3 books of the Shiva Trilogy. Top-notch musical artistes like Taufiq Qureshi, Sonu Nigam, Palash Sen & Bickram Ghosh have contributed their talent to this album. A professional, world-class music video has also been produced which is being telecast in various music channels.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
