Creators have been influencing the way consumers eat, shop, travel, watch content, meditate, invest, exercise, and even read. Influencers, who are known to be subject experts, are writing books. Dr Tanaya Narendra aka Dr Cuterus, who is a physician and embryologist, recently released a book ‘Dr Cuterus: Everything Nobody Tells You About Your Body’. Narendra is known for educating her social media community about the human body and topics like sex and pleasure, using her medical expertise.
A few months before Narendra’s book came out, Leeza Mangaldas, a sex-positive content creator, also released a book. It’s called The Sex Book. Mangaldas busts myths about first-time sex, the hymen, the idea of ‘virginity’ and everything in between through her Reels, YouTube videos, and podcasts. She wanted to keep the title of her book bold yet simple to catch the attention of readers. She tells Storyboard18, even today books do have the ability to change people’s attitudes and perspectives about several topics.
“The mind space you give a subject through books is far greater than a 30-second video. For creators like me, it gives an opportunity to go deeper into the matter and bring in a newer set of readers on board,” says Mangaldas. Creators like Narendra and Mangaldas are simplifying topics like sex and pleasure on social media. They are making it digestible to consumers on paper too.
Trend miners
As Indian content creators become authors, publishing houses are also gaining insights about Indian readers. Poulomi Chatterjee, publisher at HarperCollins India, has been looking at content trends for a while. “We look at what consumers are watching, listening, and reading online. Now, we are picking topics and speaking to creators who we think will also appeal to readers outside their online communities,” she explains. Health, nutrition, travel, food, self-help, matters of money and business are some of the topics that are gaining more popularity in the publishing world.
Currently, non-fiction books are teeming and vibrant. According to multiple reports, the share of non-fiction has gone up 58 percent in the last few years. Publishers observe that readers are picking up non-fiction books more than ever. Chatterjee opines, “Indians are aspirational not just from the lens of being successful. We like to read more inspirational stories about real people and their lives, about overcoming odds, habits that can change our everyday life, productivity hacks, just understanding ourselves better, etc. This is driving the category.”
HarperCollins India has published Leeza Mangaldas’ The Sex Book, YouTuber couple Savi and Vid’s ‘Bruised Passports: Travelling the World as Digital Nomads’, and self-taught baker Shivesh Bhatia’s books including Eggless Baking With Shivesh, Bake with Shivesh and Shivesh Bhatia’s Desserts for Every Mood: 100 feel-good recipes. It also published A Cookbook For Special Days, Special People by Bhatia which was designed by Maitreyee Namjoshi.
Content creators of Indian origin in the West have turned into authors too. Jay Shetty’s latest book ‘8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It and Let It Go’ is meant to be a revelatory guide to every stage of romance, drawing on ancient wisdom and new science. The book has also topped the New York Times best-seller list. Shetty, a monk turned life coach and influencer laid out his life philosophies in his debut book ‘Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day’ in 2020.
YouTuber turned-actor Lilly Singh has also written two books. Last year, she penned a light-hearted book titled ‘Be a Triangle – How I Went From Lost To Getting My Life Into Shape’. The book is sprinkled with comic-style illustrations. Her first book, in 2017, ‘How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering’ covered such topics as goal setting, making a great first impression, and how to achieve your dreams.
Building credibility
Entrepreneur and former Nearbuy boss Ankur Warikoo is an internet mentor and creator of motivational content for 18-24-year-olds. His videos about personal growth and finance are hugely popular. His first book ‘Do Epic Shit’ highlighted the key ideas that have fuelled his journey so far. His second book ‘Get Epic Shit Done’ answers 36 everyday life questions. He is already working on his third book on money. Entrepreneurs turned creators turned authors like Warikoo are bringing in a lot more credibility to their personal brands through books.
Popular content creator and podcaster Varun Duggirala has always wanted to write a book. Duggirala also co-founded digital creative agency The Glitch which was acquired by global advertising holding group WPP. His book ‘Everything Is Out of Syllabus’ is an instruction manual on optimising life for happiness and high performance. It’s a handbook of things he wished he had learned in his 20s. It resonates with his audience and that’s what new readers are looking for too, he tells us. Duggirala opines consumers believe creators only when they bring along a certain level of trustworthiness. “If they see creators on billboards or print ads their followers get thrilled. In the case of a book, it becomes even more special because they can pick it up and it has a shelf life to it. The reality is traditional mediums bring in a lot of credibility for creators,” he concludes.