The Chaotic Quills

What is the story behind the formation of the Chaotic Quills? When was it founded? Who are the key members and how did all of this come together? What inspired you to start this?

The Chaotic Quills is a lockdown brainchild that began its journey on 21st of June, 2020. It was started by me (Shrey Mehndiratta) and Sumit Budhiraja as a means of connecting the literature community all across the nation. We made a humble start with a team of 6 members, but gradually grew to a 20+ member team spread across India. The key members of The Chaotic Quills are none other than its community that showers all the love, but the 3 core members who keep the show running are Shrey Mehndiratta (Founder), Sumit Budhiraja(Founder), Shuchi Goyal(Chief Operations Officer). It all began due to our common interest for writing and poetry. We both had been heading the literary society of our college for more than a year before this and we mutually decided that it was time for us to take our love for literature a level higher!

How difficult was it to build a firm like the Chaotic Quills? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

The beginning phase was a bit difficult for us. We had just started out and it was difficult to gain people’s trust. We kept taking small steps and continued to strengthen our community. Each time we faced a roadblock or a rejection, we sat down with our team and revisited our strategy and made necessary changes to overcome them. Over time, we built a personal connection with our participants and this became our
USP! More and more people started trusting us and over this period of 14 months, we have built a community of more than 5000 literature fanatics!

What are some of the common mistakes done by authors during Book Publishing and Promotions?

Before starting any sort of Promotional Activity, we should form a set of common questions that we will encounter. Authors usually come ready with their material and knowledge of the subject but they sometimes miss out on some important concepts of pricing and stuff which lowers their confidence in the final showcase so always be prepared for everything.

According to you what are the top 5 Book Promotion Ideas relevant today that provide maximum ROI and why?

Promotional Activity can be done in following 5 ways which can give Maximum ROI:-
1) Platforms such as Kindle and reading platforms are growing significantly. So putting it up at Amazon, Flipkart will be a good initial Approach.
2) Get into Writer’s club and groups and share your thoughts on the discussion that is happening.
3) Share it on every social media platform including linkedin and tag relevant people so that it can get more reach and desired audience.
4) Do live sessions and participate in Online events that are happening to help your work gain recognition.
5) Always make sure you present it in a very nice way the poster, the content and other marketing collaterals should be proper and should convey the message.

What kind of literary events and competitions do you conduct? How are they helpful for the writers’ community?

We host a plethora of literary events. Till date, we have conducted 10 National Level Literary Festivals which had a footfall of over 4500 participants and a variety of sub-events for every type of literature community member. In these events, we’ve given away cash prizes and goodies worth more than 3 lakh rupees!! We’ve had writeup events in languages like English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. We also hosted Open Mics, where people put up a show of their talents like singing, poetry, mimicry, etc. For the people who love to speak, we’ve had debate competitions about interesting topics. Also, we hosted fandom quizzes, literature quizzes, defence quizzes and awareness quizzes for the ones who love putting their minds to test! In each of our fests, we tried incorporating a unique event. Some examples are- Reel Making, Meme Making, etc! We believe our events provide the writers with a chance to showcase their talent in front of a large community and gain national level exposure. Our events also have participants and fun nights for the contenders to connect with like minded people from all across the country.

Which are your favorite books by Indian Authors and your Favourite Authors too?

Some of our favourite books are-
Shrey: The Vault of Vishnu by Ashwin Sanghi
Sumit: The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
Shuchi: 2 States by Chetan Bhagat
Some of our favourite authors are Dan Brown, Robin Sharma, Paulo Coelho, Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi.

How is the Chaotic Quills introducing change in society through literature?

We at The Chaotic Quills believe that we are playing a small yet pivotal role in uplifting the literary community by connecting writers, poets and speakers from all across the country and bringing them under one umbrella. We have faith in the power of words and as our tagline clearly suggests, we are here to create chaos with our quills.

In this journey of yours, whom would you like to thank?

This has been a wonderful journey indeed and there are loads of people whom we want to thank. Our first token of thanks is to the Almighty and our parents, without whose blessings this journey might not have even started. We are also thankful to the entire community of TCQ which has showered so much love upon us and have supported us throughout. We’re ever so grateful to our team which has worked tirelessly and given us the best of graphics, content and promotions. In the end, we’re bound to thank every person who rejected our idea or left us hanging in mid-air by withdrawing support. As the saying goes, “We’re thankful to each person who said no. It is due to them that we did it ourselves!”

How do you encourage budding writers? Any suggestions or tips for them to grow?

In our events, we have had writers in their teens who were just starting their journey and also some writers who were doubtful about their writing. We helped them improve by giving them constructive feedback and also featuring their content on our page. This acted as a boost for their confidence and thus we encouraged them to write regularly. Our only suggestion for the budding writers is to stay regular and never miss a chance to showcase your content. Don’t be afraid of criticism, because that is what will help you improve!

At Sharing Stories, we have an ongoing campaign ‘Let’s Empower Our Kids’. Please suggest some books here that you would want your child to read before the age of 15 which could help him in understanding certain dimensions of human life like empathy, sympathy, relationships, etc.

Some of the books that we’ll want our children to read before the age of 15 are,

-Harry Potter Series

-The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

-The Alchemist

Rapid Fire Round

1. Favorite Place, Actor & Actress, Person, Food, beverage….
Shrey –
place:Udaipur
Actor:Pankaj Tripathi
Person:Mom
Food: Momos
Beverage: Coffee
Sumit –
place: mountains
Person : mom
Beverage: coffee
Shuchi –
Place:Leh
Person – dad
Food:Fries
Beverage:Coffee

2. Your First Love….
Shrey- Novels
Sumit – Travel

3. Favorite Quote…..
Shrey- ”The comeback is always greater than the setback!”
Sumit – “You haven’t lived till you have laughed and made others laugh”
Shuchi- “your now is not your forever”

4. Favorite Character from a book…
Shrey- Severus Snape(Harry Potter Series)
Shuchi– Amy dunne from Gone girl.

What if Round

1. What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?
~Food, Books, Electronics
2. What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you
change?
~Deaths due to hunger
3. What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?
~Travel to our heart’s content

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