A leaf out of her own book

Everyone has a Story is the tale of Meera, a fledgling writer in search of a story that can touch millions of lives, and Vivaan, who dreams of travelling the world but gets trapped in the corporate field. The story unwinds when Kabir, a cafe manager and Nisha, a despondent cafe customer enter the picture. Together, the four characters explore friendship and love, writing their own pages of life, from the cozy confines of the café to the ends of the world. “All characters of the narrative are fragments of my own personality, imagination and thoughts. They have been sketched based on many of my personal experiences, observations and feelings. So, in a way, it’s autobiographical,” explains 26-year-old Savi, a simple girl from Surat who left her CA studies to become a storyteller. 

Originally self-published and distributed by Savi herself, Everyone has a Story went on to sell over 5,000 copies in less than a month, a feat that also made her India’s first successful female self-published author. This overwhelming response prompted leading Indian publishers to make a beeline to print the fiction. The tremendous sales of the book resulted in a multi-publisher bid, which was finally bagged by Westland, not more than five months ago. The publishing house signed a two-book deal with Savi, beginning with a reprint of her first. Clearly happy about the shift to conventional publishing, she says, “Self-publishing demands a lot of one’s time in publishing, distributing, PR, marketing and making sure everything goes well. But conventional publishing allows you to focus solely on writing and you can take your time to tell stories the way you want to. Also, it brings a certain brand value to your book which not only gives you more avenues for your work but also gives readers a sense of reassurance while picking your book.” Savi is also happy to be working with noted editors. “I had initially edited it myself. Now, I get to work with editors who’re the best at what they do. This reprint just means that the book gets better,” says an elated Savi, whose book has sold more than 80,000 copies since the reprint. 

Although this was her first book to hit the stands, the basis of this work was from another that she felt was rather immature. “My first attempt at writing was a young romance fiction titled Silent Love. It took me four years to write that story while doing my graduation. But as soon as I finished it, I realised it lacked something. I felt I could definitely write more real and soulful stories than this one. So, I started observing and analysing my own life and people around me more carefully and ended up writing Everyone Has A Story,” explains Savi. 

When she is not writing stories, she works as the co-founder and chief content officer at ‘Life & People’, a motivational media blog. “Here, my responsibility is to write, curate and publish articles about positivity, spirituality and meditation. This has helped me personally and professionally. Most importantly, it has given me a better perspective of life and people which is very essential for a storyteller,” concludes Savi, who hopes to write scripts and screenplays for movies someday.