This is an initiative to distribute FIVE-THOUSAND copies by promoting at least FIFTY authors and distributing up to a HUNDRED copies of their books to a select group of THOUSAND reviewers. These reviewers will receive up to five books (or more) over a twelve-month period. The books will be theirs to keep, and there is no charge or admission or membership fees.Members of the club are requested to :Post a photo or selfie with the book they receive on their social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc…) and post an original review of 200 words or longer on INDICABOOKS Goodreads/Amazon and share it on social media.
In order to encourage reviewers to read books written by authors whose viewpoint is divergent from one’s own, we launched a ‘Purvapakshin Review Club’. Members who sign up will receive books that do not necessarily confirm to their civilisational thought either in its entirety or in part thereof. It is expected that the members will read these books to understand the points made from the other side and write reviews summarising the book’s arguments and then counter them with their own. Through this initiative we are hoping to encourage rebuttals that are backed with research, rigour, and respect.
Under this scheme, we invite avid book readers who have read one book every fortnight over the last 12 months to tweet images of the books as a thread with the hashtag #CLUB26 in return for a gift voucher of Rs 2600 to purchase more books.
We encourage research in the areas of Shastras, Indology and Indic Knowledge Systems, however most academic books in these domains published overseas are expensive and remain out of reach for an independent scholar, public intellectual or a research student, not having access to an institutional library or support.
In order to support such research endeavours, we have launched a ‘Buy me a Book’ scheme. Under this scheme, any scholar, student or committed public intellectual can write to us with the name of the academic book they wish to read or refer for their research. After a quick review of the request by our curator Abhinav Agarwal, we will buy the same and have it delivered them as a loan. Once the research is done the same may be returned to us for usage by others.
Those interested may please write to us along with their profile and a brief note on the need for a particular book for their area of research at books@indica.org.in.
JSTOR is a digital library and provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. We have an institutional subscription and offer access to our members for their research.
We periodically conduct review contests and award prizes for the best reviews.
We periodically organise retreats and workshops on writing. We also provide scholarships for aspiring authors to attend workshops and retreats by other organisations.
We organise weekly writers “Open House ” meet with Otis Haschemyer a Stegner Fellow in Stanford University’s Creative Writing Program and currently a teacher for Stanford’s “Online Writer’s Studio.” He is the recipient of an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship. He has won a Margolis Foundation Prize in non-fiction and the Jeffery E. Smith Editor’s Prize for fiction. His work has appeared in Best New American Voices 2003 & 2009, The Sun, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Barrow Street, Politically Inspired, and other journals and anthologies. His reviews appear in Broken Bridge Review and The American Alpine Journal.
Upcoming writers can participate in the “Open House” by sending samples of their writing of up to 750 words to otishaschemeyer@me.com clearly mentioning “INDICA” in the subject.
Otis will go through your sample and give his feedback and tips to improve your writing during a weekly Zoom call.
We grant fellowships to authors to defray their research expenses.
We are building a pool of research & co-writers for established/published authors who can engage with any of empaneled assistants and seek their help for research as well as writing the first drafts of their outlines which they can subsequently work on. If the authors so choose they can engage them as co-authors too. The cost of engaging the research and co-writing assistant is to be borne by us.
Through our collaboration with Notion Press we give authors keen on self publishing their works. The selected authors have to place the Indic Pledge at the begining of the book in order to be eligible for this scheme.
We invite academics and public intellectuals to conceptualise and curate anthologies from our civilisational thought. Under this scheme, curators have to first submit to us the ideas they wish to explore. After a round of discussion and fine tuning of the idea, an announcement inviting upcoming authors to participate in a contest is made. From the entries so received, the curator selects the ten best submissions, engages with the authors to refine their ideas and writing, advises us on the appropriate intervention to improve their writing skills, oversee the editing of their final drafts (a professional editor is engaged by us) and submit the manuscript for publication. Each curator was to be paid a fee of ₹30,000.
Through our network of volunteers across the world we organise book launches for select authors. We arrange for all the logistics relating to the event as well the travel of the author.
We select a list of public intellectuals to whom advance copies are sent. Subsequently they are invited for a detailed discussion with the author. Such intimate discussions are engaging and meaningful both to the author and the participants.
We promote Indic authors to other platforms and encourage the publication of reviews, interviews and podcasts.
We introduce upcoming writers to influencers for an endorsement.
We support Literature Festivals through our event grants and encourage curation of dedicated panels for Indic authors.
We have established an in-house publication label under an arrangement with Notion Press.