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88 Cups of Tea
88 Cups of Tea
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Sandhya Menon on How Indie Publishing Led Her to Traditional Publishing

  • 3 minute read

Sandhya Menon interviews with podcast 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang
[player]

We have Sandhya Menon with us this week! A refreshing new voice in young adult fiction, her debut, When Dimple Met Rishi, is a charming romantic comedy that celebrates first love, and at the core, explores one’s own independence and voice in the world.

As you’ll learn in our conversation, Sandhya moved from India when she was 15 years old and she shares how she adapted to her new surroundings in America, and how she was able to draw from those experiences for her book. Sandhya shares in detail how the idea of When Dimple Met Rishi was originally pitched to her by her editor.

Sandhya walks us through how indie publishing brought the world of traditional publishing to her, and how her agent discovered her.  You’ll also learn how Youtube and Pinterest played critical roles in Sandhya’s research for the setting of her book. We also discuss arranged marriages and what it was like for us to date when we were growing up.

This is a really fun episode and I’m so excited for you to hear it.

Happy listening!

Xo

PS. Do you know anyone who would love our conversation? Please share this episode to help spread the word! 

PPS. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d really love your support in growing our community by subscribing to us on iTunes, and leaving a rating and review. These specific steps help to increase our visibility on iTunes which really helps new listeners discover us. A huge heartfelt thank you for your time and support! You can click here to go directly to our iTunes page!

“OWN voice is people. We’re not a monolith. There are so many different experiences.”

-Sandhya MenonTweet: “OWN voice is people. We’re not a monolith. There are so many different experiences.” @smenonbooks #ownvoices #writing via @88cupsoftea

“It was a conscious and constant dialogue that I had to have with myself and just say ‘Hey, just do your best and let it go’.”

-Sandhya MenonTweet: It was a conscious and constant dialogue that I had to have with myself and just say ‘Hey, just do your best and let it go'. @SMENONBOOKS

“We contain multitudes just like the people who have been getting those stories. It’s okay for us to not have ‘the issue’ book.”

-Sandhya MenonTweet: We contain multitudes just like the people who have been getting those stories. It’s okay for us to not have ‘the issue’ book. @SMENONBOOKS

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

    • How avoiding the query trenches led her to indie publishing
    • How indie publishing brought the world of book-length publishing to Sandhya
    • Sandhya shares how her literary agent discovered her through her indie published contemporary adult novel on Amazon
    • How the idea of When Dimple Met Rishi was pitched to Sandhya by her editor
    • How Youtube and pinterest played critical roles in her research for the setting in her book
    • We discuss arranged marriages and dating

When Dimple Met Rishi book cover1

When Dimple Met Rishi follows two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage.

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.


Learn More About Sandhya Menon

Sandhya Menon was born and raised in India on a steady diet of Bollywood movies and street food. She blames this upbringing for her obsession with happily-ever-afters, bad dance moves, and pani puri. Now she lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she’s on a mission to have her husband and children watch all 3,220 Bollywood movies she claims as her favorite.

 

Say ‘Hi!’ to Sandhya

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Topics You'll Enjoy!
  • book research
  • From Twinkle with Love
  • Indian-American teens
  • indie publishing
  • When Dimple Met Rishi
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