Ajay Jain

Author / Photographer / Traveller. Redesigning Kunzum as bookshops - a community where writers, readers & artists meet over coffee!

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

@ratan_mrs Need your secondary postal address. We know the primary one is Kunzum GK2 :)

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Won't it be wonderful to bring back the charm of writing to each other on postcards? Let me send you one. DM to get started. I promise you will be pleased with what follows!

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Would you like me tell you a story on a postcard? Stamped and delivered through the postal service. Will give you a choice of themes. Even send one for your children.

When did you last write a letter with pen on paper?

#post #postcard #snailmail #story #stamp #letter

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

@TedhiLakeer And we were told growing up not to read too many comics lest it corrupt our language.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

@TedhiLakeer Phew! My poison is my Monsoon Malabar coffee. But I feel for some - a rum by any other name….

On another note: should I find time to spend with the opinion page of @htTweets today also? I won’t be disappointed I suppose?

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

It's Teachers' Day! Calling all alumni groups to go BACK TO SCHOOL!

If you have a grouping of your batchmates on WhatsApp or any other forum, we want to invite you to an adda where we relive memories and antics from our time in school. Can be hosted at Kunzum or any other suitable location across India.

There is more to this idea. Do reach out to discuss!

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

PRE-ORDER: BELONGING by SONIA GANDHI

It’s official… HarperCollins India will publish ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love by Sonia Gandhi.’ Pre-order the book with @Kunzum and be amongst the first to get a copy. The book will be out on November 10.

One of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time, Belonging is a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging, and offers a rare insider's view of India’s journey. A must read for everyone.

Pre-order at https://t.co/TqE9GGblH6

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

SELL BOOKS? OR SELL BOOKS TO READERS? | #WriteNotes

I was in a sales strategy meeting for my books when a suggestion came up: target corporates to buy in bulk for gifting or internal distribution. Nothing innovative about this. I do move significant numbers through institutional sales, as do some other authors.
I sell books. How is it different from selling books to readers?

When books are sold in bulk, they are usually given away to people without checking on their reading preferences. Do they have any interest in books at all? And if yes, what kind?

There is thus a likelihood that hundreds or thousands of my books are owned by those who have scant interest in reading them. They just lie around. Look around; you might have some books at home that were handed over to you, ones you don’t care about. What’s the joy to the author in such cases?

I WANT MY BOOKS TO GO TO READERS
While bulk sales are good for my finances, they may not do much for my author branding. One builds a reputation as a writer when their books sell in high quantities, but largely to those who intend reading them. Which means you need to find one buyer at a time, and many of them cumulatively. Not just a few bulk buyers who then give away your books to many.
Only when the market is abuzz with individual sales of your books will word-of-mouth kick in – and there will be a cascading effect as more customers seek you out. Of course, the product has to have merit to it.

THUS FIND ME ONE CUSTOMER AT A TIME
This is what I told my team: keep the corporate sales going to pay the bills, but build a strategy to find individual customers. The reception I get from them will be the true barometer of the success of my books, and my ability and reputation as an author.
This is a tougher approach, but then I have to decide: Do I want to sell my books? Or do I want to sell my books to readers?

P.S. Many a publisher and their authors get books out knowing they will be able to make bulk sales through their networks. On paper, they are bestsellers with thousands of books sold. But the same titles might gather dust in bookstores – because readers are not talking about them. If it is only about making money, the authors and their publishers will not be concerned where the books land up. But if the intent is to be recognized for one’s literary credentials, then you need genuine readers to be the judge of it.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

I have reached where I have only because of setbacks. Every time I felt I had run into a wall, I dusted myself and found a new path to pursue.

Speaking at the House of Harmony Literature Festival, I recounted how I grabbed opportunities when faced with adversity. I moved from tech to sports management to journalism to travel to books and then a bookstore - whenever things went south, I tried something new. Often unrelated to what I had ever done before, but still pursued with the heart of an adventurer.

Of course, I have experimented even when not necessarily down and out. Like I often say: “Just because you are successful at something, just because you are good at something, does not mean you have to do it all your life.”

What will you try your hand at something for the first time?

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Some call it the Pushkar of the south. To me, it is the best of many worlds. Drive a few hours from Goa to find yourself in Gokarna in Karnataka.

With pristine beaches under the shadow of the Western Ghats, you have the sea, the sand, the forests, the wildlife, the culture. Stay in luxury, or in a shack - Gokarna is for everyone without the madding crowds (so far!)

Read about my journeys to Gokarna and other destinations in the #IndiaIsCalling series of books.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Pahalgam in Kashmir can leave you breathless. More so if you venture beyond the town. Follow the Lidder river, hike up mountains, find the Sun Temple - the delight does not have limits.

Personally, I would not go during peak summer vacation time - but that rule holds good for me for most locations. Spring and autumn would be best though.

Read about my journeys to Pahalgam and other destinations in the #IndiaIsCalling series of books.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

SUNDAY SPECIAL at Kunzum... Come over on Aug 23...

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Coming up at Kunzum....

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

What happens when over 60 influencers come together to talk books with publishers and Team Kunzum? An absolute riot! With everyone exchanging stories over games and chai, and each carrying back bags overflowing with goodies.

Did you sense the FOMO FEVER in town? Affecting those who could not make it? They have been assured more such interactions are on the way! Keep reading till then!

@kunzum

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Go on a trip across India with me – through my pictorial travelogues.

Each produced coffee table style, but in a handy size. Makes for a perfect gift, or something to cherish on your own bookshelves.

SPECIAL OFFER! Buy the complete set of 5 at a price of only Rs. 1995.

BONUS: Surprise Gift + Free shipping across India.

GET THE BOOKS SIGNED: The author is happy to sign the books, personalised with name of recipient. We will contact you before despatch.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Charlie’s Boys went to the prestigious Delhi Gymkhana Club on August 7, 2026 - to take members down memory lane.

Turned out to be quite an evening - a high tea with the club’s legendary sandwiches and pakoras followed by a discussion between the author Ajay Jain and Neha Sinha (an author herself and a conservation biologist). The audience comprised all age groups, with some having been in school in the 1950s and 1960s.

We could have exchanged stories till late into the night if only the space did not have to be vacated so the bar service could start. A toast to our school days!

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

Independence can mean different things to each of us. But a true understanding will not come by itself.

That's why books and exposing oneself to ideas of others become vital.

For they enable us to discern the difference between right and wrong. To realize there is more to freedom than from foreign powers. Because it is about justice, free speech, the right to dissent. It is about environmental sustainability, clean air and water, wholesome food. Where education, art, culture and sports flourish. It is about dignity, a life without fear, one of pride without arrogance.

For nationalism is not just about securing our borders. It is about guaranteeing a just and happy life for all citizens. With love and respect for all no matter their religion and politics.

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

@ratan_mrs I like the way you have added to the conversation :)

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

I ESCAPED THE 20S ALCATRAZ. YOU CAN AVOID IT ALTOGETHER. | #LifeSoFar

If you are confined in Alcatraz, you have two options. One, accept that no one escapes from there and make a life there. Two, take your chances and break out no matter what.

Why would you be in Alcatraz in the first place? It’s a metaphor for where you might find yourself when you are in your 20s. Because you need to understand something: our society is a police state, your own loved ones no different from plainclothes personnel waiting to put you behind bars and throwing the keys away. No crime on your part needs to be established.

You will be their pampered one for the first two decades of your life – the only imposition being you do well in the classroom. We all feel graduation day being the one we find freedom, the school the jail we had been. Big misconception. That is the day when your parents etc. are waiting with handcuffs to haul you away.

It is in your twenties that they will expect you to seek the drudgery of a job, get married, have the first round of kids, pick up a mortgage on your first house, go in debt for the car you drive. It is all a conspiracy. Before you can explore and wonder and figure what life is about, you are trapped. The wardens keeping an eye on you are your bosses, banker a.k.a. loan sharks, spouses trying to mould you into their idea of a human being without realizing they are fellow inmates, wailing kids, grumpy parents who can never be pleased. How do you break free?

THE CHOICE I MADE
I highlight this because I found myself in a similar situation, the realization dawning on me towards the late twenties. Fortunately, I had the lightbulb moment to know I had two choices. Which one did I put my finger on? The second. I took my chances like Frank Lee Morris (played by Clint Eastwood) did in the movie ‘Escape From Alcatraz’. He chose to jump into the freezing, violent waters around the prison, accepting it as a lesser risk than spending the rest of his life in the island prison.

As some of you know, I went back to school at 31 to study journalism and photography, worked for newspapers, took up travel writing, wrote books, and set up Kunzum the bookstore. I explored life and the world in my thirties, something I should have done in my twenties if only I had not been ambushed by those ‘cared to secure my future.’

This is what I tell those who are currently identified as Gen Z: experiment while you can. There is no rush and maybe not even a need to land up in Alcatraz. The young are born in a world different from the one we were, and they have more choices and freedom to exercise them. What is the hurry to do what are seen as ‘grown up’ things!

[Ajay Jain @ajayjain]

@ratan_mrs Thank you :)