Oxford Bookstore launches e-Author version 5.0

Company Brief

Kolkata, February 21, 2008

e-Author, Oxford Bookstore’s online writing program on www.oxfordbookstore.com, launched its latest version e-Author 5.0. e- Author rewards the finest of new and emerging writers every year. This year promises to be as exciting as ever as Oxford Bookstore invites original unpublished works of fiction from amateur novel and short-story writers across the country. The objective behind this exercise is to encourage talented authors and present them with an opportunity to test their talent and showcase their literary experiments in prose. This also provides a prospective opening to writers who are serious about pursuing a career in writing.

Speaking at the launch, Rajiv Chowdhry, CEO, Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Pvt. Ltd said, “We, at Oxford Bookstore, have always encouraged young authors to come up with brilliant pieces of literature through e-Author. As web becomes the prefered platform for amateurs wanting to showcase their writing talents, we bring to them e-Author which helps them earn a unique distinction of writing a full-length book and also getting a chance to have them published. Over the years, e-Author has enjoyed phenomenal success across the country. This year too, I am expecting a big response from the young literary community and will be looking forward to reading some brilliant books again.”

Oxford Bookstore has tied up with the best in the publishing world in its hunt for writing talent. HarperCollins India will publish the winner’s novel and Reader’s Digest has been roped in for publishing the prize-winning short stories as a special supplement.

V.K. Karthika, Publisher and Chief Editor, HarperCollins India elaborates, “We are delighted to partner with Oxford Bookstore in their initiative to discover new writing talent in India. There are bound to be lots of exciting entries and we look forward to discovering these new voices and introducing them to the rest of the world.”

Mohan Sivanand, Editor, Reader's Digest adds, "Reader's Digest is committed to good writing - not just in journalism, but in fiction too. And Oxford Bookstore’s e-Author program is an admirable way to encourage young, talented writers."

The online writing competition has exciting prizes to offer. The total prize money on offer is over Rs 1,00,000 which includes Rs 50,000 grand prize for the novel writing winner, Rs 30,000 grand prize for short story writing winner. There is also prize money kept in store for runners-up in the respective genres.

The winners will be evaluated and decided by a reputed panel of literary stalwarts comprising Antara Dev Sen – Editor, The Little Magazine, Chris Gribble - Chief Executive, The New Writing Partnership (UK), acclaimed authors Jaishree Mishra and Pavan Varma, Mohan Sivanand – Editor, Reader’s Digest and Saugata Mukherjee – Senior Commissioning Editor, HarperCollins India.

Interested participants will be needed to mail in their entries to eauthor@apeejaygroup.com. The last date of submitting the entries is March 24, 2008. Participants can visit www.oxfordbookstore.com to read up on details on participation rules.

Sulekha.com, IBNLive.com and Rediff Books have also supported Oxford Bookstore’s online writing program. All the details on e-Author version 5.0 are available on these websites as well.

Satya Prabhakar, Founder and CEO of Sulekha.com says, “Sulekha has for a long time had a commitment to promoting quality writing on the web. e-Author is a fantastic opportunity for talented writers to showcase their creativity and get published!”

Encouraging such creative expression, Neeraj Sanan, Marketing Head, Web18 says, At IBNLive.com, we look at every opportunity to give our users a forum to express themselves. Through blogs, chats and daily comments, IBNLive.com has proven its mettle as a platform for those eager to speak their minds. The e-Author initiative provides these users with a golden chance to go one step further and actually publish a book! "

To know more on e-Author version 5.0, log on to www.oxfordbookstore.com.

For further information please contact:

Shreyosi Raha

Tel: +033 2283 3650-52

Mob: +98312 01004

e-mail: sraha@perfectrelation.com