Gujarat Files: Anatomy of A Cover Up, Rana Ayyub self-published this book as according to her, a well known publisher refused to publish the book. The subject matter of the book i.e. 2002 Riots and Fake Encounters of Gujarat, itself is enough to scare the publishers. She also claimed that she had in fact stinged none other than, Mr. Narendra Modi, and, She can provide the sting to the investigating authorities if requested.
She also claimed that between 2012 - 2014, she had approached many publishers but to hear a firm rejection.
She and other FoE crusaders are upset with the 'Bhakt's critical ratings' of her book. The abusive language used by the Bhakts on Amazon and Flipkart's review section raises some valid concern. They say if you don't like the book publish a book which provides counter narrative. As the book contains under cover operation it is very hard for a layman to judge its authenticity. Nonetheless, abuses seldom help anybody. Dialog would.
Lately, when any writer faces a problem to publish his book which has some controversial subject matter involving Politicians or Business czars, Streisand effect comes in to play. The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.
Rana Ayyub also got the Streisand Effect handy. Due to this negative publicity, the book tops the chart and is a top seller on both the sites. Many blogs and leading E - journals have published excerpts of the book. It also generates curiosity in public.
Moral of the story: Don't pulp the books, churn your mind and counter a book with a book!
