The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

Okay, here’s some good news.

The folks from Oxford Bookstore are actually considering ‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ as a valid entry in their e-Author contest, even though they will leave the final decision to the appraisal committee.

From:
Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: e-Author Entry: The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption
To: Gaurav Mishra

Thanks for submitting your entry for e-Author version 5.0.

Please confirm that the entry sent for the writing program is original and unpublished. We might not be able to consider your entry because it’s already been self-published through your blog. We will leave it to the decision of our Appraisal Committee.

Best Regards,

Program Coordinator
e-Author version 5.0
Write a book and get published
Oxford Bookstore

To satisfy their concerns about the book being self-published on the blog, I pointed out that I have put up a very thoughtful copyright notice in the sidebar —

From: Gaurav Mishra
Date: Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Subject: Re: e-Author Entry: The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption
To: eauthor@apeejaygroup.com

Hi,

Thanks for considering my entry for the contest.

I entered ‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ in the Oxford Bookstore e-Author Contest today.

After this post, they’ll either love my audacity, or laugh at it. As for myself, I’m only amazed at it.

From: Gaurav Mishra
Date: Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 12:57 AM
Subject: e-Author Entry: The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption
To: eauthor@apeejaygroup.com

Hi,

‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ is my year-long blog-as-a-book experiment in why we choose to consume, or not.

Here’s the blog equivalent of a back-cover book blurb:-

Why would a twenty-something, single, eligible, upwardly mobile, IIM-educated marketer on the corporate fast-track in India’s business capital decide to go ‘off consumption’ for a year?

Will a year off consumption (no eating out, no going out for movies or music or plays, no television or newspapers, no shopping except for necessities) leave him ill-equipped to handle life and work in Mumbai?

Or, will it leave him with invaluable insights into what drives us to consume, or not, into the nature of consumption, into human nature itself?

‘The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption’ is a blog in which I document my year off consumption. It is also a book-in-progress, in search of a publisher with a multi-million dollar advance.