A tribute to India’s digital stars by Blooming Brands writers Harsh and Manish

 

"There are many books about becoming the CEO of a large corporation or a fast-growing start-up. But not much has been written about creating and managing a single-person brand in an emerging Creator Economy" - said by the known writer of 'Blooming Brands' Harsh Pamnani and debut author Manish Pandey.

Harsh and Manish collectively released a tribute book titled 'Blooming Digital Stars' to India's Creator Economy and future growth.

In a conversation with IANSlife they said –"we wrote this tribute book 'Blooming Digital Stars' to inspire and motivate anyone who wants to turn his passion into a career but is hesitant due to factors like lack of guidance, motivation and support."

The book chronicles the lives of some of India's most well-known creators, including Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani, Kabita Singh, Nikunj Lotia, Prajakta Koli, Ranveer Allahbadia, Madan Gowri, Team Naach, Yashraj Mukhate, Abhi and Niyu, and Ujjwal Chaurasia.

Some edited parts of their talk with IANSlife are shown here:

What prompted you to take that extra step to write a book about India's Creators Economy?

Harsh and Manish: Today, youngsters are being drawn to become YouTubers the way they were once attracted to becoming engineers, doctors and lawyers. Also, given new market conditions, especially related to Covid-19, more people are exploring how to monetize their passions through the Internet. One key reason for this rising interest is the financial windfall digital creators achieve, especially those with million-plus followers.

Any challenges faced when writing the book? Did any of your findings surprise you?

Harsh and Manish: We started writing this book in 2020.During this period, on the one hand, traditional entertainment sources such as Bollywood and events were breaking under the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic, and on the other, the new entertainment sources such as YouTube channels and video games were proliferating. So, many digital creators were super busy.

Undoubtedly the Creator Economy is Booming and the market will inevitably see a crowd of creators, the reason could be the pandemic we tackle since 2019.

When a market gets crowded the customer (demand) gets numerous choices. But a plethora of choices also leads to customer confusion. To avoid confusion and get desired value, customers use brands as quality-guarantee shortcuts to making choices.

In fact, they pay a higher price for a trustworthy brand even if an unknown alternative is available at a lower price.As in the product’s market, brands are also preferred in the creators’ market.

To hit lakhs in earnings, creators need millions of followers. And that is not easy to earn.

More than 500 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute.In such a crowded market, making a name for yourself is not easy.

When a creator becomes well-known, brands approach collaboration. While doing brand collaborations, the content needs to be presented in a manner that is good for the audience, effective for the brand, and credible for the creator.

Checking all three boxes is again not easy.The book covers in detail how India’s leading creators deal with all the challenges in the backend and make their audience happy in the front end.

How do you think the book will help the upcoming/ young creators? What impact do you plan to make with this book?

Harsh and Manish: Though the size of the Creator economy is humongous and the available opportunities immense, the chances of creators getting lost in the crowd are higher than the chances of getting noticed. Having said that, India has seen the rise of an entirely new breed of first-generation creators who have established powerful personal brands through their content, entrepreneurial mindset, and social media. In this book, upcoming/young creators will find 11 stories of leading Indian creators and gain insights on: 

– How they started from scratch.

– How they achieved popularity in a highly crowded and competitive market.

– How they identify new ideas for content creation and brand collaboration.

And much more.

The lessons captured in these stories will help upcoming/young creators build their brand in their chosen niche.

How has the response been?

Harsh and Manish: By God’s grace, the response has been great.The book became a National Bestseller within 15 days of launch.It also turned No.1 Bestseller in Entrepreneurship, Creativity, Starting a Business, and Internet & Social Media categories on Amazon. We are thankful to all the readers for giving so much love to Booming Digital Stars.

There are some findings that surprised us. But for the readers, the number of surprises will be more than experienced by us. Social media usually portrays glamourous aspects of creators’ lives. However, a tremendous amount of hard work goes on behind the scenes.

Future plans

Harsh and Manish: This book is not only a Tribute to India’s Creator Economy but also a small contribution to its further growth. With the rise of more creators, the demand for their stories will also increase, so you can expect that we will be writing more volumes of these inspiring stories.

We eagerly await the day when the creators we cover in our future books will tell us that this, our first book, played a meaningful role in their journeys.