Suruchi Garg - Make As Many Mistakes As You Can To be Successful (Book Reviewer From India)

 

I have been a curious learner and explorer so I always welcome new thoughts, new perspectives, and new experiences. I rarely disagreed with the learnings of books as every new opinion opens up my mind to new thoughts and perspectives. I follow the things which I think will be impactful for me and which I need to improve in myself.

 

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I basically belong to a middle-class family. My dad is a small businessman and my mother is a homemaker and my elder brother was graduated with B.Com. I always desired to become a doctor since my childhood but didn’t get eligible in NEET so as a medical and science lover, I finally started my career in Bachelor’s of pharmacy. Being a book lover, I started buying books during my college days from my own savings, and with every book I read, I started my journey as an avid reader. 

 

 

2. What inspired you to read books? Any experience you would like to share that made you love books or was it your passion?

I think I got this reading passion from my mother as she used to be an avid reader during her college days. I have been so fond of books since my childhood days but my parents always told me to focus on academics and studies. I used to read books in my school library during my 8-9^th grade and even photocopied the books of Enid Blyton to keep with me as my mother never let me buy any. But with time when I started my graduation, I started buying 1-2 books from my savings. And from there my reading craze increased and turned into a passion. 

 

3.  How did the idea of making blogs and reviewing books on Instagram come to your mind?

During the COVID-19 times being at home made me feel lonely due to which I got few mental health issues which made me think on reading few books on mental health to help myself out of this mental health problem. That’s when one of my friends told me to do something to keep my mind off from overthinking and all. But I never got any idea on doing anything. 

I only knew that I love books. And during that time, I have read the book ikigai and learned that following my passion is something that can help me. Also, I have been following few book lovers on Instagram since 4years and that’s when the thought of sharing my knowledge about books and spreading help on mental health came and I started this book blog channel on Instagram.

 

4.  How did you manage to make a presence on Instagram and YouTube? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

When I first started Instagram, I was so nervous and didn’t know how to make myself unique and interesting so there were a few bookstagrammers who were so good with reviewing books and sharing their knowledge through carousels, learnings, and highlights. Seeing them, I started following their footsteps by exploring more on it and experimenting with different topics on both fiction and nonfiction genre. 

There were many challenges I faced like hatred, lack of ideas, interaction problems, arrogance from other bookstagrammers, etc. As there was no one to guide me through it so I just surfed through google and YouTube on how to be a book blogger and how can I be a good one. I am currently working on making my presence on YouTube and other social media platforms as well. 

 

5.  Is it financially sustainable to be a book blogger and how do you earn from it? 

Being a student, blogging helps me in generating passive income but there are too many bloggers in this field which makes it a competitive platform. So, I think that being a book blogger can be good to follow your passion and generating passive income but for full-time career, it might not work as it will need more effort, hard work, and lots of patience. 

For my earnings, I promote books of various genres from debut authors or professional authors both nationally and internationally. In starting I even gave few reviews for free, but with increasing engagement and audience’s love, I started putting charges on book promotion. Mostly, I m just following what I love, sometimes I still review few books for free if I really wanted to read it, and never focused too much-paid promotions only. 

 

 

6.  After reading so many books what learnings from them would you like to share with others?

As I have read almost 180+ books until now, there are too many learnings which changed my thinking and life. A few of them are which I still follow are-

 

-        Love yourself

-        Never regret anything

-        Trust and respect yourself

-        Enjoy the present moment

-        Smile more

-        Try to be better every day

-        In case of mental health issues talk to someone

-        Start journalling

-        Look at the positive side in every situation

-        Never worry about what other people perceive of you. 

-        Make as many mistakes as you can to be successful

-        Always keep on experimenting new things. 

-        Never wait for the right moment, Act now. 

 

 

7.  Is there anything else you do besides blogging? What are your future plans and how do you want to take this to next level?

I am recently looking for job opportunities in my pharmacy field but also thinking of expanding my blogging to next level concurrently. Currently, my main focus is on YouTube. I desire to help people in getting rid of their mental health issues and help them become more open, optimistic, and productive. 

 

8. As there’s a lot of work behind book reviewing – reading, taking notes, editing your Blog. Can you give us some insight into your life behind the scenes and what motivates you to be so consistent with this tedious work?

I learned managing my time with family, friends, and books equally. I mostly read books during early mornings and late nights which makes my time during day free to spend it with my family, daily chores like exercising and talking to friends. Food is another love of me so I also love exploring new cafés and restaurants in the city. 

So I take the time off during weekends to explore and spend some friends time. Sometimes I love having my alone time so I go at parks and read there or listen to music. Also, with reading book, I became spiritual person so in evening I had my time set for 1 hour to visit a nearby temple to have some peaceful conversation with God.

 Now as reading became a habit and With increasing love of audience and other book lovers, I always get the motivation to be consistent and authentic. Even, my own mind motivates me in posting and being active. Whenever I feel like resting, I still get that inner motivation to keep going on. 

 

9. Do you follow everything that a book states or do you sometimes disagree with it?

I have been a curious learner and explorer so I always welcome new thoughts, new perspectives, and new experiences. I rarely disagreed with the learnings of books as every new opinion opens up my mind to new thoughts and perspectives. I follow the things which I think will be impactful for me and which I need to improve in myself.

 

 

10. Have you read “The Secret” and “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”. Did the methods mention in the book work for you or not?

Yes, I have read both books and both have been the best books to help me overcome my negative thoughts and started having positivity and trust in myself. 

The secret has been one of the best books I have read. I always loved it’s insights. The Law of attraction is the most powerful thing I learned from this one book. When I first came across it, I also started believing myself that I already have what I desired like I already have friends, and a happy life, and shockingly everything I desired and wrote in my diary is still becoming true with time. 

‘The power of your subconscious mind’ taught me to be positive and reduce the self doubts I had in me. The most important thing I learned from the book is ‘our mind is only ours and whatever thoughts we create can be the reason for either your peace and happiness or your pain and sufferings. These thoughts can also give you answers to every question you had in life. ‘

 

11.   Some underrated books from self-help and top books in fiction which you would like to recommend? Also, suggest some best books for a beginner.

There are too many books that are worth reading. 

Underrated self-help books-

- The mastery manual by Robin Sharma

- The art of racing in the rain by Garth Stein

- How to be a bawse by Lilly Singh

- A simplified life- tactical tools for intentional living by Emily ley

- Be unapologetically you by Adeline bird

Top books in fiction- 

- Little women

- Pride and prejudice

- Harry Potter series

- The kite runner

- Sherlock holmes

- The fault in our stars

Best books for beginners-

- Tuesday's with Morrie

- Harry Potter and philosopher's stone

- And then there were none

- Attitude is everything

- The Alchemist

- Who moved my cheese

- The monk who sold his Ferrari

- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Bio- 

Started book blogging to share knowledge and adding value in other people’s life.  My role as a book blogger is to spread knowledge gained from books and help people learn the insights on mental health through various books. I mostly review best books from authors and publishers to help the audience gain a different perspective on life and knowledge to live a valuable and successful life. 

Interviewed By - Shashank Sehgal