Azra Mufti
Reading is an activity not passivity. When we read, our senses are completely engrossed in the words and the ideas get transferred to our brains. People who are voracious readers get a chance to live multiple lives and view life from a larger lens rather than a myopic one. Readers turn out to be successful people as their broadened vision opens myriad choices for them.
As an adolescent, my attention was incorrigibly drawn towards classic literature, I used to enjoy every word I read, I connected with the characters and felt a strong connection with them, I remember writing essays like, “what would I do had I been Jane Eyre”, “What lesson did I learn from Wuthering Heights”, “who is my favourite character in Pride and Prejudice”? I have a rich tapestry of varied memories somehow connected to my favourite stories and characters. I owe a lot to my reading habit and it has helped me withstand the vagaries of time.
During this quarantine, I have seen a lot of people exchanging books to overcome their monotony and boredom. I updated a single post on availability of books and got messages from about fifty girls asking for the same. It made me happy to know the fact that we have so many readers in our Valley. Reading is gaining momentum these days and people are making best use of their quarantine time. There is one good news for readers. If you love reading books and find solace in words, there are a lot of creative opportunities that you may cherry pick. Some of these are:
Literary Agents: A person who acts as an agent between an author and a publisher. Most of the traditional publishing houses like Penguin, Hachette and HarperCollins do not accept unsolicited manuscripts; they rely on literary agents for the same, literary agent helps to get a manuscript out of the slush pile. The agent in return is given a commission from royalty. A literally agent helps an author make more money than he or she would otherwise make. They suggest changes to the manuscript before signing the contract. If you are an avid reader, you might prove to be a literary agent in making.
Archivist: if you love history and books, then this might prove to be your dream job. It requires a degree in library science or archival science; they deal with strange unpublished material and are in charge of processing and cataloguing important documents. An archivist should have a great understanding of historical concepts. Archivists mainly deal with record keeping and they should know the importance of these documents.
Book Reviewer: People are always looking out at fresh releases, be it movies or books, companies and websites are looking out for new takes for fresh arrivals. Book reviewers give an unbiased view of the books that are new in market and mostly these reviews determine the sales also. Getting paid to read a book is something everybody will desire and book reviewers actually get this money. A critical thinking and passion for reading is what a book reviewer needs. Before publishing a book, manuscripts are sent to book reviewers to suggest edits and rectify mistakes; these reviewers often bring twists and turns in a book to make it more appealing to public.
Copywriter: next time you like any content on billboard, pamphlet or brochure, note it that it I the job of a copywriter. In this digital world where content is considered as king, content writers are very much in demand. A copywriter needs to have an eye for detail and excellent language skills. Copy writing can come in different forms like web content, creating blogs, biography writing or writing annual reports. To be a great copywriter, you just need to have excellent reading and writing skills.
Proof Reader: if you are a grammar Nazi, then this might be a perfect job for you. Proof readers look for grammatical mistakes, spelling errors and sentence correction.
Azra Mufti is the author of ‘Tearful Pages and Shattered Dreams’
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