2 days ago
Inspiring author shares his story
AUTHOR, director and founder of a company are only but a few titles held by Overport resident Naushad Khan who is building an empire that is effecting change in the literary world.
At the age of 31, Khan runs the publishing wing of his umbrella company, Multi-Marketing, which he established after publishing his debut piece. The author said he decided to start this new chapter of his life after 'eight long years of struggling to get published'. 'The book was hand-written; my first objective was to get it typed and after two years of working, I managed to get a smartphone which I then used to type out the first part of the story – Race Champ – Part I: The Oval Tar. From there, I went from pillar to post for the next few years, from publisher to publisher, getting rejected left, right and centre, but I never gave up hope,' said Khan.
At one point he recalls being almost scammed twice, as well as being strung along by two publishers with no end in sight, and even encountering a publisher who wanted to change his entire story. Khan said he envisioned the cover design, but he refused to let his vision be overtaken by another entity. 'At this point, I was in full-time employment, with a few part-time gigs, a side hustle as a freelancer (where he was self-taught on creating websites and logos) and even selling Cape Cookies on the side to save up for publishing. After eight years of hustle and grind, pushing and never giving up, my goal was reached and I published my book,' said Khan.
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Determined to succeed and inspire other young people with his story, Khan launched his book at his old primary school where he used to spend his free periods writing stories on any scrap pieces of paper he could get his hands on. 'I was in the library from the age of five and inspired to write stories after getting hooked on reading books like the The Adventures of Tin Tin series; Roald Dahl's Matilda and Dr Seuss' The Cat In The Hat. As I matured, so did my writing. At the age of 17, I wrote the story called Race Champ. It was one full story, but after realising its enormous length, I decided to break it up into three parts, essentially creating a trilogy,' said Khan.
Soon after publishing his book, Khan was approached by other authors who aspired to be published. He established the publishing wing of his company, Multi-Marketing Publishing, and through this division he has assisted over 75 authors and has published, marketed and distributed over 45 titles to date. Multi-Marketing has worked with authors from Durban to Cape Town and Turkey, Australia, the UAE and other destinations, showing that in a digital age, one needs not a brick and mortar office, but rather a 'sky is the limit' mentality and use of the resources at their disposal to reach for their dreams.
All these books (published, marketed and/or distributed) can be found on
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