Following this I was hoping to do a tweet up somewhere between JP Nagar and the hotel I am staying in, which is on Richmond Road. More details about this are awaited. I am crowdsourcing ideas. If you have any please leave comment below. A solution is desirable by tonight. Though please note that I have NEVER been to:

1. Koshy's
2. Corner House Death Chocolate place
3. Some place called Spiga

Please help. Thanks.

In order to celebrate the Delhi launch of 'Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese', I am proud to present The Dork Challenge. An online contest of such CAT-like intensity, that it will have you scratching your head with befuddlement.

Four secret, mysterious questions stand between you and a plethora of gifts.

STARTDORK

Plethora of gifts details:

1. One signed, personalized copy of Dork
2. Hamper of other books from Penguin
3. Gift vouchers to buy books online
4. Mug shot and short bio on Whatay.com (Awesome!)
5. A chance to appear in Book Two (Awesomer!)
6. A very warm, yet platonic, hug from me at the Delhi launch thingie on 15th March. (If you are there. Obviously.)

But how to play this game? How to win fame, fortune and delectable reading material?

Clues are as follows:

1. There are easier way to reach some websites. Serious.ly.
2. To win you could start by reading between the lines.
3. Use Clue 1. Go there. There you will be asked another question. And you will find another code. And then you will fall back on Clue 1 again.
4. Code. Clue 1. And so on. For four codes. (Including the one hidden in this post.)
5. And then a form.
6. Top 3 Delhi people can come to book launch for prizes.
7. Top 2 non-Delhi people will get bountiful couriers.
8. Out of these 5, one picked at random will make cameo appearance in Book Two.
9. ALL CODES ARE GIVEN IN UPPER CASE FOR EASY IDENTIFICATION. but you must always use them in lower case.

But even if you don't win anything, you must still come for the Delhi launch thingie. And hug me.

Details here: Facebook Event Page.

Now kindly go find the code.

P.S. Don't cheat, share codes and tell everyone how to do this. That will merely create mass panic, wholesale plagiarism and system breakdown.

P.P.S. But then the book will go viral. Please tell everyone how to crack this.

1. There is NO WAY you will miss the book in stores. This is the book you carry on planes so they can see you in the dark and rescue you. So don't lie. Don't.

2. I assume there will be some dilution of the yellows and blues when the actually printing happens. Or maybe not. Carry sunglasses.

3. Everything on the soft-board serves a purpose. Plot-wise.

4. There is some fun stuff on the back. I will post that piece up shortly.

5. Robin is a coconut oil kind of guy.

Ok bye. I need to do some Facebook thingie.

Launching books is hard work.

The second press release, with even more rules for the office, went out today.

As the release mentions, you can do a bunch of things now:

1. Join the Facebook group

2. Check out the Twitter handle

3. Pre-book a signed copy, at a 20% discount, from Indiaplaza. Rs.159. Whatay awesomeness.(Though I have no idea how many orders they will take.)

Thanks to the first press release, Twitter, Facebook and Shashi Tharoor tweeting out a link to one of my Cricinfo columns, the Dork juggernaut has progressed from neutral to, err, second gear. Things are getting, how shall I put it, buzzy. So now for a round-up of all the action.

1. Press Release

The marketing folk at Penguin put out the first press release two weeks ago. A teaser poster went out to many press types and some web-site editor types. The release is below:

The text in the poster is as follows:

***

From the desk of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese

Business Process Analyst - Trainee

Einstein's Office Theorems (Part 1)

1. Never volunteer for anything. That's what interns are for.
2. It is better to assume and sit at home, rather than to call up and ask if it's a holiday.
3. The size of the HR department is directly proportional to the number of forms you have to fill when you join.
4. All information can be converted into a PowerPoint presentation. The reverse is impossible.
5. The CEO is always right. Even if it means only the CEO is left.
6. 'A very rough draft' means it was written with a BlackBerry on the loo.
7. When the coffee machine goes missing, it is time to sell stock.
8. 'Industry standard' does not refer to your industry.
9. 'Cost to company' is a shameless lie. But so is your LinkedIn profile.
10. Your IT team lives in a parallel universe where Firefox does not exist.
11. You are the 'new guy' till you get the water bottle with your name written on it in black marker.
12. The term 'work-life balance' usually refers to two different people.

Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese by Sidin Vadukut.

Out February 2010, Penguin Books India.

***

Second press release this weekend.

2. Media References

Dork also got a couple of plugs in the press thanks to HT Brunch, Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle.

HT Brunch:

Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein’ Varghese by Sidin Vadukut, is a laugh-out-loud story about a loser who ends up winning.

Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle:

Two of India's funniest bloggers have books coming out in 2010. Sidin Vadukut's Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese is about a loser making it to the top of the corporate ladder...

(Scroll down to the Books page. The mention is in the blurb. The other one mention my dear friend Greatbong's new book.)

Radio/TV/Web and other plugs are expected closer to launch. If you have any ideas, pluggable positions, ideas do drop a line. Details at the end of post.

3. Dates

The book is 'scheduled' to go on sale on January 30th at the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair. In New Delhi.

Ha.

Some details here. Basically it will go on sale at the fair at Pragati Maidan and, I have been told, simultaneously in book stores all over the place. Copies should be kept somewhere prominent at the Penguin pavilion. I have no idea if the situation will be conducive to signing or readings. But as we get closer to the date I'll make some for of arrangement. Of some kind.

But by and large all readings and other activities especially in non-Delhi locations are scheduled from the first week of February. I've been told it is a bad time with many book launches. But I am prepared to slog it out. As long as I get leave at least.

And an audience. Gulp.

4. Price and size

The book will be available for sale at Rs.199. (99% sure.). It will be 240 pages long. (+/- acknowledgements and misc.) It will be approx. 5 inches wide by 8 inches high. I think. I can never put my head around book cover measurements. Especiall non-metric ones. The cover design is complete. In shocking yellow and blue. To put it mildly. The press release above should give sufficient clues.

I'll post out the cover over the weekend.

5. Excerpts

While there is still hectic planning happening over potential excerpting options, two have been fixed. A longish excerpt right from the beginning of the book, plus a essay on writing your first novel will appear in Mint Lounge very soon indeed. (Very very very very excited.)

Another one is scheduled to appear in an in-flight magazine. February issue I am guessing.

A couple of online excerpts are in the works as well. But will know solid plans only in another week.

Of course you can expect a few excerpts on Whatay.com. All in due course.

6. Contests

Plenty of contest ideas are in the works. Trying to close a couple of them over this weekend. And I want to give out more than just signed books but some other, less enjoyable, gifts as well. Let us cross our collective fingers and hope.

7. Pre-booking/Alerts

The wonderful people at Flipkart.com allow you to drop an email address and be alerted when the book comes in stock. Go here.

If you want signed copies you could go and fill up a form I've made here. Depending on how many people respond and locations, I will make every human effort to fly over and sign copies, or ship signed copies to you.

Wait another two weeks and another major online retailer SHOULD be putting up signed copies for sale.

(All this is valid for India only. It is way too early to say when it will be available outside India. UK and EU looks good. US not so much. Kindle and other ebook platforms I have no idea man. The geek in me wants to do it. The accountants at Penguin will probably want to wait and watch.)

So that's the scene right now. If you work in a media outlet or even a marketing savvy firm that want's to do an interview/event or a contest around the Dork release, drop me a line on sidin@whatay.com. Or tweet/Facebook me. I would be glad to help you. So that you can do something. That will sell the book. That will make me rich. And provide my wife with copious solitaires.