I'm Not Chasing Bestseller Lists, I'm Writing Stories That Stay With Readers
Some books become bestsellers. Others become memories. If I had to choose, I'd always choose the latter.
When people discover that I'm an author, one question almost always comes up: "Do you want to become a bestselling author?"
Trust me, It's a fair question. Every writer dreams of seeing their book on a bestseller list. Those lists represent recognition, visibility, and years of hard work finally reaching readers. If one day my books make it there, I would be grateful but what if they don't? so, as Kanye West said, Guess we never know.
But somewhere along the way, I realized that bestseller lists were never the reason I started writing, it was much more and that's a page in my book. I started writing because certain stories refused to leave me, and I wanted to create stories that would do the same for someone else and this was the exact thought before the beginning of my story.
The books that changed me were never just stories
I remember writing "The Building Across My Window" at night. When the story struck my mind. See even while writing this blog all I could think of story and feelings. I rarely remember how many copies they sold or which awards they won. I remember is how they made me feel.
I remember finishing a chapter and closing the book because I needed a moment to process it. I remember thinking about fictional places while walking home, wondering what they would have done next. I remember rereading passages weeks later because they still felt true.
Why I don't measure success only by numbers
Publishing today revolves around numbers.
Everybody wants "Book sales". Paid Reviews by bookstagrammers. Fake Rankings. Followers and God knows what. There's nothing wrong with celebrating those milestones. Authors deserve every bit of recognition they earn.
A sales report can tell me how many people bought my book. It cannot tell me, who cried during a chapter, highlighted a paragraph, or recommended the book to a friend because it reminded them of someone they once loved.
Those moments never appear on a dashboard.
Yet they're the moments that matter most to me.
Writing Letters That Never Crossed Nainital changed my perspective
When I began writing Letters That Never Crossed Nainital, I wasn't thinking about rankings or marketing strategies.
I kept returning to a much simpler question:
Will this story stay with someone after they finish it?
That question influenced every chapter I wrote and each of the place I visited.
I wanted the silence between conversations to matter. I wanted the letters that were never delivered to carry as much emotion as the words that were spoken. I wanted Nainital to feel less like a backdrop and more like a place readers could revisit in their own memories as I visited and used my experience of that place to write in novel.
The novel became a reminder that love isn't always defined by grand gestures. Sometimes it's shaped by the things we never say, the moments we miss, and the words we carry for years without speaking.
If a reader finishes the book and still thinks about Aarav and Meera months later, I know I've achieved something meaningful.
Read More: Who is Aarav and Meera?
Stories outlive trends
Every year, the publishing industry changes.
Genres rise and fall. Marketing strategies evolve. Social media decides what's popular, and algorithms reward whatever captures attention for a few seconds.
Stories don't work that way.
The novels we continue talking about decades later weren't written because they followed a trend. They lasted because they understood something timeless about people. I know and I read books, so, the greatest book ever written by Charles Dicken, Ruskin Bonds, Jane Austin and other writers are still trending because they connected! they connected something from:
Love.
Loss.
Hope.
Regret.
Forgiveness.
Those emotions don't become outdated, and neither do stories built around them.
As a fiction writer, I would rather write something honest than something fashionable & that's what I did while writing, "The Building Across My Window" and "Letters That Never Crossed Nainital"
The reader I imagine
Whenever I sit down to write, I don't picture thousands of people reading my work. I picture just one; Just one day someone sees me and recognises me in metro randomly or someone is reading my book in metro and spot in suddenly. This is kind of things I imagine.
Someone reading before going to bed after a long day and thanking me for writing this book, isn't it fairy?.
Someone who underlines a sentence because it expresses a feeling they've never been able to put into words - This is something which actually happened.
Someone who reaches the last page and isn't ready to leave the world they've just spent hours inside even though this thought is little more then the mark but why not?
That's the reader I write for and that's the dream I look.
If my stories become meaningful to even a handful of people, I've already received more than I expected when I first opened a blank document and began writing.
What I hope readers remember
Years from now, I doubt anyone will remember where a book ranked on a chart during a particular week.
But readers remember emotions.
- They remember characters who felt real.
- They remember dialogue that sounded like a conversation they once had.
- They remember endings they weren't prepared for.
Most importantly, they remember how my story made them feel.
That's the legacy I want my writing to have.
Not because I believe every book needs to change someone's life, but because I believe every good story should leave something behind. Something as in? a thought.
My definition of success
Would I like my books to become bestsellers?
Absolutely.
But I never want bestseller status to become the reason I write.
I'd rather hear someone say, "Your story stayed with me," than hear them mention where it ranked on a list.
Because rankings change.
Sales fluctuate.
Publishing trends come and go.
But stories that become part of someone's life have a way of outliving all of them.
And if that's the kind of writer I become, I'll consider myself successful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Yash Gadade focus on meaningful storytelling instead of bestseller lists?
For me, writing has always been about creating stories that readers remember. Even though my book helped education of students but I want to connect on more deeper level.
What inspired Letters That Never Crossed Nainital?
The novel grew from the idea that not every love story is defined by what is said. Sometimes the most powerful emotions exist in letters never sent, conversations left unfinished, and memories tied to places we can't forget; it's heartbreaking but incomplete things are more beautiful and ofcourse the places in Uttarakhand. You can read this blog: Where Is Nainital? The Place That Inspired My Novel and My Journey as an Author
Is Letters That Never Crossed Nainital a romance novel?
Yes, but it's also a story about memory, longing, silence, and the emotional weight of words left unsaid. At its heart, it's a character-driven novel that explores how people carry love long after circumstances change. Kids who say that they can't survive long distance relationship this is for them.
Who is Yash Gadade?
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Yash Gadade is an Indian independent author whose work explores relationships, nostalgia, and emotionally driven storytelling. His novels focus on characters, human connection, and the quiet moments that often define our lives. His birthdate is 7 Feb 2003, and he loves to write. His past work is the building across my window.
Where can I read Letters That Never Crossed Nainital?
Letters That Never Crossed Nainital is available online on Amazon and Flipkart. Readers can also follow Yash Gadade for updates on new books, writing insights, and upcoming projects.
