New Delhi, Jan 20 (IANS): There was a time when Amish Tripathi, known for writing the Shiva trilogy, was unsure about getting a publisher. And now, both international and Indian filmmakers are adapting his books into movies. The author is elated and says that this will further boost the sale of his bestsellers.

He has written - “The Immortals of Meluha”, “The Secret of the Nagas” and “The Oath of the Vayuputras”. Interestingly, more than 20 publishers turned down his first book. However, in 2010 Westland finally published his book and it turned out to be a profitable association.

“All three books are contracted for the movie projects. The international rights have been purchased by an American producer and for India the rights are with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions,” Tripathi told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

Asked about his involvement with the movie projects, Tripathi said that he is not writing the screenplay.

“In both the projects, I am the creative consultant. I am not writing the screenplay. The screenplay work has already begun for the Indian language adaptation by Dharma. I help the screenplay writers Karan Malhotra and his wife Ekta," he said.

"The books have sold two million copies. All the three books are still in the top three list. Movies will take time but will help my books,” he said talking about the benefits of movie adaptation of his books.

Now, he may be a celebrated author but he had his share of struggle.

“When I had written the book, it was difficult to get it published primarily because it's on a religious topic. I was told such books don't sell. I stopped counting after 20 rejections. I was advised to write a love story or something like that. The book finally got published in 2010,” said Tripathi, who describes the trilogy as adventure books based on religion.

Busy with his next book on mythology, he is hopeful that both the film projects will be good.

He feels that the Indian film industry, known for focusing more on formula films, is changing and consequently attracting the filmmakers towards the publishing world.

“There was a time when stories were not considered so important in the success of a movie. It was only about star and music. But over the last five to 10 years, the movies, which have strong stories, have shown good results. Movie industry has perhaps realised the importance of good stories and that the good place to pick up good stories is in the book publishing space,” he said.