Shobha Nihalani — People · BakLok Advisors

The page before the room

Most spoken authority is written first. The article, the chapter, the speech text — if the argument does not hold on the page, it will not hold in the room.

Shobha Nihalani carries the practice's written-word work: the thought-leadership pieces, long-form arguments and book-length projects that clients need to exist before they stand up to speak.

She has published twelve books across fiction and non-fiction — the NINE trilogy with Penguin India, Unresolved with Hachette, The Silent Monument and a biography of Dada Vaswani with Jaico, and Reboot, Reflect, Revive with SAGE. Her debut was first published in Danish translation in 2008.

Since 2020 she has ghostwritten for clients across memoir, biography and business, and since 2023 she has been a Book Coach at Passionpreneur Publishing, taking professionals from an idea they can talk about to a manuscript that holds. Earlier, she wrote copy for banking and insurance houses in Hong Kong.

She is an ICF Associate Certified Coach, with certified training in applied neuroscience. Hong Kong since marriage; before that Kano, Antwerp, Singapore, Rochester, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

books published — fiction, biography and self-help

trade publishers — Penguin India, Hachette, Jaico, SAGE

25+

years writing professionally, Hong Kong

Her discipline

A book is finished when a stranger can carry the argument without you in the room.

That is the editorial test, and it is the same test BakLok applies to a speaker: can the listener leave with the point intact and repeat it to someone else? Nihalani works the written side of that line so the spoken side has something to stand on.

Background

Twelve books. Then other people's.

2023–Book Coach, Passionpreneur Publishing — guiding entrepreneurs and professionals from thought-leadership idea to finished manuscript.
2020–2023Ghostwriter — biography, memoir, business and spiritual non-fiction; thrillers and short fiction.
2021–2023Life Coach — self-esteem and confidence work, the subject of Reboot, Reflect, Revive: Self-esteem in a Selfie World (SAGE, 2021).
2009–2011Copywriter, Mind Your Language, Hong Kong — banking, insurance and corporate assignments.
1998–Author — Karmic Blues (Danish edition, 2008); The Silent Monument (2011); NINE trilogy (Penguin India, 2013–16); Unresolved (Hachette, 2015); Dada Vaswani: A Life in Spirituality (Jaico, 2017); TriKon (2019); The Blue Jade; Whispers of Worth.
CredentialsICF Associate Certified Coach (ICF Hong Kong Chapter, 2025); Certified Program in Applied Neuroscience, The Neuroscience School (2024).
EducationJai Hind College, Mumbai — B.Com, Business, Economics, Finance. European University, Antwerp — BBA.

Most spoken authority is written first. The article, the chapter, the speech text — if the argument does not hold on the page, it will not hold in the room.

Twelve books. Then other people's.

Engagements are reviewed individually. If the brief is suitable, the practice will respond directly.