Why Amazon shutting down publishing house Westland books?

Ground Report | New Delhi: Authors and writers are beyond shocked. Amazon is shutting down Westland Books a publishing house that it took over five years ago in 2016 after it acquired the company from Trent Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group. The message was conveyed by CEO (chief executive officer) Gautam Padmanabhan to the senior employees of the company on February 1, yesterday.

Why Amazon Westland books house closed

As closing down the publishing house came out as a shocker for many writers and readers. Some of them took to social media platforms to show their dismay. Groundreport.in tried to sum up some of the reasons which can be the possible causes.

Some readers were of the belief that the house was shut down because of the digital takeover. Since everything has become digital and is available in online versions, even books are now available in their "e" version so it can result in a loss for the printing houses. This can be one of the reasons that Westland was shut down.

Another possible reason is the lack of finances. As the readers prefer to read the 'digital' version called "e-book" as it does not cost much and are easily accessible, readers have given up on the hardcover version of books, shutting up the finances of the publishing houses.

Some people are of the belief that pandemics can also have been a reason because pandemics changed life for everyone. Many people are of the belief that Amazon shut down Westland Books because of other business issues.

However, it is pertinent to mention that Amazon by far has not said anything in particular as a cause of shutting down the publishing house. In their official statement Amazon said, "After a thorough review, we have made the difficult decision to no longer operate Westland. We are working closely with the employees, authors, agents, and distribution partners on this transition and we remain committed to innovating for customers in India."

According to a member of Westland's staff who spoke to Mint Lounge on the condition of anonymity, the publishing house's editors were only recently alerted of the impending closure. While not all of the company's authors have been notified of the change, some have been told and confirmed by Mint Lounge.

News of the closure came as a shock to the editors, members of the Westland team and its public relations agency, who were informed of the decision only today, according to a staff member requesting anonymity. It was especially sad for bestselling fiction author Ashwin Sanghi, who wrote his first novel with Westland in 2008 and published a "dozen books" over the years.

Reaction

Many authors, writers and readers took to their Twitter accounts and expressed their concerns. Read some of the tweets here:

Terrible news: Amazon to shut down publishing house Westland Books. 💔 Here are some of their most outstanding and hard-hitting non fiction books to come out in recent times. Read pic.twitter.com/juY7GKxpxO

— Jairaj Singh (@JairajSinghR) February 1, 2022

Rotten news. @karthikavk and team have run a great publishing house with a strong list of books. It has been a pleasure to work with Westland. Deeply troubling that a successful venture can be shut down this way from above, for god knows what reasons. https://t.co/3XQpiPX4b3

— Manu S Pillai (@UnamPillai) February 1, 2022

Woke up to this. 😣 https://t.co/gC9hLiLOwd

— Kavitha Rao (@kavitharao) February 1, 2022

Shocked to hear and this is a terrible blow to publishing in India @WestlandBooks and @karthikavk have published some amazing books and done stellar work. This decision is unfathomable and my heart goes out to @karthikavk and her wonderful team. Seriously @amazon -bizarre totally https://t.co/spytwp31W1

— Nalin Mehta (@nalinmehta) February 1, 2022

Sad about Westland's possible closing. Hope they manage to find private investors and get out of Am*zon's clutches. With such a great list (including my short story collection *ahem*) it would be a shame to see them fold.

— Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) February 1, 2022

Feel terrible about @WestlandBooks shutting down . A huge blow for publishing in India. 6 of my books incldg #ahundredlittleflames, #secretwishlist are with them.Hard to imagine a different home for them. Have some amazing memories with the westland team. Deeply saddened 😢😢

— Preeti Shenoy (@preetishenoy) February 1, 2022

https://twitter.com/Aparna/status/1488419720831574018

Whatever may be the reason for shutting down the publishing house, one thing is for sure it is a big blow to the writing community of India. In a place like India where literature and art are worshipped closing down a prominent publishing house is an alarming call.

Westland books

Westland was formed in 1962 and publishes print and electronic books in a range of categories, including popular and literary fiction, business, politics, biography, spirituality, popular science, health, and self-help. Westland Books, one of India's leading English-language publishers, was acquired by Amazon's Indian branch in 2016.

Westland is known for its varied book selection, which includes works by famous authors Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi, as well as popular fiction and narrative non-fiction. Before being purchased by Amazon in 2016 from Trent Ltd, a Tata group company, Westland was known as East-West Books. Amazon Publishing's global activities previously included Westland. Karthika VK is the present publisher there.

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