'Heartbreaking': Authors, readers as Amazon plans to shut down Westland Books

Amazon will be the shutting down Westland Books - a well-known and acclaimed publishing house in India that the retail giant owns since 2017, a Mint Lounge report said today.

The report says several people working with Westland as well as Amazon have confirmed the news to Mint Lounge via an email correspondence.

“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,” an Amazon spokesperson confirmed over email to Mint Lounge, the report said.

Twitter was not happy with the news with many expressing their disappointment over Westland Books shutting down.

“Heartbreaking and upsetting day for Indian publishing. There isn't much to say except I hope we go out and buy as many Westland/Context/Eka books we can in the coming days, for all the wonderful editors, authors, and translators who worked tirelessly to build their stellar list,” Sayantan Ghosh, an editor at a publishing house tweeted.

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

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— Jairaj Singh (@JairajSinghR) February 1, 2022

Man if Amazon can’t make Westland work with Bhagat and Tripathi on board then wow. Sad. I mean understand it of course. But also sad.

— T. H. Houghton (@sidin) February 1, 2022

Shameful @amazon @JeffBezos you bought @WestlandBooks only to shut it down? Thereby shutting down the wonderful Westland Imprint, the Context series edited by @ajithags which has published such a stellar set of non-fiction books. https://t.co/CpA9E6mXCs

— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) February 1, 2022

“Westland was my publisher. I stand to loss heavily by their closure. But it’s not that’s worrying me. It’s the loss for me as a reader. They gave us some of the sharpest non fiction books in recent times. Until someone at Amazon got this weird idea that they should be profitable,” Journalist Nidheesh MK tweeted.

"I’m devastated for everyone working here. My friends & colleagues who put heart & soul into every book, every author.
Publishing giants ⁦@karthikavk And ⁦@ajithags & the many other incredibly warm and professional folk," Twitter user Aparna tweeted.

Westland is my publisher and did so much for me, taking a chance on a non-celeb author. The editors are the best in India and they brought out the best and most hardhitting non-fiction you will see on the shelves.

— Kavitha Rao (@kavitharao) February 1, 2022

If Amazon could be said to have done one worthwhile thing with #books, that was Westland--thanks to its excellent editors and several superb books they published. For books, #Amazon has nothing left to redeem itself now. https://t.co/bvwMoKGurs

— T. R. Shankar Raman (@mizoraman) 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

Earlier known as East West Books, Westland was founded in 1962 and acquired by Amazon in 2017. Its bestselling authors include Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Rujuta Diwekar, Rashmi Bansal, Anita and Harsha Bhogle, Preeti Shenoy among others.

The publishing house is known for books on popular and literary fiction, food and cooking, spirituality and self-help, biographies, health and wellness, history, travel and many other topics.

There has been no official confirmation from Amazon or Westland so far.