'Overwhelmed by affection, goodwill': Westland Books publisher as authors, readers mourn its closure

Westland Books publisher Karthika VK thanked people for their support. (Image credit: @karthikavk/Twitter)

Hundreds of book-lovers as well as authors expressed their disappointment after news broke of Amazon’s plan to shut down Westland Books, one of the largest publishing houses in India, that the retail giant owns since 2017.

“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," said Amazon in a statement, which was first reported by Mint Lounge.

Karthika VK, publisher of Westland Books, took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank fans of the publishing house.

“It's been a surreal day, only just found my way to Twitter, and overwhelmed by the affection and goodwill that's been sent our way by writers and readers. Thank you from all of us at @WestlandBooks @ContextIndia @Eka,” she tweeted.

It's been a surreal day, only just found my way to #Twitter, and overwhelmed by the affection and goodwill that's been sent our way by writers and readers. Thank you from all of us at @WestlandBooks @ContextIndia @Eka.

— Karthika V.K. (@karthikavk) February 1, 2022

The news regarding the closure came as a shock to the editors, Westland team members and its public relations agency, who according to a staff member requesting anonymity, were informed about the decision only on Tuesday, news agency PTI reported.

"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," tweeted historian Manu S Pillai, author of "The Courtesan, The Mahatma and the Italian Brahmin".

The publishing company, which was acquired by Amazon from Trent Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Group, in 2016, has published works of several bestselling authors including Amish Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat, Ashwin Sanghi, Rashmi Bansal, Rujuta Diwekar, Preeti Shenoy, Devdutt Pattanaik, Anuja Chauhan and Ravi Subramanian.

Among its latest authors are Union Minister Smriti Irani with her debut book, “Lal Salaam”.

"It is sad to see the exit of a publishing institution. The Westland team is one of the finest in the business and there are many emotions and memories of my publishing journey with them that shall always remain with me," bestselling fiction writer Ashwin Sanghi told PTI. Sanghi wrote his debut novel with Westland in 2008 and went on to publish a "dozen books" over that many years.

“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.

Founded in 1962, Westland is one of India's largest English-language trade publishers, bringing out print books and e-books in genres ranging from popular and literary fiction to business, politics, biography, spirituality, popular science, health and self-help. Its key publishing imprints include 'Context', which publishes award-winning literary fiction and non-fiction; 'Eka', which publishes the best of contemporary writing in Indian languages and in translation; 'Tranquebar', home to the best new fiction from the Indian subcontinent, the eponymous Westland Sport and Westland Business; and Red Panda, which publishes a range of books for children of different ages.

(With inputs from PTI)