New Delhi: Following e-commerce giant Amazon’s announcement on February 1 that it would be shutting down Indian publisher Westland Books, the company’s existence under Amazon formally came to an end on Thursday, March 31.However, online platform Pratilipi will be starting a new publishing venture using the same board publishing, editorial, marketing and sales teams as were working at Westland at the time of its closure, Scroll.in reported.Pratilipi is a digital platform where writers post their work in 12 Indian languages and readers of their work are afforded a space to read and discuss their work. Founded in 2015, Pratilipi is owned by Bengaluru-based Nasadiya Technologies, has published more than 27 lakh stories by over 2.7 lakh writers and is currently valued at $265 million.The entrance of a technology company into the world of English language publishing in India may prove to be a jolt to the struggling industry which has seen little innovation in the recent past.Chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder Ranjit Pratap Singh reportedly kicked off the online platforms foray into publishing, which will retain several names from Westland, including former publisher Karthika V.K.; former managing editor of Context, Ajitha G.S.; former publisher of the language division, Minakshi Thakur; former publisher of Red Panda, Vidhi Bhargav; and former CEO of Westland Gautam Padmanabhan.Context, Tranquebar and Eka are imprints (trade names under which work is published) for non-English Indian languages while Red Panda is an imprint for children’s books.Whether or not the new company will inherit these imprints depends on negotiations with Amazon which, if unsuccessful, would mean that the new company will have to come up with new names for each as well as Westland as a whole, which changed its name from ‘East West Books’ after being acquired by retail chain Landmark in 2008.Also read: Amazon Shuts Down Westland Publishing House Five Years After Acquiring ItDeals with existing authorsWhen Amazon first announced Westland’s closure, the publishing company reportedly notified its authors that all publishing agreements with the company would come to an end if the company was not acquired before March 31, 2022. Since the Pratilipi deal is not an acquisition, all existing contracts that authors had with Westland and its imprints no longer exist.In case the new venture would like to publish the work of any of these authors, it will have to reach new agreements with them. However, according to the Scroll.in report, several authors from across Westland and its imprints are ready to stick with their old publishers and editors.Moreover, authors stand to profit from these developments since they will have to be paid for the rights to their books struck with any publisher, be it Westland or the other multinational players in the Indian market. Big, international publishers, such as Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, have reportedly shown interest in authors previously with Westland and thus, bidding for publishing rights may ensue.Among the well-known authors who were formerly with Westland are Amish Tripathi and Chetan Bhagat. The latter had inked a 36 crore-deal with Amazon for six books, however, with the e-commerce company fully exiting from the Indian publishing business, he is free to enter into agreements with other publishers or even publish his books himself.Where these authors will choose to take their business, which names Westland will retain and how the introduction of a technology company into India’s publishing business will play out all remain to be seen.
