MUMBAI: They say that traditional book publishing business is dying a slow death. But many beg to differ and believe it is here to say, although it may change its shape and format. Today’s generation does not want to invest time in sitting down and reading a novel, but they would rather go for an e-book or just listen to an audio book. Amazon was the first e-commerce platform that introduced the world to ebooks at large.
Launched in the United Stated in 2009, Amazon Publishing is the publishing arm of Amazon and publishes literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction. Today, Amazon Publishing is a global publisher working with Amazon editors in Seattle, New York, Grand Haven, Luxembourg, London, Munich, Milan, Madrid, and Paris. In Europe, Amazon Publishing publishes original-language titles in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
In order to reach and target the Indian market and expand its publishing portfolio, Amazon acquired Westland publishing in 2017 which is one of the largest English-language trade publishers in India. Westland’s bestselling authors include Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Devdutt Pattanaik, Ashok Banker, Rujuta Diwekar, Rashmi Bansal, Savi Sharma, Anita and Harsha Bhogle, and Preeti Shenoy.
Adding another feather in the list, Amazon Publishing has now announced a global deal for the next six books by Chetan Bhagat, India’s best-selling author.
The deal includes three fiction and three non-fiction titles by Chetan Bhagat and Amazon Publishing to publish these books globally in print, eBook and audio formats. The first title in fiction genre will be published in October 2018 followed by a non-fiction novel later in the year. The pre-orders for the book will start from August.
It will be Chetan’s first book in both e-book and print formats with Amazon Publishing.
All the books are planned to also be available in multiple Indian language translation versions. Westland, an Amazon company, will distribute the print editions in India. All the books will also be available in multiples book stores and will be distributed in India by Westland.
Westland brings Amazon Publishing's bestselling international books to the Indian market available in over 1000 outlets.
The company is excited to have Chetan Bhagat on board. Amazon Publishing vice president Jeff Belle says, “Millions of readers have enjoyed Chetan’s work for over a decade. His books deftly weave together the everyday life of youngsters with the prevalent social milieu of our time. He is India’s best-selling author and we both share a common passion that more people reading more books makes the world a better place.”
Delighted to partner with Amazon Publishing, Chetan Bhagat says, “Amazon's online advantage and their commitment to reach every corner of India ties in well with my goals of inspiring every Indian read books.”
Chetan wants to reach readers in Tier II and Tier III with his books as he believes that the next round of readers are going to come from smaller towns and villages in English and regional languages.
With this deal, Amazon wants to bring Westland’s authors to more customers in India and over the world.
Our aim to bring great content from around to our readers whenever and wherever they are. For this, we are open to partnering with new publishers and authors. With the publishing arm, Amazon wants to reach the audience that is digital savvy and constantly on social media platforms to create reading culture among them.
Amazon Publishing will advertise and market the association with Chetan Bhagat on its online shopping website amazon.in followed by some OOH and digital.
Although Amazon registered a loss of USD 622 million from international operations in the first quarter of 2018, Jeff Belle is optimistic about the Indian market and will continue to invest in India as it sees great potential here with both sellers and customers.
