Authors react with shock and sadness to closure of SAGE India’s books publishing division

Authors react with shock and sadness to closure of SAGE India’s books publishing division

Aug 4, 2022 - 13:30
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Authors react with shock and sadness to closure of SAGE India’s books publishing division

After Amazon’s decision to shut down Westland Books sent shockwaves in the Indian publishing industry earlier this year, another bombshell has been dropped by SAGE Publishing. On July 30, Paromita Chakrabarti of The Indian Express reported that SAGE, a global publishing house “is shutting down its book publishing division in India”.

Chakrabarti quotes from CEO Blaise R Simqu’s internal email to the company’s employees – which mentions lack of commercial viability – and verbal testimony from an anonymous insider claiming that employees were made to tender resignations and sign non-disclosure agreements. Another report, published by The Wire on August 3, claims that the books division in India “shut shop” on July 28, and over 80 people have lost their jobs.

We reached out to Smrithi Sudhakaran, Senior Manager (Marketing) at SAGE India, for an official clarification on the developments, and to check what plans lie in store for authors who have published with SAGE India in terms of copyright and royalties. Over email, she replied, “Over the past few years, we have experienced a particularly challenging business environment for book publishing in India due to the pandemic and other economic factors and as a result we have decided to close the SAGE India book publishing operation.”

She added, “This decision is very specific to books and does not impact our thriving journals publishing programme, as well as our strong imported books sales in India. We are actively looking for a new home for our book titles and will make an announcement as soon as we are able. Meanwhile, our book publishing operation is active until the point we transition it.”

Providing further details, she noted, “We are continuing to support our authors and keeping in contact with them through this process. Sadly, this decision inevitably is resulting in exit of some of our employees. Our aim is to carry out the transition with utmost respect and care to our people and we are helping them with extra ex gratia payments for easier transition as well as enabling access to outplacement services to assist them in finding placements.”
We contacted authors who have published with SAGE India for their reactions.

Tanushree Ghosh, author of the book Beyond #MeToo: Ushering Women's Era or Just Noise? (2021), said, "The news about SAGE India was shocking for me because I really enjoyed working with the people there. I haven't received any official communication yet, so I do not want to speculate about what is going on. I hope everyone is well taken care of.”

Taking a broader view of the situation beyond a specific publisher, she added, “This is a hard time for the publishing industry in India. High production costs make it extremely difficult to make books available to buyers at low-price points.” What is Ghosh planning to do now? Is she approaching other publishers to explore her options? Ghosh said, “Obviously, I want to have my book available for readers in India and all over the world, as I wrote it for social justice and change and I consider it to be an important work on gender. I am not going to jump the gun right now. I will wait to hear from my publisher about their plans for my book."

LGBTQIA inclusion consultant Parmesh Shahani, who wrote Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India, first published in 2008, and re-released in 2020, said that the news about the shutdown of SAGE India’s books division made him “incredibly sad” as the book emerged out of his Master’s thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and “the SAGE India team was the kindest and sweetest ever to a young student who had reached out to them cold in 2006, and tentatively requested that they consider it.”

Reminiscing about his warm interactions with various team members at SAGE India, Shahani noted that when Westland published his second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace in 2020, “the SAGE team kindly offered to republish an updated edition of Gay Bombay and really went all out with promotions of it, even though it came out bang in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Like Ghosh, Shahani feels sad “that a valuable outlet for academic publishing has been lost in an already shrinking publishing space in India.”

He confirmed that no one at SAGE India has contacted him. He said, “They must be in shock. I can't even imagine how difficult this must be.” Other publishers have reached out, and he is considering their offers. “Given Gay Bombay's history as one of the first ethnographies of contemporary queer India, it is vital that it continues to remain published for future generations of queer scholars to access. I am happy to talk to anyone who can ensure this.”

Utkarsh Amitabh, author of the books The Seductive Illusion of Hard Work (2020) and Passion Economy and the Side Hustle Revolution (2022), responded to the news of the shutdown with these words: “I love to write and will continue doing so. SAGE has been a fantastic publisher that enabled my books to reach readers around the world. I loved working with their India team and look forward to supporting them in all the ways that I can. Even though my books will be available globally, I hope my readers in India get to check them out as well. These are hard times for publishing. New business models need to be explored and publishers must explore bundling products to discover the right fit with different markets.”

Author Payal Dhar, who started her career as a consultant editor with SAGE India, and worked there from 1999 to 2008, said that the shutting down of the books division makes her feel “a little sad” but the SAGE that she “knew and loved” has “been gone for a long time”. The recent development, according to her, is “just the final nail in the coffin”. Dhar worked at SAGE India when the legendary Tejeshwar Singh was the managing editor there. In fact, Singh had founded the Indian arm of the publishing house with George and Sara McCune.

Dhar was responsible for “the production of a bunch of academic journals, from acquisition and editing to overseeing production”. Though Singh did not train her, he “kept a close eye”. She said, “He was extremely light on his feet, and would manifest behind you out of thin air – that certainly kept us on our toes…he stood up for me with the editors of a prestigious journal. I was in my 20s and that feeling of being trusted did wonders for my self-esteem.”

Two other publishers commented publicly on the development using social media. On July 31, Karthika VK, publisher at Westland Books, tweeted the Indian Express news report, and wrote, “Depressing news. Haven't worked with them, but as young editors we'd hear stories of Tejeshwar Singh's uncompromising commitment to high-quality publishing. And Sage was the only publisher then with a woman heading sales. Truly feels like the end of an era.”

On the same day, Arpita Das, publisher at Yoda Press, tweeted, “Receiving concerned messages about our joint imprint with Sage India. Just wanted to say that we at #YodaPress are as much at sea as any of you and we’re waiting to hear from our friends there. It’s sad as hell but after 24 years in the industry very little surprises me anymore.”

Chintan Girish Modi is a writer, journalist and educator who tweets @chintanwriting

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