Jeffrey Archer’s India connection: Why the bestselling author released his new books here before Britain

British author Jeffrey Archer sold more than 300 million books worldwide, with a significant number of copies in India being pirated. The bestselling British author, who died on Monday, had spoken publicly about the issue for several years.

Why Archer's books were released early in India

In a 2016 interview with The Times of India, Archer described piracy as a major problem in India. He said pirated editions of his latest books could reach the streets before legitimate copies were available in bookshops.

According to Archer, his publishers responded by releasing his books in India before other international markets. He said they “always launched in India first”.

He recalled that the final novel in the Clifton Chronicles series reached Indian readers two days before its UK release, while the US edition followed Britain by two days.

The strategy was also used for Best Kept Secret, the third book in the series. It was released in India in March 2013 before its launch in other markets. Archer travelled to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and New Delhi during the book's India tour.

'The latest Jeffrey Archer'

Archer also had a personal encounter that, according to him, demonstrated just how quickly pirated books could spread in India.

While he was stuck in Mumbai traffic, a young boy whom Archer estimated to be six or seven years old approached his car window carrying a stack of books. The boy asked him whether he wanted the latest Jeffrey Archer book.

Archer's response was that he himself was the latest Jeffrey Archer.

He recounted the incident several times, including in a 2015 diary published by The Spectator. Archer said he believed new bestselling books were collected from Heathrow and taken to India, where pirated copies could appear on Mumbai's streets within days and be sold for a fraction of the official price.

However, this was Archer's own account, and he did not say that he had independently verified how the copies reached India.

Why India was so important to Archer

Archer often described India as his biggest market. During his 2016 visit, he said around 3,000 people attended one event, while another drew 2,100 and a third attracted 1,700 people.

His popularity remained evident during the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019, when thousands of people turned up to see him. Archer compared the atmosphere to that of a concert.

He also claimed that all 24 of his earlier books had reached number one in India. These figures were based on Archer's own claims and were not independently audited.

His estimates of the number of Indian readers who had read Kane & Abel, first published in 1979, also differed across interviews.

Archer died on Monday, October 5, aged 86, a day before his final novel, Adam & Eve, was published. In 50 years of writing, he wrote 30 novels along with short stories, plays, children's books, and three volumes of prison diaries. He ended up selling more than 300 million copies. Even so, he doesn't seem to find space on younger readers' shelves now.

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