The growth of publications in the context of general market difficulties shows that the publishing industry meets the basic needs of readers. However, in the face of the challenges, the publishing industry needs to make a breakthrough in the coming time.
In the first six months of 2024 alone, publishers published 25,510 books with nearly 397.8 million copies (an increase of nearly 19% in books and 31% in editions). Of which, printed publications reached 23,066 books with more than 370 million copies (up 20% in books, up more than 29% in book editions) and electronic publications reached 1,550 publications (up 1.4%).
Other publications in the form of CDs, DVDs, maps, postcards, calendars of all kinds reached 894 publications with more than 27.2 million copies (up 29% in number of publications and up nearly 63% in editions).
In terms of content, the publishing industry has disseminated many quality publications with theoretical and practical values, serving to propagate the political tasks of the country, industry, and locality in the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress; ensuring diversity in topics, depth in content, promoting the role of educational and aesthetic orientation for readers; Strengthening copyright exploitation, publishing translated books, bringing Vietnamese publications to the international market, serving foreign information work...
Publishing units have performed well their political tasks, focusing on implementing plans and topics, ensuring focus and key points; actively implementing national book programs, notably participating in and organising the 7th National Book Award in the direction of raising the position and prestige of the award.
In the last six months of the year, although there are no specific statistics, professionals say that publications of all types have increased sharply. The application of technology and digital transformation in the publishing industry are taking place vigorously. E-book formats (Ebooks, Audiobooks, Videobooks)... continue to increase strongly, interacting quite effectively with readers, creating momentum for the development of reading culture. During the year, many publishers were confirmed to register for electronic publishing activities, bringing the number of publishers confirmed to register for electronic publishing activities to 34/57 publishers.
It can be said that the combination of modern technology and digital information, smart connections, advanced printing technology... has changed the face of the publishing industry. This development pace opens up opportunities but also creates pressure, requiring the operating team to change their thinking and work skills in publishing, printing and distribution activities, especially when electronic publishing is becoming an inevitable trend.
The entire industry currently has about 5,000 employees, but in reality, at many publishers, the main difficulty is having to retrain staff or recruit new ones to meet the requirements and processes of the digital age.
According to Director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution Nguyen Nguyen, looking back at publishing activities in the past year, there are still limitations. First of all, we must mention the situation of poor quality publications, with content that violates political ideology to the point of having to be handled; the situation of lax cooperation activities reduces the role, reputation and brand of publishing houses.
In addition, the shortage of publishing house leaders still occurs, and in some places, this situation has lasted so long that the directing and managing agencies have to issue written reminders. Protecting the copyright of books in general and translated versions of concise books and general knowledge books in particular is still a very difficult problem.
Without sanctions, synchronous solutions or the application of technical and technological measures to ensure security, book content can easily be copied, stolen, works cut and pasted, distorting thinking and negatively affecting society. Not to mention, compared to the scale of book imports, the flow of book exports is still quite modest, the publishing industry in general and individual units still lack a strategy to invest in translation and promote Vietnamese publications abroad.
Experts in the industry commented that, when looking at the overall picture of the industry, there are still many factors showing unevenness and unsustainability. In the current book structure, the majority are still textbooks, reference books, etc.
The problem for the publishing industry is to stimulate demand and promote reading behavior so that readers can access knowledge in an engaging and natural way, not just stopping at the compulsory curriculum. Next, the industry's revenue is high but uneven among units, many places still suffer losses and stop operating.
This situation not only shows the inadequacy in production and business activities but also the weakness and passivity in the publishing association model. In addition, each publisher still has inventory of books or has difficulty in exploiting manuscripts.
To make a breakthrough, the publishing industry needs to reach Gen Z readers when reading habits have changed, especially reading, watching, and listening on digital platforms. To achieve this goal, managers also need to quantify readers' listening and reading time in order to develop appropriate solutions.
Professor, Dr. Dinh Xuan Dung once expressed his concern: Currently, there are many published books, but there are still too few high-end books. Meanwhile, purely entertaining books, following market tastes, are “proliferating”, especially books on fortune-telling, feng shui, and romance that “bloom” during the Tet season.
He said that current publishers show signs of both excess, shortage, and duplication in terms of professional functions and content... and it is necessary to re-study this system to meet new developments, and establish research groups on modern publishing.
Representatives of some publishing houses have proposed that the State should adjust policies to ensure equality among units in publishing and printing activities, especially textbook distribution - a field that is attracting much attention and concerns both inside and outside the publishing industry.
Nguyen Tien Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Members, General Director of Vietnam Education Publishing House, recently stated that the quality of a set of textbooks depends not only on mobilizing a large number of talented editors-in-chief, editors, and authors, but is also created by building and implementing a methodical, elaborate, and professional compilation process, fully meeting the regulations according to the compilation process of the Ministry of Education and Training.
Legal regulations on different types of enterprises in organising production, business, publishing, printing, and distributing textbooks create an unequal competition mechanism. Private enterprises or joint stock companies have the right to proactively organize production; Proactively purchasing printing materials and services directly according to actual needs without having to go through bidding procedures with a lot of time and paperwork like state-owned enterprises, so the time and progress are more competitive than state-owned enterprises.
Digital transformation is creating new opportunities for the publishing industry, so in the coming time, it is necessary to create new motivations and new directions to make practical and specific changes in publishing activities. There needs to be cooperation between publishing units and financial and technological partners to improve product quality and open up many digital publishing products.
At the same time, authorities need to be open, receptive to opinions, and perfect institutions to develop the publishing industry sustainably. Technological solutions such as using artificial intelligence (AI) in editing, translating, and distributing books; tighter copyright management; strengthening policies to promote reading and developing reading culture, especially in disadvantaged regions... are solutions that need to be implemented more responsibly and effectively to create a breakthrough in the publishing industry in the coming time.