Young people choose books at the HCM City’s 10th biennial Book Expo last March. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Local publishers and book distributors should release more quality books and expand their market to rural areas, border areas, islands and abroad to serve more readers, speakers said at a recent conference in Ho Chi Minh City.
Hoang Vinh Bao, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, said: “Publishing houses and book distributors should focus on books highlighting the country’s history and culture, and fight against books on wrong political views.”
Bao asked local authorities to work with publishers and book distributors to prevent, discover and solve violations in publishing sector.
At the meeting, over 60 publishers and distributors in the country shared their experiences and achievements in 2018.
Last year, the publishing sector printed 33,087 book titles with more than 430 million copies. Total revenue of the sector reached more than 2.5 trillion VND (107 million USD).
HCM City’s 10th biennial Book Expo in March was a success last year, with more than 180 international and Vietnamese publishers, distributors and other companies, which offered 300,000 titles in all fields.
The expo earned more than 60 billion VND (2.6 million USD) in revenue, an increase of 20 percent compared to the last event.
It welcomed one million readers from the city and neighbouring provinces during its seven day opening, an increase of 10 percent compared to the previous event.
Le Hoang, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Publishers Association, said despite great achievements in 2018, the publishing sector faced challenges promoting the people’s reading habits.
“Vietnamese people do not have the reading habit. Except for reference books at school, each person reads only one book a year,” he said, adding that promoting reading should begin in schools. “Good books will help evoke students’ interest in reading.”
The association plans to work with publishers and distributors to compile a list of good books for students and will submit it to the Ministry of Education and Training for approval.-VNS/VNA
VNA
