HCM CITY — 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 at a conference in HCM City said last Friday.

Hoàng Vĩnh Bảo, 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.”

Bảo 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 VNĐ2.5 trillion (US$107 million). 

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 VNĐ60 billion ($2.6 million) in revenue, an increase of 20 per cent 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 per cent compared to the previous event.

Lê Hoàng, deputy chairman of the Việt Nam 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