There is an urgent need to develop a strategy for applying digital transformation to publishing operations.

On August 19th, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Information and Communications, in coordination with the Central Propaganda Department and the Vietnam Publishers Association, organized a scientific workshop titled "Improving policy mechanisms to support publishing activities and gathering opinions on amending and supplementing the Publishing Law".

The workshop was held in both in-person and online formats. Approximately 15 presentations focused on issues and groups of issues related to the main theme of the workshop, aiming to understand the position and role of publishing activities, and to engage in in-depth discussions on several major issues that serve as a foundation for the industry's development, such as: publishing house models, appropriate incentive policies, human resource development, and improving the quality of publishing house leadership in the new context.

The workshop focused on understanding the position and role of publishing activities and some issues that serve as a foundation for the industry's development. (Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper)

In his opening remarks, the Vice President of the Vietnam Publishers Association and Director of the Publishing, Printing and Distribution Department, Nguyen Nguyen, summarized the outstanding achievements of the publishing industry over the past 20 years, as well as existing limitations and their causes. Over the past 20 years, the growth rate has been approximately 6-8%, relatively stable. In 2023, it reached about 5.3 copies per person per year. The printing sector has also developed strongly, with over 2 out of 100 printing establishments generating high revenue in 2023. The distribution sector has flourished, with over 2,000 units, and e-books have developed rapidly.

The main shortcomings identified include: The total scale of all three sectors remains limited, reaching only about 102,000 billion VND in 2023. The publishing sector has few annual revenues exceeding 100 billion VND. The printing sector is still small-scale, with limited technological capacity and outdated equipment. The distribution system is unevenly developed and has many inadequacies; bringing books to remote and rural areas remains challenging.

Many new shortcomings have arisen that require prompt remedial measures: regulations on policies; regulations on models; implementation of administrative procedures; regulations on electronic publishing... Three subjective reasons for these limitations include: the slow institutionalization of the content, orientations, and directives of Directive 42, with insufficient attention to resource allocation; inadequate awareness of responsibility among agencies; and limitations and weaknesses of some leaders.

At the workshop, most proposals and recommendations focused on the urgent need to develop a comprehensive, long-term, and sustainable development strategy for the publishing industry. This strategy should both ensure the unique characteristics of publishing activities align with the Party and State's guidelines and policies, and adapt to the development trends of the region and the world .

Furthermore, it is necessary to develop specific mechanisms and policies for publishing houses as entities operating in the political , cultural, and ideological fields. These include mechanisms and policies regarding land and office rental prices, tax exemptions and reductions, infrastructure investment, publishing costs, human resource training, support and preferential interest rates on bank loans, and long-term, in-depth commissioned projects.

Relevant agencies urgently need to develop a strategy and roadmap for applying the strengths of digital transformation to publishing activities in all three stages: publishing, printing, and distribution. This is especially important for the ability to connect and utilize data sources, understand and exploit market needs, and reader preferences.

H.Anh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/can-gap-rut-xay-dung-mot-chien-luoc-ap-dung-chuyen-doi-so-vao-hoat-dong-xuat-ban-post308334.html