VietNamNet Bridge - In the digital and artificial intelligence era, orthodox publishing groups no longer play the key role in the world’s publishing industry. The role has been transferred to Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. 

They have become big publishers and are extremely dynamic when launching attractive services, according to Claudia Kaiser, deputy chair of the Frankfurt International Book Association, who spoke at a recent working session with the Vietnam Publishers Association (VPA).

VPA’s deputy chair Le Hoang also said the 4.0 industry revolution will be associated with cutthroat competition. With the support of Amazon – Kindle, writers can introduce their work and launch themselves. A report shows that 31 percent of e-books in the world are self-published and sold by Amazon on Kindle. 

The royalties paid by Amazon to authors could be twice as much as the pay by traditional publication houses. Therefore, copyright has become a big challenge between authors and traditional publishers.

According to Hoang, the day when Amazon arrives in Vietnam and competes with Vietnamese publishers is near, which will be a big threat to Vietnamese publishers. In addition, the 4.0 industry revolution will also empower the role of e-books in comparison with printed books. 

Four years ago, e-books quickly became a growing trend but are less popular now. However, analysts all predict that e-books will return in the near future. 

Publishers have begun thinking of the transition to adapt to the new age. This is the establishment of ‘on demand printing’.

In Vietnam, an underdeveloped publication market, the challenges are not as severe as seen in developed countries. Large book houses are still full of visitors, so publishers are ignoring the warnings about e-books.

Analysts said the 4.0 industry revolution also brings great opportunities. The market will expand with a higher number of literate people. 

They noted there is a growing tendency for publication houses and readers to have direct interaction without any intermediate distributors. This can be implemented thanks to great achievements in technology.

In Vietnam, some book firms are trying to catch up. Anbooks, for example, since its establishment in 2016, has been connecting authors and readers with Social Books, a technology solution. The solution allows readers to talk, write and share comments with many subjects related to the books. 

In other words, readers can connect with people who read the same books as well as with authors, producers and distributors.

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