The publishing industry's leap forward

After 20 years of implementing the directive, the publishing industry has made a leap forward in comprehensive development. With nearly 600 million copies of books/year, bringing the average number of books/person/year from 2.1 copies in 2004 to nearly 6 copies in 2024. If in 2004, the entire publishing industry published about 24,000 titles with 250 million copies, in recent years, it has fluctuated between 38,000-40,000 titles, with nearly 600 million copies.

The number of publishing houses has basically developed steadily (in 2004 there were 48 publishing houses; in 2024 there will be 57 publishing houses), in which important industries and fields; regions, areas, and localities all have publishing houses; publishing houses belonging to universities have developed. The total number of employees at publishing houses is about 4,400 people (an increase of about 1.3 times compared to 2004) with high educational qualifications.

On average, the publishing industry earns between 3,500 and 4,000 billion VND each year. In 2024, the total revenue of the entire industry will reach more than 4,500 billion VND (3.5 times higher than in 2004). The growth in revenue is not only reflected in the traditional publishing sector but also in the electronic publishing sector. In 2024, the number of published electronic publications will reach 3,495; e-books will be rapidly developed, especially audiobooks.

Most importantly, the publishing industry has met the needs of the public. Publications not only promptly serve the task of propagating the Party's guidelines and the State's laws, but are also rich in content, genre, and improved form. Printing activities have been modernized, distribution has been expanded with thousands of establishments, especially distribution on online commercial platforms, helping to develop a widespread reading culture. Human resource training has been focused on, international cooperation has exploded with the translation of publications into many languages.

Delegates visit the publishing industry display space at the National Achievements Exhibition, September 2025.

At the recent conference summarizing 20 years of implementing the directive chaired by the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission, it was affirmed that: The Party's correct guidelines have led to the remarkable development of the publishing industry. The strategic vision expressed in the directive is: Mobilizing social resources, emphasizing the economic and technical aspects of publishing in addition to the ideological aspects, requiring the improvement of the laws of the publishing industry, taking care of developing a reading culture, setting specific development goals...

One of the correct viewpoints is to promote socialization and mobilize resources to develop the publishing career. Thanks to the directive, which was later concretized by the Publishing Law, affiliated partners no longer have to "hide" behind the publishers with the title of "distributing agents" but can completely publicly participate in the publishing process and have their names on the "launch" of publications. Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Chairman of the Board of Directors - General Director of Thai Ha Book Joint Stock Company, affirmed: "If there were no policies and guidelines to encourage, I and many colleagues would certainly not have established a book company."

Besides the main achievements, the publishing industry over the past 20 years still has limitations and shortcomings that are slow to be overcome, such as: content violations, illegal printing, many publishing houses with weak capacity, some governing bodies with lax management...

Need for breakthrough solutions

The Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries to 2030, with a Vision to 2045, approved by the Prime Minister in 2016, identified publishing as one of the 12 cultural industries in our country. However, compared to many other industries, publishing has not yet become a key industry. Therefore, there is a need for breakthrough solutions to enhance the position and influence of publishing in terms of economics and positive impact on cultural life.

In the inevitable trend of digital transformation, e-publishing will continue to have strong development steps. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize resource allocation, promote investment in facilities, technology, digital transformation for publishing activities to achieve the goal of 100% of publishing houses participating in e-publishing and applying AI in the publishing process. At the same time, build a digital publishing platform for the whole industry. Diversify types of multimedia interactive e-books, virtual reality books (VR books), audiobooks to meet the needs of readers. Build a digital library and a modern e-book distribution system. In addition, it is also necessary to pay attention to perfecting the legal system on copyright protection in the digital environment; strengthen inspection, examination and strict handling of violations; raise public awareness of respecting copyright.
Many experts in the publishing industry suggest that it is necessary to soon research and test the model of a cultural business corporation owned by the State, in which publishing is a pillar business sector. The publishing industry inherently provides “original content” for the cultural industry ecosystem, and once it has strong potential, it can produce many quality publications with widespread appeal.

In addition to resolutely limiting the negative aspects: Strengthening the fight against pirated books, improving the quality of human resources, avoiding the situation of toxic content infiltrating publications; an important task is to promote the development of reading culture. Although there have been effective initial solutions, it is necessary to continue to persistently build reading habits among young people. Only then can the publishing industry build its own sustainable market.

It can be said that the directive has completed its mission after 20 years of implementation, and the issuance of a new directive on the development of publishing activities in the new era is very necessary. From there, the publishing industry will become a key cultural industry with core values ​​and an important driving force in improving people's knowledge, training human resources and nurturing talents according to the Party's requirements and meeting political tasks in the new period.

Speaking to a reporter from the People's Army Newspaper, Ms. Jane Buckley, Artistic Director of Simon & Schuster Publishing House (UK), said: "Vietnam needs to aim for global book genres such as children's books because children are the same everywhere, especially picture books. Our experience is to maintain a group of picture books with a team of talented illustrators. Before we create a book, we think about selling it everywhere." From the experience of developed countries, we can see that there needs to be a specific strategy with clear goals and solutions.

TRAN HOANG HOANG

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/van-hoa/doi-song/xay-dung-xuat-ban-thanh-nganh-cong-nghiep-van-hoa-mui-nhon-847038