Minister of Information and Communications, Nguyen Bac Son, said that e-books have become a trend and called on publishing houses to launch more content in this format.
Minister of Information and Communications, Nguyen Bac Son, (middle) at the meeting with the staff of Kim Dong Publishing House
At a meeting with the staff of Kim Dong Publishing House, Minister Son said many other sectors have progressed by applying IT advancements. Online newspapers have come to dominate, largely replacing print, and this trend is expected in the publishing sector as well. He added that this development is inevitable and will have the added benefit of savig publishers the cost of printing.
According to the minister, publishing houses should gradually moved to e-books. He added that Youth Publishing House has already started to make profits from e-books.
"Kim Dong Publishing House, as well as other firms should move quickly to switch to e-books, particularly as the younger generations are addicted to online games. We need to have more books to attract them,” Minister Son noted.
Despite facing low demand and fierce competition from illegally-printed books, many publishing houses still ensure the quality of their books, he said.
The minister also urged publishing houses to improve production equipment and raise the skills of their employees in order to meet the changing demands of customers.
He said that many publishing houses do not make profits, but only try to survive; he current market is difficult for the publishing sector. He added that there will be more difficulties ahead if publishing houses do not raise quality and cut costs.
