The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many publishers to reduce the number of books they buy copyrighted, and also pay more attention to readers’ reading trends.
Buying and selling book rights with foreign partners can be considered as one of the first steps in publishing a translated book in Vietnam. In the context of the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, the exchange of buying and selling transactions has been largely affected and interrupted.
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc – Director of First News Tri Viet book company, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Minh – Director of planning and copyright of Nha Nam book company and Mr. Tran Dang Tu – Copyright employee of Kim Dong Publishing House will share with readers difficulties, challenges and opportunities in buying and selling book rights when the pandemic is changing the world. Convert form from offline to online For book rights trading, the biggest difference when the Covid-19 epidemic took place, according to all three representatives, was that major copyright book fairs in the world were canceled. The London Book Fair in March, the Bologna Book Fair in April or Frankfurt in October… are all major book fairs in the world, where publishers meet and directly introduce outstanding and potential books. big. 
The world’s major copyright book fairs have all been canceled or changed their organizational plans, switching to online form because of the epidemic. Photo: Reedexhibitions. Especially for children’s books with many beautiful illustrations, which is the strength of Kim Dong Publishing House, is a series of books “very suitable for display at book fairs, now losing the opportunity to attract attention”. Mr. Tran Dang Tu shared. The alternative to the book club is online meetings through online platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Team or Google Meets… However, having online meetings with partners who have to work remotely is not always comfortable, from poor connection to difficult search, lack of information, lack of sample books. And instead of meeting partners in just 2-3 days like in traditional fairs, the meetings often span a whole month, and due to the time difference, the appointment is convenient for both. side is not an easy thing either. Amid such difficulties, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Minh said that online exchanges with partners also allow the two sides more time to introduce and negotiate, instead of meeting only 30 minutes like meetings. market. But meeting face-to-face, shaking hands, touching books, enjoying the book-filled atmosphere is still something that copyright professionals really want to experience in the future, just like before. here used to be. Another bright point of online transactions is that “electronic contract signing” is legalized, which replaces direct signatures and must be delivered to the partner’s offices. “This way of e-signing saves costs and time, minimizes risks and conveniently stores data,” said Mr. Tran Dang Tu. In the context of the pandemic and having to work online, there are many shortcomings, but the book company First News still brings back many books of great value, including the autobiography. The Promised Land by former US President Barack Obama, a book about the life of artist Chow Yun Fat, signed a contract to buy book rights with actor representative Keanu Reeves… “The pandemic is a time to prove the dynamism of the copyright team, who can contact and negotiate and buy good titles about Vietnam in any situation,” concluded Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc. 
Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc bought the copyright to a book about the French President at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Photo: FBNV. Observe the reading taste of readers, be careful when choosing new books When the Covid-19 epidemic took place, publishing units in general reduced the number of new books to some extent, so the consideration and selection of titles will be conducted more carefully. The copyright department of the units carefully observes the reading trends of the readers so that they can bring back many titles that are suitable for the tastes of the country. Representatives of three publishing units have different opinions about readers’ reading taste. According to Mr. Tran Dang Tu’s observation, readers tend to change their reading forms, shifting more to e-books (ebooks) and audiobooks (audiobooks). This is completely natural because these types of books are both cheaper than paper books, easy to buy and suitable for conditions requiring social distancing due to the epidemic. However, buying copyrights for e-books and audiobooks in Vietnam still faces many difficulties, because foreign partners do not really trust the Vietnamese market when there is a situation of pirated books illegally posted online. . However, Mr. Tran Dang Tu still hopes that ebooks and audiobooks will capture the market share of future readers to match the technology trend. Next, in recent times, the phenomenon of classic books, books of old authors… are strongly consumed. This is thought to stem from the anxiety that causes many readers to read books they already believe in, or recommend old and good books to others rather than risk new books. Or because the economy is difficult and forced to stay at home, many people take advantage of reading all the old books they have bought, instead of buying new books. But broadly in the world market, new books are still respected and released by publishers. Books in the highly entertaining genre are still well received. For example, Japanese manga in the North American market received huge growth with more than 35% sales growth, many manga books also entered the top sellers with high rankings. This is a good sign for Kim Dong Publishing House to continue to exploit relevant and interesting books about Vietnam. In 2022, Kim Dong Publishing House will celebrate its 65th anniversary, which is the time to release many large, massive and unique books on this occasion. That pushes the copyright department to explore special works even more. 
Ebooks and audiobooks are considered a new trend of readers during the epidemic. Photo: Deloitte. On the side of First News, Mr. Nguyen Van Phuoc found that during the pandemic, readers were more interested in self-understanding books, spiritual books, and books that enhance their own inner strength. That’s part of the reason the work Eternal life by Professor John Vu – Nguyen Phong published by First News became the publishing phenomenon of 2020. Episode 2 of Eternal life recently released is also well received by readers, and First News is expected to release volume 3 in the near future. Other books on the subject of Osho’s meditation or books on health and self-care have also received more attention during the pandemic. Nguyen Xuan Minh, representative of Nha Nam, is more interested in readers’ reading taste when the epidemic has passed. Because publishing a book in Vietnam takes time to implement, making the book lag behind the general trend. As a unit specializing in publishing literary books, Nha Nam focuses on the world’s valuable literary titles. In addition, this publishing unit also searches and exploits quality manuscripts from domestic authors, both contributing to the development of the country’s literature and ensuring objective factors such as translation. disease has the smallest impact on publishing.
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