Lao Dong Newspaper reporter had a conversation with Mr. Nguyen Nguyen - Director of the Publishing, Printing and Issuing Department.
The issue of copyright infringement in publishing has long been likened to an uncontrollable "problem". Illegal printed books are openly sold. On social networking platforms, audiobooks are recorded, and publications are also converted into file formats such as pdf, spreading throughout groups... Before the landmark stage from Directive 04, what plans will the Publishing, Printing and Distribution Department have to have to improve this situation, sir?
- I believe that the publishing sector, if it wants to develop, needs to have parallel protection mechanisms and measures - coming from many functional agencies, coordinating to implement. If the Publishing, Printing and Issuing Department alone cannot solve the copyright problem.
The issue of digital copyright is a global challenge, in the context of deep digital transformation as it is today. In Vietnam, copyright infringement, pirated printing, and pirated distribution have been going on for many years and are becoming increasingly complex.
We also need to recognize whether the legal corridor, mechanisms and policies... are currently commensurate with the role and scale of the Publishing industry or not?
- Management and law enforcement agencies will have to play a key role in reducing digital copyright infringement, and in the fields of education and communication and propaganda, it is also necessary to contribute to raising people's awareness of respecting copyright in all fields, including publishing.
With its capabilities and powers, the Publishing, Printing and Issuing Department always accompanies publishing units, building a legal corridor to prevent copyright infringement acts effectively, and at the same time we support and guide units in the publishing sector to implement copyright regulations.
In case we have the capacity and conditions, we also participate in the process of handling violations. However, the rate of cases detected and handled is still too low compared to the actual number.
That gap cannot be filled by legal corridors but also lies in the issue of awareness as well as the management capacity of digital platforms, e-commerce platforms, transnational networks... in publishing.
If we only talk about the responsibility of management agencies, there will be many difficulties. Instead, we need to build a sufficiently broad and strong legal institution to fundamentally solve this problem.
In addition, as I emphasized above, we also need to promote education on awareness of law compliance, copyright respect, and at the same time need to strictly handle cases of digital copyright infringement.
Directive No. 04-CT/TW emphasizes the digital transformation task of the Publishing industry, tightening copyright protection, turning copyright into resources in the digital space. Can you share the most basic steps in the digital transformation of the Publishing industry up to this point?
- Objectively speaking, in the past time, the publishing sector in Vietnam has had many new products, from e-books, books with interactivity, distributed on many platforms.
However, looking from the publishers' side, the revenue of the e-book segment has not really created a change, while we cannot yet measure and statistically analyze e-book data because many books are released online for promotion or serve many different purposes.
The most important thing at this time, in my opinion, is to encourage, create conditions, and support infrastructure for publishers to implement effective digital transformation.
Currently, 35/52 publishing houses have implemented digital transformation, but the number of publishing houses that have actually achieved positive results is not many.
Units are still in the process of opening the way, searching for markets, and preparing bases for development. Along with that, digital transformation will also require technology companies, publishing units, and educational units to combine with each other to achieve comprehensive efficiency.
The plan set out for the next 5 years is that the Publishing industry will have large corporations, develop multi-products, multi-platform, create an ecosystem where readers can experience a diverse reading culture. In your opinion, is this a distant dream or a near reality of the Publishing industry?
- I believe that building corporations in the publishing sector in Vietnam is not a distant future. This goal has become a new driving force, becoming a mandatory requirement of the Publishing industry.
A corporation's birth not only solves the economic problem for the Publishing industry to rise up but also affirms Vietnam's cultural sovereignty. When science and technology, social networks explode, cultural borders are increasingly blurred, a Vietnamese brand, a Vietnamese corporation can spread and protect Vietnamese cultural identity before the world is extremely necessary.
In the cultural, film and music industries, the revenue from creative products is outstanding. What can the publishing economy learn from other fields, according to you?
- The publishing industry should not only focus on traditional revenue sources but also coordinate and participate in other fields of the cultural industry, thereby developing into a creative industry alongside film, art, music...
Products such as scripts, novels, fictional stories are also a component of the field of content creation, and can completely be used as materials for other creative fields such as theater, painting, sculpture...
Connection and coordination between sectors in the cultural industry also play an extremely important role. All sectors must create a combined strength to develop and open up greater opportunities.
For example, when the movie "Red Rain" based on the literary work of writer Chu Lai won big in theaters, it created a book fever in the publishing market. The movie helped the book "Red Rain" become one of the best-selling books of 2025.
It is not easy for writers to connect and promote their works to film producers. Usually, filmmakers will "value", select literary works they need. The Publishing, Printing and Distribution Department will need to have a specific plan when wanting to connect with other cultural industries, do you think so?
- The Publishing industry is facing a great opportunity to develop and deeply access other cultural fields.
In countries strong in cultural industries in the world, there has been a long period of construction and nurturing. They have synchronous institutions and financial resources to invest, lead and create.
They also have separate functional agencies to connect cultural industries with each other. I take an example of Korea, they have a specialized agency to connect literature with cinema, and other fields.
Now, with the help of AI, I think we can shorten the gap between new people and experienced people in some positions in the publishing sector. Thanks to that, we can expect many changes in the future.
Directive 04 also sets the goal of bringing Vietnamese books to the world, and bringing the world's elite books to Vietnam. However, the story of translation, paying for translated books... is also another difficulty for the Publishing industry. But when implemented, there are many difficulties from financial resources, human resources to intellectual resources. According to you, what do we need to do first for the plan to bring Vietnamese books to the world?
- Directive 04 orients the Vietnamese Publishing industry to promote translation activities. Translation for literature is not simply translating but also cultural translation.
Vietnam has many good literary works, but there are not many works that have the ability to be universal and approach the quintessence of world literature.
Regarding translation, we also lack very much personnel. When I was working at the publishing house many years ago, I had contact with many well-known translators.
Indeed, at that time, we had a generation of talented translators. They were not only language translators but also great cultural figures. They were knowledgeable about the cultures of countries around the world. When translating a work, there must be a great understanding, so that the work becomes vivid, close, and enters life under a new language layer.
Currently, we are lacking quality translators like that!
In the near future, we will need to find and connect to train personnel who truly understand Vietnamese culture to translate accurately and objectively.
It is also necessary to carefully select to translate Vietnamese books into other languages when entering the world.
