CHILDREN write for CHILDREN Asian Publishers Fellowship Program in Seoul 2019 VIETNAM, Thai Ha Books Publisher, TRAN PHUONG THAO

About me Name: Tran Phuong Thao Email: thaotp@thaihabooks.com Specialties: Rights, Translator, Executive I have been working at Thai Ha Books since its founding in 2007. I have worked in multiple roles as an editor, translator, rights manager and now Vice President & COO I have a good ability to predict the trend of publishing book in Vietnam. I often give a n annual publishing orientation for company, for example: + In 2010, published the titles related to Early Education in pregnancy + In 2015, decided to publish the coloring books for adults + In early 2016, we decided to invest more in children books (0-6, 6-12) + From 2017 to 2019, published titles focus Green Living (for kids, parents, farmers..)

About us – Thai Ha Books Number of employees: 80 employees Titles has been publishing in 12 years: ~ 1,500 titles The six main publishing areas: Children, Parenting, Culture and Education, Green Living, Buddhism and Business Logo: orange color, mixed with yellow (wisdom) and red (compassion). The circle means that the philosophy does not begin and does not end, long-life learning, knowledge is unlimited.

Book Market in Viet Nam

Market size • Population: 96,962,711 • Male: 50.1%; 36.1% in towns, cities. • GDP: 240.7 billion US$ (2018), Growth rate: 7.08% • Pupils : 15,514,000 (Primary School: 7,801,560, Secondary School: 7,618,434) • Students in colleges and universities: 1,767,879 • The average age: 31 – (young population) • Under 15 years old: 25.2% • From 15 – 64 years old: 69.3% • Above 64 years old: 5.5% • Internet users: 66% • Frequency of Internet use: 94% (every day)

Market size *** In 25% reference book: Year Titles Copies Revenue (usd) Growth Rate of Revenue 2015    24,000    270,000,000 (include 80% text book, 20% reference book)         84,388,186   2016    29,390    308,337,000 (include 80% text book, 20% reference book)         92,885,021 110% 2017    30,851    312,510,500 (include 75% text book,  25% reference book)       122,025,316 131% 2018 33,087 430,100,000 (include 75% text book,  25% reference book) 108,000,000 89% *** In 25% reference book: 70% titles are translated from USA, England, France, Japan, Korea and China, 30% titles are from Vietnam 20% titles are picture book, children book, 20% titles are fiction book and 60% titles are others (business, parenting, science, nonfiction...) *** Average titles/person/year: 4.4 (include 3.5 titles are text book) *** Ebook in 2018: Rate of revenue when compare with paper book: ~4%, growth rate: 11.7%

Vietnam: ranks 7th

Vietnam publishing in social networks era E-commerce: Shop online, online book fairs, mobile banking Digital marketing: social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Google, Landing page, Website… Form of paper book: Better quality, more attractive Content: Less words, more images/pictures/illustrations/infographic Ebooks and Audio Books: 80% is piracy (Novel, business, buddhism titles) Distance between authors/publishers with readers is much shortened, even no limit

The way we attracted new young readers Book launching Facebook (Fanpage/Group) Book fairs Website Landing Page Blog/Forum Thai Ha Books Brand Youtube Events Instagram Internal activities (Each ThaiHaBooker is one messenger) Internet Email marketing Content: good quality; more illustrations Try reading: reveal one or two chapters Forms: good quality papers, special design Games on Facebook: attractive Gifts: variety Service: upgrade in serve speed (delivery, answer messages/questions) Market feedback of new titles: research quarterly Discount more 2% for no using plastic bag Spirit: Serve always Online Newspaper Journalism TV/Audio Newspaper/Magazine The way we attracted new young readers

Zero waste home events/activities in ha noi, ho chi minh city, from June 2019-june 2020

we collaborated with Korean friends in Books International to organize events giving Korean children’s books to primary schools. We also asked Vietnamese rights of those four titles and published in Viet nam.

Reading books together, 2017 - now

Reading books together, 2017 - now

Case 1 Story about a boy, young author, journey from 7 years olds to 17 years old

Children's book market There are 20 publishers/publishing companies participating in publishing books for children and young readers There are 5,000 titles per year (about 17% in publishing industry), focus on picture books, reference books, dictionaries, literary, life-skills books Best Publishers: Kim Dong Publishing House, Tre Publishing House, ThaiHaBooks, Nha Nam Books, Dong A Books, Quang Van Books, Dinh Ti Books

Foreign rights 70%, Vietnamese rights 30% Vietnamese authors: To Hoai, Nguyen Nhat Anh, Le Phuong Lien, Nguyen Ðong Thuc, Nguyen Ngoc Thuan, Vu Hung, Do Nhat Nam, Phung Nguyen Quang His works are 24 short stories, 2 novel series and poems. He is regarded as one of Vietnam's most successful writers for teenagers and children. His best-known series, Kính Vạn Hoa (Kaleidoscope), which contains 54 volumes, has been made into 3 drama series of the same name "First Journey" won the top prize of the 2015 Scholastic Picture Book Award in Singapore. Writing a story of a Southwest region, the book is not only a cordial greetings from Vietnam to world, but also a gift for Vietnamese children, with unique illustrations of the beautiful and great region, Mekong Delta

Foreign titles overwhelm domestic titles Reading culture for children is prospering. The bookstores, libraries, reading clubs for children ... are opening more and more, but there are not many names of new Vietnamese authors who are considered "famous author" to write books for children

Finding and buying foreign rights seems to be faster and have many choices. Many areas of topics and genres which are organized by domestic authors/artists takes long time Almost foreign titles are the comic books, science books, technical and non-fiction books

The price of domestic literary works, in soft cover, is from 1. 3 to 2 The price of domestic literary works, in soft cover, is from 1.3 to 2.2 usd/copy The price of foreign literary works, in soft cover, is from 2.6 to 6 usd/copy Hard cover’s price is from 5.2 to over 8.6 usd/copy The book for smaller children, the more expensive it is

Children in rural areas are now is very difficult to have books because their parents do not have enough money and pay attention to this issue Children in cities are very easy to touch mobile phones/ computers/ipads … with lots of games

Future of children’s reading and reading campaigns for children in vietnam

Future Reading Content is king, it will find new ways to express itself more effectively After all, books will not die. We need to seek out the vehicle best suited to its absorption or enjoyment (paper books, epub, audio books, and then are turned into movies). Paper books have survived the advent of radio, television, the Internet

Books Need to design and publish books with large sizes of magazines, 3D design images or pop-ups, interactive books. Opening every book page as if being entered into a new world, making the children with boundless curiosity desires, increasing imagination Books with QR code link to Youtube/Website/Apps with voices and videos Publish various titles that provide cultural knowledge for children, from Vietnam to Asia countries, and others

activities Workshops for children: invite authors, teachers and even famous kids to read or implement the content of the books such as children’s yoga books, science books, hand made books… Bring books to children in rural areas via the networks of old-students, we called it is social responsibility. The old-students (now mature and have stable jobs) will work together to set up bookshelves for classrooms. Based on that, the schools and parents will contribute books monthly/yearly Organize book fairs in kinder gardens/primary schools, events for launching books/ reading contests …. to help the teachers and parents in rural areas understanding the important role of books Organize the games/contests for parents in cities must accompany their children in reading books daily (at least 20 minutes) Organize creative contests for children as authors/illustrators to create a future generation of authors for literature

THANKS YOU FOR LISTENING!