Controlling the fake book market impacts the improvement of the publishing economy

According to the Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), quoting the Public Relations and Information Center of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, a meeting of a group of representatives of publishing guilds with the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance was held on Monday (November 16, Iranian calendar 26th Aban) on the occasion of Book Week.

Seyed Abbas Salehi said in this session: In the “Values and Attitudes” survey in 2003, in response to the question “Do you read non-textbooks?”, 63.5% of respondents answered yes. In the second wave of the survey in 2015, this figure decreased to 41.4%, and in the “Cultural Consumption of Iranians” survey in 2019, this figure reached 32.8%; meaning that between 2003 and 2019, the number of those who said they read books approximately halved.

He added: However, it should also be noted that according to the recent survey by the Research Institute of Culture, Art and Communication of the Ministry of Culture, respondents spend an average of 70 minutes per day on social networks and various media reading “scientific texts” including articles, analyses, etc., or watching scientific documentaries and the like.

Salehi stated: These cases show that we are moving towards new tastes, and naturally, we must adopt necessary measures according to these new tastes.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said: If we think our audience is the same as 50, 30, or even 10 years ago, we have made a mistake, and as a result, both the cultural sphere and the publishing economy will suffer.

He added: In recent years, various social and technological changes have emerged, and planning must be done in accordance with them; a society without books is a society without tradition, and a society without tradition is considered a society without identity.

Salehi continued: Book formats can change, and we must be prepared for that; at one time, we were concerned about “fast-food content,” but now we have moved beyond that and approached other formats.

Referring to the remarks of those present, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said: Some of the points raised in the area of challenges are fundamental issues, some of which I will refer to next.

He added: The first case is “demand stimulation”; how we can engage in “demand stimulation” in the field of books is among the fundamental issues.

Salehi continued: For example, one way to influence the challenge of “demand stimulation” is to examine how to more seriously consider attention to books in employee in-service training.

The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said: Therefore, books that are effective in the skill and knowledge efficiency of employees can be identified and given attention.

Stating that attention to schools and kindergartens is another target group that should be considered in this path, he added: Schools will undergo structural transformation in the coming years, and the position of books (whether audio, non-audio, etc.) must be defined in the new context. Also, the idea of a culture card can address some of the economic challenges students face in obtaining books.

Salehi stated: Another issue that is considered a fundamental challenge is “book smuggling”; the fake market harms the healthy market, and we must take measures to prevent this. It is our duty to first control the issue of book smuggling and then severely reduce it. These actions will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the book economy, and previous experiences from the eleventh and twelfth governments can be followed up and completed in this regard.

He continued: Also, another part of the fake book market is unauthorized plagiarism of published texts, and in this regard, the faster activation of the “Moshabehtiyar” (similarity checker) system will help.

Referring to the role of professional associations in the publishing industry, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance clarified: Healthy and smooth governance occurs in a small government, and affairs should be in the hands of public institutions; of course, potential errors may occur in professional areas, but efforts must be made for work to be in the hands of public groups, and the stronger our “intermediaries” are, the better it is for governance.

Salehi considered the weakness of “basic studies and fundamental research in the publishing field” as another main challenge and said: We must have access to global research, and in addition, conduct more serious domestic research in the publishing field, because one of the basic facilities for the publishing sector is fundamental studies and then their presentation.

According to IBNA; in this meeting, in addition to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohsen Javadi, Deputy for Cultural Affairs of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance; Ebrahim Heydari, CEO of Iran’s House of Book and Literature and Secretary of the 33rd Iran Book Week; Ayyoub Dehghankar, Scientific, Cultural, and Management Advisor to the Deputy for Cultural Affairs of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance; Naser Afsharpour, Director General of the Publishing and Reading Office; Abbas Zare, Director General of the Printing Affairs Office, and representatives of publishing guilds and a number of publishers and booksellers were present.