Publishing is not being stricken by the economic crisis as much other industries – actually, it is even benefiting, experts say.

A bookstore of FAHASA in HCM City.

It is said that in the current difficult situation, parents seem to be relieving work pressure by spending more time with their children, so the demand for books about children or for children is on the rise.

A representative of the HCM City Book Distribution JS Company (FAHASA) said the demand for cartoons, books on basic knowledge, and skill training books for children is increasing.

Thai Ha Book’s Marketing Manager, Doan Thanh Hai, said that Thai Ha is focusing on books on entertainment, books on financial structure change and books teaching how to cope with crisis.

This company is about to publish a book entitled “Benefiting from financial crisis”, besides books like “The origin of financial crisis”, “Seeking relaxed moments”, “Zen and the art of happiness”, “Applying Buddhist theory in business management and life”, and “Four working hours a week”.

The General Director of FAHASA, Pham Minh Thuan, said that unemployed workers have more time to read books, or to update their knowledge from books to prepare for the economic boom after the crisis. The demand for foreign language instruction books and knowledge books is also rising.

Vietnam publishes around 30,000 book titles per years. As most bookstores in Vietnam are small, each book has an average life span of 3-6 months at bookstores (display time).

Fahasa has just opened a 2,000sq.m bookshop in the centre of HCM City but this bookstore is average compared to those in neighboring countries.

A 10,000-15,000sq.m bookstore, the largest in Vietnam, will be inaugurated in HCM City after 2012.

VietNamNet/TP