Tehran to host conference of Muslim publishers

The event is being organized to activate the hidden potential of the publishers of the Islamic world, conference secretary Ali Zarei Najafdari said.

“Of course, we have noticed the collaboration among the world’s publishers, especially their cooperation at international book fairs like the Frankfurt fair. Publishers in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region are cooperating with one another in some manner, but publishers of the Islamic world lack this coordination. They are not very well known in the publishing world, and this is because they are not well organized,” Najafdari stated.

This lack of coordination undermines the cultural, political, and social potential of the publishers, he noted.

And in the modern world, where major publishing houses run the industry, smaller publishers that do not collaborate are unable to find a niche in the international market, he added.

“I think publishers of the Islamic world have two major problems. The first is that they do not familiarize themselves with the cultural needs of their societies before they publish books, so the books they put on the market do not sell well. The other one is improper distribution. Books are not distributed well, both inside and outside (each) country,” he explained.

In some Islamic countries, even domestic publishers do not interact very much, he pointed out.

They even regard each other as rivals and try to put competitors out of business, he stated.

So it was decided to hold a gathering of Muslim publishers in order to organize them, he said.

“I believe the first step (that should be taken) is that Islamic publishers should try to become familiar with one another so they can increase their collaboration. We are holding this conference to help the publishers of the Islamic world get acquainted,” he stated.

Muslim publishers from Islamic and non-Muslim countries have been invited to the conference, he added.

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