SIBF will revive Covid-hit industry, say publishers

sharjah — Opening session panelists of the Publishers Conference are placing their trust in the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) for the revival of the industry.

“We hope SIBF 2020 will bring some relief to our publishers. Let’s hope Sharjah will be the starting point for publishers to get back to business,” said Sherif Bakr, Director, Dar Al Arabi for Publishing and Distribution – Egypt, during a discussion titled ‘Global publishing spotlight: Surviving and thriving during a pandemic’.

Demand for eBooks and audiobooks surged during the pandemic, said Sherif. “We’ve sold eBooks and audiobooks; many publishers who did not have websites have now created them to connect with readers and other stakeholders. They also started to work on digital marketing.”

Books matter regardless of our circumstances, said Lisa Milton, executive publisher of HQ and Mills & Boon (UK). “With the onset of the pandemic, we had to move away from broadcast sales to dialogue platforms on social media to connect with our readers and continue our quest for discoverability,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ravi DeeCee, CEO, DC Books – India, opined that readership has grown in India during the pandemic. “We’ve seen a major revival of reading; people catching up on decades of reading during the 45-day lockdown. Our digital and eBooks department braced for this unprecedented event. We had announced free download of books for a single day in March — and resulted in 100,000 free downloads.”

The French book industry suffered hard from March until May, said Nicolas Roche, managing director, BIEF – France. “Between June until now, we understood the pandemic better, worked around and did quite well,” he said.