WHO BRINGS VIETNAMESE BOOKS TO THE WORLD AND HIS MISSION OF “PUBLISHING” THE NATIONAL CULTURE
Nguyen Canh Binh the Chairman of Board of Directors of Alpha Books
In October 2020, the first book container of Alpha Books officially went to the US, opening a new door for the Vietnamese publishing industry to the international market. However, the dream of Nguyen Canh Binh does not stop there, he believes that “Vietnamese culture deserves to be multiplied and accepted by international readers as a pure and healthy spiritual dish. Therefore, Alpha Books and I will go ahead and pave the way.”
In order for Vietnamese books to not become a luxury spiritual treat for the Vietnamese community
MORE THAN 500 VIETNAMESE BOOKS WITH A VOLUME OF ABOUT 20,000 COPIES ARE EXPECTED TO ARRIVE IN THE US MARKET ON NOVEMBER 20, 2020, HELPING ALPHA BOOKS PAVE THE WAY FOR "PUBLISHING" VIETNAMESE CULTURE TO THE WORLD. AND TRAVELLIVE IS ALSO THE FIRST VIETNAMESE TRAVEL MAGAZINE TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE US.
On October 20, 2020, Binh and Alpha Books marked a new turning point for the Vietnamese publishing industry with the Alpha America project, as the first container carrying Vietnamese books officially went to the US. In this shipment, Alpha Books has more than 500 books with a volume of about 20,000 copies, including the main categories of children’s literature, culture, history, selfhelp and parenting. Among which, Travellive magazine is one of the travel publications brought to the US market by Alpha Books.
In addition, Binh considered this event as the first step in his journey to conquer the dream of “publishing” Vietnamese culture to the world that he has always cherished.
THE PIONEER’S DREAM
About 3-5 years ago, Nguyen Canh Binh attended many large-scale book fairs in Germany, England, etc, and always received questions from international friends about the Vietnamese book market. That was when Binh realized that, in addition to the books about General Vo Nguyen Giap, President Ho
Chi Minh or “The Sorrow of War” by Bao Ninh, Vietnamese books has made no impression on the international market… yet.
Since then, the idea of a project to bring Vietnamese books to the world began to be developed by Binh. By 2019, when he had the opportunity to work with Wiley one of the largest publishers in the world, Binh realized that it’s time he needs to start his projects to make his dream come true.
“Basically, Vietnam’s integration into the world is not only economical, but also cultural, as we bring our national identity to the world. However, over the past 30 years, Vietnam’s culture has remained a one-way integration process. Up to 80-90% of books in Vietnam are copyrighted by foreign countries, then translated into Vietnamese. Meanwhile, the cultural and historical characteristics of Vietnamese people are rarely presented to the world.”
“I think culture will pave the way for economics. This is the easiest and most effective means to promote the country’s image, so there is no reason we don’t do it, and I will do it with books.” Nguyen Canh Binh said.
FROM VIETNAM TO AMERICA, AND TO THE WORLD
During his research, Nguyen Canh Binh realized another thing that the need to read and learn about Vietnamese culture from abroad always exists. But to satisfy their needs, they have to find a way to “export” books by themselves: buy a few books every time they return to Vietnam and bring them abroad, or order books in bulk every 2 or 3 months.
“BRINGING VIETNAMESE BOOKS TO THE WORLD" WILL BE AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO LEAVE A MARK OF OUR COUNTRY'S BEAUTY IN THE HEARTS OF INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS; AS WELL AS LET THEM SEE VIETNAM AS AN ATTRACTIVE, INTERESTING AND INVITING DESTINATION.
abroad, Nguyen Canh Binh decided to establish an Alpha America office in Sacramento (USA), and simultaneously exported containers of thousands of Vietnamese books to this market. This is also the first step in his journey to bring Vietnamese culture to the world.
However, Nguyen Canh Binh considers the US office, or
Alpha America, to be just the first foundation and a traditional approach. To make more lasting and spectacular steps, Binh turns to Amazon.
Amazon is considered to be the largest e-commerce website in the world today. Putting Vietnamese books and other books published by Vietnamese to Amazon will shorten the process of reaching readers.
With various editions for each book such as paperback, ebook and audiobook, readers from anywhere can have the opportunity to read Vietnamese books quickly and enjoy the best prices.
“With Amazon, Alpha Books will be like a hub between Vietnamese and international readers. On the one hand, we can easily bring to the Vietnamese market foreign books sold on Amazon; on the other hand, we will use Amazon to publish Vietnamese books to international markets. The books are published by not only Alpha Books, but any Vietnamese publisher, but they must have cultural value.”
THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE WORLD TO “READ” ABOUT US
Unlike cinema, fashion or music, Vietnamese culture through books often takes longer to reach the public. However, there’s only one book needed to reach the global readers, the pure culture summarized in every word and the unique illustration in every page can make people remember about a beautiful Vietnam.
After the US, Nguyen Canh
Binh expected that Vietnamese books would reach a milestone in the European market, followed by countries in Asia, especially Korea and Taiwan. In addition to exporting Vietnamese books to overseas Vietnamese, Binh will create books written in English about the cultural identity of the country such as: Vietnamese ethnic groups, beliefs, traditional craft villages; temples in Vietnam; Vietnamese learning books… These books are aimed at foreign readers living outside Vietnam.
“Vietnamese cultural books must be sold 10,000 or 100,000 copies on Amazon to really be considered a successful global publication.
This journey, though long, is a sustainable step, not only bringing value to the publishing industry but also creating a great push in the propagation of our national culture.” Binh enthusiastically said.
In the end, the book itself is culture. The books published by Vietnamese people are the perfect crystallization of Vietnamese wisdom. Before, we just read domestic and foreign books, but now, Nguyen Canh Binh and his projects of Alpha Books have opened and will open a new door leading to where there are foreign people reading about us.