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May 22, Opening Ceremony International Conference on Publishing and Creative Industries Held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The event takes place ahead of the start of this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) from 23 to 29 May. The conference invited a variety of keynote speakers from the Arab, European and American publishing worlds.
The event began with a moment of silence in memory of the late UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who passed away on 14 May. Dr Ali Bin Tamim, Chairman of the Arabic Centre, which co-hosted the event, noted that the purpose of the conference is to support the creative industries and cultural sectors of the Arab world and help them better communicate with the rest of the world. “The question is how to create and make progress,” he said, whether in publishing or games, through translation or in a digital environment. “The International Congress of Arab Publishing and Creative Industries brings together the most prominent publishers and experts and signifies that in order to realize this vision, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is building a sustainable cultural industry, investing AED 30 billion as its supporting cultural and creative industries and strengthen its strategy with key players from around the world.”
Sheikha Bodour al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association and Sharjah-based publisher, delivered the opening keynote speech, praising the UAE’s progress in developing its cultural sector and saying the country is moving towards a new era of development that will be dominated by The country’s new president is led by Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, better known as MBZ. The key is to know “ask the right question” because that already gives you “half the answer”. al Qasimi said the priority for publishing was figuring out how best to “change and adapt”. She also spoke about the organization’s many activities, notably the launch of the free IPA Academy, which offers online courses designed to help “future-proof the industry”.
Other speakers include Ann Hiatt, a former Google and Amazon executive, bet on yourself (HarperCollins), who talks about the “golden rule” of 70/20/10 innovation. This requires building a model for your business that sees 70% of your work as the core of your business, 20% as an adjacent business, and 10% as a transformation or experiment. Curiously, when the model helped the company innovate, she said, profits were inversely proportional, with 70 percent coming from the transformation part of the business and 10 percent coming from the core business. “
Many speakers discussed the growing relevance of the Arabic book market, which caters to nearly 400 million people, to the rest of the world. Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn revealed that Kobo devices will be able to offer Arabic textbooks by the end of the year, while Storytel’s regional content and extension manager Stephanie Lamprinidi noted that Arabic is now the second largest language in Sweden, where Storytel builds on Storytel, The platform now offers about 8,000 audiobooks, the most of any platform in the world.
A key panel titled “Publishing in Arabic: Where are we and where are we headed?” included Lamrinidi, moderated by Publishing Consultant Carlo Carrenho, and Sherif Bakr, Publisher, Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing; Shereen, Managing Director, Asala Publishing House Kreidieh and Rüediger Wischenbart, President and Founder of Content and Consulting.
Comics are a growing market for his publishing house, which publishes nonfiction and translated fiction, Bakr said. “Initially, I used to think that 10 percent were taking risks. However, I later learned that risk can be replaced by welcoming new ideas,” he said, citing an earlier conversation by Hiatt. “I ventured into the Egyptian market to introduce new genres like comics and I observed 90% success. Despite the large market, we found a lack of effective communication and an inherent need to bridge this gap. Many publishers complain about piracy, but we need Realize that piracy is not a recent phenomenon; it has been around for a long time. We can also say that piracy has led to the creation of a digital readership, as people agree to read from a screen to understand a story. We need to create a system that, when this When that happens, more profit for publishers, more publishers in the market, and fewer communication gaps.”
Shereen Kreidieh added: “In the Arab world, relationships are of high value. For any businessman, building relationships is essential if they want their business to be successful. The publishing process includes many small but special stories, in which Most are different from each other. Just like readers have their own preferences, so do publishers. The 70-20-10 model may not only be suitable for the Arab world, but it provides a lot of room for experimentation as ideas continue to emerge in the market. For example , when we’re talking about children’s books, publishing before the 2000s was mostly translation. Today, however, we’re observing how many authors and illustrators are popping up and sharing manuscripts; it’s clear that the industry around us is changing.”
In conclusion, Wischenbart points out: “When we look at the Arab publishing market, we find that it is fragmented. We need to focus on three areas of focus – fragmentation of information and communication, education in reading, and respect for authors and their intellectual property. There is a need for an ongoing This is how we overcome market fragmentation. When we have different countries involved, we can work together to create a permanent structure that must focus on reading education. We We have to draw inspiration from other countries and other models, but when we focus on the Arabic publishing market, we need to create our own model.”
Other panels discussed the role of social media in the Arab world, opportunities for self-publishing, and the market for adaptation, translation and localization of content for the Arab market.
Congress is expected to return at a similar time next year.
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