Thais enjoy reading more than alleged, publishers say
A claim that Thais read no more than eight paragraphs of books annually has been proved false, as they actually read for at least two hours a day, experts in the publishing industry said on Sunday.
According to a survey of 1,500 readers ranging from teenagers to the elderly early this year, Thai people now read for 113 minutes a day, Suwich Rungwattanapaiboon, president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT), said.
He said many teenagers are interested in reading books because they want to escape from social media. The elderly are paying more attention to e-books than teenagers, thanks to text expanders and audio generators, he said.
He added that Thai people are interested in reading comics and novels, as well as books about psychology, how-to guides and Dharma.
Suwich noted that this study showed that readers spent more time on electronic devices. People purchase physical and electronic books digitally, such as e-commerce platforms, he added.
More than 500 bookstores have been opened on the Shopee e-commerce platform, and some of them are operated by book-publishing companies, he said. He added that those publishers compete against others on e-commerce platforms by offering giveaways and discounts.
He said meb, a mobile e-book application, had gained more than 60% of the publishing market with a more than 100% increase in business performance for three consecutive years. The National Library of Thailand reported last year that up to 4,086 of its 29,265 books have been produced as e-books, he said.
Suwich also confirmed that the publishing industry has not died in Thailand yet, saying that a book fair in April this year attracted 1.6 million people, generating 14 billion baht in revenue.
“The top five best-sellers during the event included novels (41%), light novels and comic books (21%), exam preparation books (13%), how-to books (11%) and books on health (10%),” he said.
He pointed out that books have become more expensive because of rising production costs, which include paper, logistics and wages for editorial teams. He wants the government to control the paper price or launch a measure to purchase books for libraries.
Promote books as soft power
Teerapat Charoensuk, a member of the Thailand Creative Culture Agency’s subcommittee for promoting the publishing industry, said enabling Thai people to read books is crucial to promoting Thai books internationally.
“Children should not be forced to memorise, read and write, which could affect their development and boredom on books,” he said.
Instead, he recommended offering books that are suitable for children in each learning stage to boost their knowledge, imagination and creativity.
Reading promotion needs collaboration from the Public Health Ministry and Education Ministry to ensure that it will be part of culture and child development, he said.
Teerapat said promoting Thai books and literature internationally is another way to promote Thai soft power, such as food, art, sports and tourism.
PUBAT achieved success at the Bangkok Rights Fair in April with publishers and copyright holders from 14 countries who came to trade copyright for publication worth more than 40 million baht, he said.
He expects more participants and copyright revenue next year if support is received from relevant agencies. The government should support Thai book translation for publishers and writers, so such literature can be sold digitally, he said.
He added that the Thai publishing industry can grow further if there are more activities for promoting reading, such as building communities for readers, holding book fairs, and organising meetings between publishers and readers.
