The 15th edition of the International Publishers Conference brings together leaders in the world’s publishing industry

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SHARJAH, 3rd November, 2020 (WAM) – The International Publishers Conference, in its fifteenth session, which is being held prior to the start of the Sharjah International Book Fair 2025, witnessed a global gathering of publishing industry leaders from various countries of the world to discuss finding realistic solutions to the sector’s challenges.

During its first day, the conference hosted 31 specialized workshops led by prominent experts from various continents and countries of the world with the aim of enhancing professional cooperation and exchanging basic skills and experiences among those working in the publishing industry.

Muhammad bin Abdullah Al-Furaih, Director of Obeikan Research, Publishing and Translation Company, spoke during an interactive workshop that addressed the hidden stages in a book’s journey before it reaches library shelves, explaining that the production of a single book passes through the efforts of more than fifty people, including editors, reviewers, designers, marketers, and others, before it reaches the reader in its final form.

Al-Furaih pointed out that the discussion in the workshop led the participants to the challenges of distribution, which he described as “the common node in the book industry chain,” explaining that publishing, like other industrial sectors, faces complex obstacles that require innovative thinking and inspiration from the experiences of other industries.

He explained that the workshop constituted a collective brainstorming that allowed participants to explore solutions that could be adapted to suit the book market, stressing that many of the methods adopted in other economic and commercial fields can be effectively applied in the field of distribution and publishing.

One of the most prominent sessions hosted by the conference was a session entitled “Publishing Children’s Books in French Languages,” which was moderated by Simone de Goukas, president and owner of the Canadian publishing house Éditions Les 400 Coups in Montreal.

Goukas explained that the discussion centered on the foundations of modern publishing, such as metadata, ways to enhance book discovery and access, and the importance of unifying efforts to build strong publishing systems, pointing out that the session concluded with a shared conviction that the true beginning of success in the world of publishing begins with small, practical, implementable steps, and it is not necessary for all conditions to be 100% prepared for success.

In turn, Dr. Muhammad Ayesh, Director of Dar Al-Fikr Al-Jadeed in Jordan, who ran one of the workshops that dealt with “Factors that make the paper book indispensable,” explained that the magic of the printed book does not lie in its material only, but in the integration of its elements from form, content, design, attractive visual direction, and even the quality of paper that suits the subject of the book.

In another workshop, the discussion moved to the future of digital publishing in a session moderated by Mette Caserta, co-founder of the Danish Fioranello Publishing House, during which she discussed how to build a digital publishing house in an economy that relies on electronic broadcasting, noting that the Danish experience provides a practical model for the development of the publishing industry from a market that included only 20 audiobooks to a market in which broadcasting constitutes half of the publishing economy.

As for the “Understanding Market Access Mechanisms” workshop, Wadha Stratisti, Project Manager at the Indonesian company Gramedia International, presented a clear roadmap for international publishers wishing to cooperate with their counterparts in Indonesia.

During her fifth participation in the Sharjah Publishers Conference, Stratistic pointed to the renewed value that the conference provides annually in strengthening professional ties between publishers around the world, explaining that the most prominent questions posed by the participants revolved around how to identify Indonesian publishing houses specializing in certain types of books and the mechanisms of communication adopted with them, whether through agents or through direct contact.