Oxford University Press (OUP) Managing Director (MD) Arshad Saeed Husain has said that size of publishing industry in Pakistan has potential to grow up to Rs 32 billion in next five years if piracy of books is checked. "Presently, it is rupees 16 billion publishing industry but that too has been facing chronic issue of piracy," he said, talking to Business Recorder.
He said low literacy rate in the country is also a big problem in the growth of the publishing industry. He said he was heartened to know that the incumbent government was focusing a lot on education. He stressed the need for improvement in the publishing business.
"In future, publishing will not be limited to paper but it will include electronic, digital and audio content as well," he said, adding that the OUP's future vision 'Blending Learning' is a combination of textbooks, e-books, video/visual content and audio books. The purpose behind it is to create affordability and to reach a wider audience while encouraging the youth to learn better.
He said the challenges in the industry revolved around pricing issues, enforcement of laws and most importantly trademark and copyright infringement. He said that for many people who are adults now, name of Oxford University Press (OUP) has always been a given, mostly because of the books they read at school had been published by OUP. He said OUP textbooks had always been of better quality than other books.
He said OUP was not just about textbooks alone but it has become an institution. He said the OUP activities also include children's books, books of higher education, academic and general books, dictionaries, reference books, English language teaching books and even digital learning resources.
"The OUP represents quality, merit and accuracy," he said, adding that the Oxford is very careful about its policies and does not compromise on the book titles it selects for publishing.
Arshad Saeed said that OUP has not just restricted itself to publishing and has played its role over the years in a more holistic manner by encompassing a wider view of all cultural activities, of which writing, reading of books and publishing is only a part.
He said Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is a reflection of the OUP's role in development of Pakistan's distinct culture. He said that perhaps the early years of the festival had more enthusiasm for the written word and most of the festival's activities revolved around authors, poets and wordsmiths in general. "Now, it is good to see that over the years, the Festival (KLF) has spread its range to cover more areas that are primarily connected with writing as a part of the cultural development of a nation but find expression in so many other ways," he said, noting this was the point where the performing arts had made their entry into the literary festivals held in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.