With his concerted efforts, Vietnamese author Quan Vo, whose real name is Vo Minh Quan, has successfully broadened the appeal of his book and brought it to foreign markets, spreading knowledge globally and making his work an inspiration to young local authors.

Apart from providing readers, mainly managers and students majoring in marketing, with knowledge about digital marketing, he expects his book and his writing journey to contribute to forming a pool of Vietnamese authors who are capable of ‘exporting knowledge,’ he said at a dialogue held in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday.

Quan Vo released his book, titled Digital Marketing Cho Nhà Quản Lý, in late 2022, and one year after its launch, over 5,000 copies were sold.

The book is available on Vietnam’s major e-commerce platforms such as Tiki, Shopee, Lazada, and Fahasa.

The Profit-Driven Digital Marketing, which is the English edition of his Vietnamese tome, became the No. 1 Global Marketing book on Amazon’s Kindle Store just one month after its release in March.

Profit-Driven Digital Marketing has so far been published in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats and is most popular amongst Amazon customers from the U.S., the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Journey to the release of the book

Over two years ago, he accessed a training course on specialism recommended by one of his friends. The course taught learners how to write a book and collect information.

He attended the course from morning till night for four straight days.

After finishing the class, he was resolved to write a book and create a global version.

With support from his partners, he conducted research on books about social marketing and marketing in the Vietnamese and global markets to identify market needs.

He also listed training courses in the field to see whether they are satisfying learners.

He quickly chose the content for his future book after finding a gap in the digital marketing skills and knowledge among managers.

The book was aimed at giving them principles and recommendations on digital marketing so that they could efficiently apply them to their business operations.

With his resoluteness, he overcame plenty of difficulties and challenges from failure in outlining a book, and an unfit writing style to the selection of knowledge.

It took him another six months to rewrite the book after his first version flopped, he unveiled.

Another laborious process was to design the cover of the book, he said, explaining that he had erased several draft covers to complete the final one.

Undergoing the printing process, his book was put on sale on Vietnam's e-commerce site Tiki, and it is now available on multiple local platforms.

As he began to take his book international, he explored a variety of sources and consulted a wide circle of friends and acquaintances about achieving success in global book sales.

“A key to success is Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon.com's e-book publishing platform,” Quan Vo revealed.

The platform will print books on demand and ship them to customers around the world, meaning that authors do not have to pay any costs upfront or carry any inventory.

“Through the platform, my book has been exported globally,” he stressed.

Sharing knowledge, giving inspiration 

Exporting the book, or figuratively "exporting knowledge," is his strong wish, as he desires to share his insights and understanding with others in need.

“I decided to disperse the knowledge from the book to young people by giving it to universities,” he said.

He called on 12 other authors to donate 1,000 copies of his book and other relevant tomes to the libraries of 20 universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Da Nang.

“I hope that by reading the books, students from these universities will have a brighter future after their graduation," Quan Vo said.

He revealed that he would maintain the book donation to spread more knowledge to students.

In addition, he presented copies of his English version to 12 universities in Ireland, where he received higher education. The author earned a master's degree in management at Trinity College Dublin.

The 36-year-old is planning to put his book in several libraries of universities in other countries in the coming time.

He sees the book donation as an effective way to 'ship' his knowledge to foreign markets and popularize it among members of the public.

With the release of the book, he did not intend to make money from it, but he wished to spread his knowledge to enterprises, especially small and medium firms.

His book could help firms save a huge amount of money set to be channeled into marketing and digital marketing. Through the book, enterprises can be equipped with digital marketing skills, he elaborated. 

“To create a valuable book and make it a universal one, authors should carefully research the global market and audiences, deliberately target groups of readers, and spend much time on their writing,” Quan Vo underlined.

“The book has turned me from a businessman into an author,” he said, stating that nothing is impossible. He encouraged local writers to be confident in creating their own volumes and exporting them.

Writing a book is not a short-term process; it often takes authors several years to complete one, he noted.

During this time, authors might face discouragement and uncertainty about whether their efforts will pay off.

However, they should persist in writing, set clear goals, and continue to pursue their passion.

“Motivation should be strong enough to help authors ride out the hardship,” Quan Vo noted.

Through his presentation at the 'Journey of Exporting Knowledge' talk, he aimed to inspire other local writers to achieve global recognition.

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