The Difficulties of Self-publishing in the Digital Era
Open Access
Author:
Coster, Elena
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jeffrey Nealon, Thesis Supervisor Lisa Ruth Sternlieb, Thesis Honors Advisor Brian Lennon, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Kindle Amazon self-publishing creative writing
Abstract:
The main goal of this thesis is to explain why there is still such a large gap between highly lucrative and established writers and fledgling writers who are talented and but remain undiscovered and relatively unknown. The working argument that I have conceptualized and written down here uses both the research of the publishing industry as well as the research of cultural trends – the predominance of supernatural emphases in writing, for example – in order to explain why, in an era of mass production and consumption, certain written commodities are ignored and others are embraced. I see the paper as both research and commentary, combining these two aspects to help find an answer to this disparity.