10 | Digital Fiction: the Modern Alternative to Traditional Publishing

Home , Andy Weir, Fifty Shades of Grey, The Martian (Weir novel)

10 | Digital Fiction: The Modern Alternative to Traditional Publishing

Grace Clark, School of Information Studies

The Internet has played a prominent role in the modernization of the publishing industry, as aspiring authors are finding more creative ways to distribute their work, reach readers, and gain exposure with the help of technology. This chapter will explore the ever-growing popularity of digitally self-published fiction, the many platforms and services it’s popularity produced, industry responses, and some success stories such as E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) and Andy Weir’s The Martian (2011) to illustrate the drastic changes between traditional and contemporary publishing, as well as the modernization of the publishing industry.

Keywords: self-publishing, digital, fiction, websites, platforms, services

Introduction

Digital self-publishing has become a popular method that enables creators of varying levels of experience to share their work and “bypass the gatekeeping practices” of traditional publishing (Vadde, 2017, 27). From its humble beginnings on blogs and online boards, the rise of digitally self-published fiction has influenced the development of many online services aimed to help authors produce and circulate their work without the rigidity and risk of rejection commonly seen in traditional publishing houses. With a growing amount of online services and platforms that cater to hopeful authors, digital self-publishing is beginning to impact the publishing world in ways that are hard to ignore, and is not only a more convenient way to broadcast one’s work, but it is managing to ignite an evolution in publishing. This chapter aims to explain the digital self- publishing revolution and consider how it has rocked the foundations of traditional publishing, offering a modern approach to authors seeking an alternative format for sharing their work with the world.

Digital self-publishing, the utilization of digital and multimedia technologies to publish fiction, is a modern development of what Vadde calls “amateur literary creativity” (p. 29) that offers a more convenient alternative for authors attempting to publish their work. The notion of digital self-publishing has evolved along with the rise of the Internet, as it helped provide an outlet for the mass amateurization (Vadde, 2017, p. 27) of contemporary publishing through sites dedicated to showcasing amateur writing, services aimed towards self-publishers, and through common social media platforms. With a growing number of platforms and services that cater to self-publishing, it seems that digital fiction is not only becoming more popular, but also challenging the traditional publishing industry. Self-publishing fiction digitally has grown in popularity due to the ease of the process, as the convenience of showcasing one’s work on digital platforms has lead to the steady increase of self-published titles. Bowker’s 2009 statistics revealed that there were almost 300,000 digital publications produced that year, which rivaled the amount of titles produced by traditional publishing (Albanese, 2010). In the following year, the Bowker statistics showed that there were over 2 million self-published titles, eight times more than traditionally published books (Bradley, 2011). It is perhaps due to the popularity and convenience of creating and marketing digitally self-published fiction that lead library book vendors such as Baker & Taylor and Ingram to become more than just vendors (Nardini, 2015). Both now offer programs to help self-publishers, with Ingram offering IngramSpark, a self- publishing tool, and Baker & Taylor offering author services after procuring Bookmasters in 2013 (Nardini, 2015, p. 66), a company that aims to help authors publish work both in print and electronically. What began as merely the sharing of creative content online has evolved into a legitimate, widely recognized publishing option, with more and more aspiring authors using digital self-publishing as a contemporary alternative to traditional publishing methods.

Websites, services and social media

Digitally self-published fiction gained traction at the beginning of the 2000’s, where websites of such as Usenet, ListServs, newsgroups and bulletin boards (Hellekson & Busse, 2006, p. 16) offered spaces in which users could interact and create a variety of posts, including fiction. These

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Digital Fiction 95 types of sites attracted creators due to the fact that they were free, accessible, and easy to use (Hellekson & Busse, 2006). Since then, self-publishing fiction has spread to a wide range of web platforms, and some have even developed services catering specifically to aspiring writers. Some popular sites were designed to help writers self-publish their fiction, such as The Archive of Our Own and FanFiction.net, which is currently the “largest platform for writers of fan fiction on the Web.” (Vadde, 2017, p. 34). Another platform, Wattpad, claims to have more than forty million members (Vadde, 2017, p. 36) and offers a space for aspiring authors to post stories to be read by a “growing, global audience” (Wattpad, n.d.). There has also been a development of online programs for digital self-publishing, such as Amazon’s Kindle Worlds, a service that began in 2013 that aims to help authors “package and self-publish their work” (Vadde, 2017, p. 34). Another Amazon service called Kindle Direct Publishing promises free self-publishing that will appeal to millions, broadcast books globally, give authors as much as 70% royalties, and all in “less than 5 minutes” (Kindle Direct Publishing, n.d.).

With the rise of self-publishing authors, there is an increased need for the editorial services that a traditional publisher offers its clients, and there are now online services that provide authors with “editing, copy editing, proofing, marketing, public relations, access to social media and even strategies for drawing search engines to a book.” (Finder, 2012, para. 9). One example of this service is Lulu, a publishing program that edits work for less than $500, provides a book cover for less than $200, and helps with editing, design and formatting, with a price that ranges from $729 to $4,949 (Finder, 2012). CreateSpace is another online service that sells design and editing packages to self-publishers, but also includes assistance with “promotion and publicity assistance and a video book trailer.” (Finder, 2012). While both services are more costly than those with no associated fee, authors do earn 60% royalties through CreateSpace and 80% through Lulu (Finder, 2012), making such services an attractive and profitable option to self-publishers.

Social media platforms have also played a significant role in this digital ecosystem. Many authors are choosing to post their fiction to popular sites and apps in order to reach a wider audience. Ingram’s platform IngramSpark advocates for the use of social media to post and promote self-published work, providing tips for authors on its website. IngramSpark suggests Facebook to self-publishers, as authors can find a substantial amount of readers with it’s large

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Digital Fiction 96 amount of users, and allows authors to post stories, connect with readers, and even promote themselves using ad options (King, 2016). While IngramSpark warns that Twitter “is not the place for authors to share in-depth content” due to the character limit on posts, it can be useful to share links or short excerpts to create interest (King, 2016, para. 5). The utilization of social media has become so common among self-publishers, the term “Instapoets” (Vadde, 2017, p. 38) has been developed to refer to those who post poetry and other creative works on social media sites. The growing amount of online services, including social media platforms, are able to tempt creators and produce more titles not only by promising the exhibition of work, but by also offering a faster alternate to traditional publishing, generally without the threat of rejection.

Success Stories

With the high volume of fiction being produced online, there have been several instances in which digitally self-published fiction has become highly successful. Two of the most popular self-published fiction novels that originated on the Internet are E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey series and Andy Weir’s The Martian, which not only have become popular in the literary world, but both have acquired highly successful movie adaptions. Fifty Shades of Grey, which began which began as a fan-fiction of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series (Vadde, 2017), became “the fastest-selling book in Britain since records began”, as well as “spawned the most successful 18- rated film ever” (Petersen, 2015, para. 1). What started as a digitally self-published story, has since earned $500 million in the box office following the first installment of the film franchise, sold over 125 million copies, and earned James £75 million (Petersen, 2015). Similarly, The Martian had humble beginnings on a blog before being sold for the lowest possible price on amazon for a whopping $0.99 (Dickerson, 2015). From there, the self-published title topped Amazon’s list of bestselling of science fiction novels, and lead to both Random House offering to publish copies and a movie deal following just four days after (Dickerson, 2015). The success of James’ and Weir’s work, although uncommon, offers some degree of legitimacy to digital self-publication as a publishing option, and conceivably encourages other self-publishers to post their work digitally.

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Digital Fiction 97 Industry Response

The growth of digital self-published fiction has significantly transformed the publishing world. Traditional publishers have had to change their practice and find ways to enter the self- publishing world. As Vadde (2017) explains in her article, “amateur writing platforms are structurally changing the publishing business in ways that literary historians cannot ignore.” (p. 36), and publications have had responses to the rising popularity, volume and occasional success of digitally self-published fiction. Traditional publishing houses have seemed to recognize the popularity of digitally self-published fiction, as they have started to engage in the support and promotion of self-published titles. Prominent publishing houses have started purchasing self- publishing services to help “expand the traditional publishers technological reach,” (Grobelny, 2015, p. 35). Alan Finder of The New York Times notes the popular trade publisher Penguin had recently purchased Author Solutions, an online platform offering a number of self-publishing services, for $116 million (Finder, 2012). In a similar move to control the market, Random House purchased Figment in 2013, a platform developed by former writers of the New Yorker (Vadde, 2017). Furthermore, a traditional publishing house chose to mimic aspects of James’ self-published work, hoping to utilize some successful tactics for their own publications. Following the print release and popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, publishers were “prompted […] to rejacket” many of their previously published works to emulate James’ work - something that had been previously called “‘cheaply put together’” (Petersen, 2015, para. 11) by some in the publishing industry. Also mimicking James’ publishing style, the publisher of Fifty Shades of Grey had released the trilogy as quickly as possible to simulate digital publishing, where content is often delivered “thick and fast” to readers (Petersen, 2015, para. 10).

Conclusion

The practice of digital self-publishing fiction, something that began as a simple way to share work online, has evolved into a legitimate publishing option that has generated online platforms, services and diverse industry responses. With websites dedicated to helping self-publishers develop their work, success stories such as Fifty Shades of Grey and The Martian, as well as a response from the traditional publishing industry, it is clear that digital self-publishing fiction is a

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Digital Fiction 98 viable option for those looking to produce their work, as well as evidence that the publishing industry is currently undergoing a distinct modernization and evolution.

References

Albanese, A. (2010). BiblioBazaar: How a company produces 272,930 books a year. Publishers Weekly. Bradley, J., Fulton, B., Helm, M., & Pittner, K.A. (2011) Non-traditional book publishing. First Monday, 16(8). Dickerson, K. (2015). The surprising story of how Andy Weir’s ‘The Martian’ topped best seller lists and got a movie deal. Business Insider. Finder, A. (2012). The joys and hazards of self-publishing on the web. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.todroberts.com/USF/Self-Publishing-on-Web.pdf Green, H. E. (2014). Publishing without walls: building a collaboration to support digital publishing at the university of Illinois. Fire!!!, 3(2), 21-36. doi: 10.5323/fire.3.2.0021 Grobelny, J.D. (2015) Self-Publishing: A bibliographic essay. Against the Grain (25)3 p. 34-36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.6522 Hellekson, K. & Busse, K. (2006). Indroduction. In. K. Hellekson & K. Busse (Eds.), Fan fiction and fan communities in the age of the internet (pp. 5-32). North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers. Kindle Direct Publishing. (n.d.) Self-publish eBooks and paperbacks for free with Kindle Direct Publishing, and reach millions of readers on Amazon. Retrieved from KDP.amazon.com. King, C. (2016). Social media: choose it and use it, self publishers! IngramSpark. Nardini, B. (2015). Book vendors and self-publishing. Self-publishing and collection development: opportunities and challenges for libraries (pp. 65-82). West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. Petersen, H. E. (2015). Fifty Shades of Grey: the series that tied publishing up in knots. The Guardian. Vadde, A. (2017). Amateur creativity: contemporary literature and the digital publishing scene. New Literary History, 48(1), 27-51.

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018) Digital Fiction 99

Wattpad. (n.d.) What is Wattpad? Retrieved from Wattpad.com.

Moving through the Grey: Publishing in Action The Publishing Business: Transformations and Opportunities (ISI6314 – Winter 2018)