Dr Miriam Johnson

In an age of media convergence, publishing brands have evolved from mere symbols of credibility to become navigational beacons within a saturated landscape of content. As they intersect with multiple media formats, these brands not only represent their intrinsic values but also engage in a dynamic relationship with the reader. This relationship is underpinned by the interplay of various forms of capital: economic, social, cultural, and symbolic. Through the lens of Bourdieu's theory of capital and habitus, and Foucault's discourse analysis, this article unpacks the shifting dynamics of power between publishing brands and readers. It explores the complex nature of branding, where readers are both consumers and co-creators of meaning, and where publishing brands serve as both gatekeepers and facilitators of cultural narratives.

This article focuses on what is meant by the term ‘book’. Here, there is a consideration of how the definition of the book has altered over time as technology has improved and as writers themselves began to have different relationships to the book and industry. It further explores the ways the book itself has altered in format, from printed to digital, with audio editions, and socially in relation to the rise of social media and a new form of author who chooses to write and share their works directly within social platforms. In this context, book must be redefined to incorporate the context of new social technology.

The growth of digitally social media has given rise to the citizen author, as an author who actively chooses to forgo the traditional publishing model and seeks instead to share their works among communities on social platforms. Taking into account the nature of the medium on which they write, they use genre fiction as a means to push the boundaries of what is expected of a ‘book’ or narrative structure. This article shows that, by pushing back against the structure of the author-agent-publisher model, these authors engender communities around their writing and develop relationships directly with readers. These digital villages proliferate around genre writing in online spaces, creating a shifting power dynamic between the publishing industry and the writers who choose to work in these digital spaces, blurring the differential between ‘high’ and ‘low’ art and addressing the issues of gender in genre fiction.

The concept of the citizen author is defined and explored within the publishing industry. In order to understand what positions the citizen author currently, and potentially could, hold it begins with a historical view of their rise, including concepts of their eighteenth century antecedents. But the focus of this research is on their growth alongside that of social media platforms. This allows for drawing out relationships between genre fiction, publishers, and the citizen author, which provides a more full understanding of the power dynamics involved when publishers, social media, and the citizen authors mix in the current industry climate.