Self-publishing is widely associated with vain but untalented authors on the one hand, and predatory publishers on the other. With the rise of online platforms that connect millions of writers and readers online, however, self-publishing exposes grey zones of professional publishing that increasingly change the way literary writing at large is viewed.
After a brief glimpse into the history of self-publishing and the institutional resistance against it, this seminar addresses two main areas of self-publishing, literary and academic publishing.
In the literary context, we will discuss various traditional professional assumptions about publishing and how contemporary self-publishing undermines these assumptions. Writers who self-publish on digital platforms
- bypass the gatekeeping function of the literary agent in traditional publishing;
- add the creative product of “a book” to the fluid portfolio of influencers and public intellectuals;
- create an “archive” of alternative perspectives (with a great range of what “alternative” is able to mean).
In the academic context, we will discuss the issue of open access publishing (that is, academic publications that can be accessed and often reused by anyone without restriction) and its connection to academic infrastructures and changing reputation regimes.
This seminar is an online-only seminar, and features two larger practical sections. These include the creation of “corporate personae” to help research and systematize different digital self-publishing venues, and the creation of short video essays that reflect students’ own research interests on the topic of digital-self-publishing.