Digital Self-publishing as Planned Behaviour: Authors' Views on E-book Adoption

Abstract

A popular school of thought in the study of publishing, exemplified by the influential Long Tail theory, suggests that the economic advantages of e-books will lead to a boom in self-publishing. However, this position focuses on economic factors at the expense of other potential influences. This thesis applied Azjen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour to explore which factors have the most influence on authors' decision to self-publish e-books, and, conversely, which factors influence others' decision not to. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 authors in the Ottawa area who have self-published or who are considering doing so in the near future. We discovered that there is significant resistance to e-books as a format for self-publishing, and that normative factors such as a lack of prestige and different promotional requirements were particularly influential. While e-books were seen to reduce economic risk, they were believed to be a less prestigious format, and so to represent an elevated risk to what Bourdieu called symbolic-capital. Some authors were also resistant because they felt unable to promote e-books in the way they are expected to. However, most said they would be willing to abandon their resistance if they perceived sufficient demand from their audience. These results open up paths for future study, including more focused examinations of the resistance factors that emerged; more longitudinal studies to see how authors' opinions change over time, particularly those of the non-adopters; and a further examination of the digital skills developed by adopters.