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Apr 8, 2017 · 7 min read · Listen

Social Media and the Publishing Industry

 Photo Credit: Abhi Sharma, flickr.com

The growth of social media over the past decade has made a significant
impact on numerous industries, as well as the way we as users interact and
connect with them. The publishing industry is one that has benefited from
the affordances of social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram and
Goodreads. This case study will explore these affordances and what they
mean for publishers, authors, and their audience: the readers, while looking
at examples that showcase their success.

Social media has allowed for publishers to reach their audience in new ways.
Various platforms and the different features they offer have created a
network that connects with readers and promotes the products available to
them (Hykrin, 2015). Major publishing houses such as HarperCollins and
Penguin Random House are thriving within this online community, with
pages across these platforms where they can share information,
photographs and videos to promote their books and various events. This
allows for a reach to their audience that previously didn’t exist
(HarperCollins, 2017; Penguin Random House, 2017; Spi-Global, 2014).
HarperCollins has over 100,000 followers on their Instagram account, which
is one of their seven major social media platforms through which they reach
their audience.
 https://www.instagram.com/harpercollinsus/?hl=en

They post daily photos of new book arrivals, sale opportunities, and
upcoming events involving the authors they represent. But most importantly,
their audience can engage with these photos by liking, sharing, and
commenting on them, which shows that publishers are tapping into the fan
cultures of readers through social media.
 https://www.instagram.com/p/BSen--4gmPz/?taken-by=harpercollinsus&hl=en

Smaller publishing houses are reaping the benefits of social media as well,
accessing this network public to promote their business through an online
presence. One notable example of this is Melville House, which evolved from
a book-themed blog, into an indie publishing house. Because of their online
presence, Melville House is now catching up to compete with the major
global publishers (Bloomgarden-Smoke, 2016). The increase of publishers’
across social media has created more job opportunities for people in the
publishing industry. New roles in marketing, publicity, media and I.T have
been formed so that these social media platforms can be used to promote
the products the publisher has to offer. (Hykrin, 2015; Spi-Global, 2014).

Audience interaction has also benefited the publishing industry because of

the free promotion they provide through social media. In 2007, an online
community for readers called Goodreads was launched, which allows users
to show everyone what they are currently reading, write reviews, set reading
goals, and follow authors who are a part of the Goodreads community
(Goodreads, 2017). Goodreads has become such an enormous network public
that it has created an affordance for publishers, who are getting free
promotion thanks to the user-created content that the website provides (Spi-
Global, 2014). Another platform where readers promoting books is YouTube,
which has a large network public of book-vloggers, who upload videos of
themselves reviewing books. Some have thousands of followers, and many
receive advanced or free copies of books from publishers, who send them
out to gain attention and receive promotion through these reviews, an
example of which can be seen in the embedded video bellow:

LADY MIDNIGHT BY CASSANDRA CLARE | booktalk with XTINEMAY

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgmgp0P9sJE&t=26s

Authors can take advantage of the affordances that social media platforms
have created, one notable example of this being John Green, who was
successful on YouTube before his books were published. His novel, The Fault
In Our Stars, became one of the fastest-selling Young Adult books of all time
upon its release in January 2012. Thousands of copies had been pre-ordered
due to Green’s self-promotion on YouTube, where he made numerous videos
talking about the book in the months leading up to the release (Gow, 2011;
Leimkuehler, 2012), one of which is embedded here:

Reading Chapter One of The Fault in Our Stars

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_vFvbfn9Fs

The film rights were purchased the month of the book’s release which is
similar to the case of Angie Thomas, who’s debut novel, The Hate U Give had
its film rights sold before the book was even released earlier this year.
Thomas’ novel was auctioned off to publishing houses, with a total of
thirteen publishers placing a bid. After Walker Books had won the
publishing rights, the story of this auction spread across the internet,
creating a sensation that allowed the book to reach a similar success to The
Fault In Our Stars, with thousands of copies being pre-ordered and the book
debuting on the New York Times bestseller list (Hirsch, 2017).
 Photo Credit: New York Magazine

Other aspects of new media such as online shopping, eBooks, and interactive
websites have contributed to this network public. This is part of what is
referred to by the Web 2.0, which Alice E. Marwick refers to in her 2013
book, Status Update, as “a moment in technology innovation sandwiched
between the dot-com bust and the App store. It wasn’t a set of technologies,
or a group of websites, but a collection of ideals as well. It was also an
opportunity to make some money.” This relates to eBooks, online shopping
and publishers’ websites because it revolves around user-dominated content
that can be a money making platform and is accessible to everyone. With
only shopping and eBooks in particular, the publishing industry has
expanded to allow more opportunities to sell books for both the publishers
and authors, as well as giving their audience more access to books. Self-
publishing is a more realistic option for authors than ever before due to
online stores and eBooks because of free self-promotion through social
media (Hyrkin, 2015). The popular website and smartphone app, Wattpad,
allows users to publish books and short fiction online for free (Wattpad,
2017).

This is a perfect example of user-created content becoming more dominant

across the internet, a subject which is explored in Terry Flew’s 2014 book,
New Media. Flew writes about user-created content stemming from digital
convergence: the merging of the technological, the industrial, the social, and
the textual, causing “the rise of user-created content, which generates a
growing convergence of media producers and consumers, to the point where
traditional distinctions between professional media content creators and
media audiences are becoming increasing blurred.”
 https://www.wattpad.com

Similar to how authors can self-publish, readers can also build careers and
even make money through vlogging and blogging. YouTube pays popular
users through advertising revenue and the same can be achieved through
certain blogs and social media platforms as well (Reilly, 2014). This has
provided new career opportunities for people within this network public
made up of publishers, authors, and their audience: the readers (Flew, 2014;
Scholz, 2013).
In Social Network Sites As Networked Publics by Danah Boyd (2010), the subject
of network publics is explored with Boyd exploring how these nework
publics are impacting publics, with the line between them blurring. Boyd
states that “The affordances of networked publics and the resultant
dynamics that emerge are transforming publics. While marking networked
publics as a distinct genre of publics is discursively relevant at this moment,
it is also important to acknowledge that the affordances of networked
publics will increasingly shape publics more broadly. As social network sites
and other genres of social media become increasingly widespread, the
distinctions between networked publics and publics will become
increasingly blurry. Thus, the dynamics mapped out here will not simply be
constrained to the domain of the digital world, but will be part of everyday
life.”

Boyd’s notion that network publics and publics will continue to become
more blurred is an interesting look at how social media has changed what we
as a society see as being public. With this continuous bluring of the lines, it’s
possible that the publishing industry and the network public that I have
explored throughout this case study, could become so blended that it is
unrecognisable. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing for the industry is
anyone’s guess, but for now I feel that social media platforms such as
YouTube, Instagram and Goodreads have provided affordances to this
particular network public that has allowed the publishing industry to thrive
in the digital age.

Resources

Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara. 2016. “Melville House.” Accessed 28 March, 2017.

http://www.villagevoice.com/best-of/2016/culture/best-social-media-
presence-by-an-indie-publisher-9238501

Boyd, Danah. 2010. “Social Network Sites As Networked Publics:

Affordances, Dynamics, And Implications.” Accessed 5 April, 2017.
http://www.danah.org/papers/2010/SNSasNetworkedPublics.pdf

Goodreads. 2017. “About Goodreads.” Accessed 28 March, 2017.

https://www.goodreads.com/about/us

Gow, Kaitlin. 2011. “Social Media And The Future Of The Publishing
Industry.” Accessed 2 April, 2017.
https://www.fastcompany.com/1800256/social-media-and-future
-publishing-industry
HarperCollins. 2017. “Social Media Directory.” Accessed 24 March, 2017.
https://www.harpercollins.com/social-media-directory/

Hirsch, Afua. 2017. “Angie Thomas: The Debut Novelist Who Turned Racism
And Police Violence Into A Bestseller.” Accessed 2 April, 2017.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/26/angie-thomas-the-debut-
novelist-who-turned-racism-and-police-violence-into-a-bestseller

Hyrkin, Joe. 2015. “How The Publishing Industry Has Learned To Thrive
With The Social Media Industry.” Accessed March 24, 2017.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242595

Leimkuehler, Katie. 2012. “How Social Media Is Changing The Publishing

Industry.” Accessed 2 April, 2017.
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-social-media-changing-
publishing-industry

Marwick, Alice. 2013. Yale University Press. “Status Update.” Accessed 4

April, 2017

Melville House. 2017. “Melville House.” Accessed 28 March, 2017.

https://www.mhpbooks.com
Penguin Random House. 2017. “Penguin Random House.” Accessed 24
March, 2017. http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/

Reilly, Rachel. 2014. “The Uploaders Making A Mint From YouTube.”

Accessed 2 April, 2017. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-
2578472/How-make-money-YouTube-Analytics-reveal-video-sites-
richlist.html

Scholz, Trebor. 2013. Routledge. “Digital Labour.” Accessed 4 April, 2017.

Spi-Global. 2014. “5 Huge Impacts Of Social Media On The Publishing

Industry.” Accessed March 24, 2017. http://www.spi-global.com/blog/cs-
blog/social-media-publishing-industry-convert-pdf-epub/

Wattpad. 2017. “Wattpad.” Accessed 2 April, 2017. https://www.wattpad.com/

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