From publishers to self-publishing: Disruptive effects in the book industry

Hviid, Morten, Izquierdo-Sanchez, Sofia and Jacques, Sabine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7708-4407 (2019) From publishers to self-publishing: Disruptive effects in the book industry. International Journal of the Economics of Business, 26 (3). pp. 355-381. ISSN 1357-1516

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Abstract

This paper explores the structure of the book publishing industry post digitalisation, analysing the choices of the publishers and authors. The introduction of successful e-book readers has belatedly given digitalisation the characteristics of a disruptive technology by making self-publishing a serious option for authors. This has been supported by the entry of new types of intermediaries and the strengthening of others. These changes have reduced the general requirements for an author to get a book self-published. As a result, a larger share of the surplus from the book industry is likely to go to authors, explaining the significant increase in the supply of books. The potential oversupply of books has created a new problem by increasing competition and making consumer searches more difficult. We argue that digitalisation has shifted the potential for market failure from an inadequate supply of books to asymmetric information about quality. It remains to be seen whether the market will provide appropriate intermediaries to solve the asymmetric information problem.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	book industry,retailers,self-publishing,traditional publishing,business, management and accounting (miscellaneous),economics and econometrics ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1401
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Competition, Markets and Regulation Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Media, Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Business and Local Government Data Research Centre (former - to 2023)
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Dec 2018 16:30
Last Modified:	20 Apr 2023 23:54
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69317
DOI:	10.1080/13571516.2019.1611198

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