Publishing and distribution of electronic books written by Czech self-publishing authors: Results of qualitative research

Purpose – The article presents methodology and results of a survey focused on Czech fiction writers who publish their e-books without traditional publishers. Number of Czech literary fiction texts that has been published by their authors in electronic form is growing and in 2018 it probably reaches several thousand titles. The survey deals with causes that result in electronic self-publishing, analyses perception of this phenomenon by author themselves and gives insights into options and techniques employed in self-publishing and into marketing and distribution of self-published e-books.

Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative research, semi-structured interview.

Results – Results suggest that the primary (although not the only) factor that leads to self-publishing is rejection by a publisher. E-book form is preferred over paper form primarily due to ease of the publishing process and lower costs. Surveyed authors state that, in the future, their aim is to publish paper books with publishers and that electronic self-publishing is rather (even if not in all cases) a solution of their present problems than a deliberately chosen approach. In the process of self-publishing, surveyed authors perform the necessary activities by themselves, or, in some cases, employ family members, friends and acquaintances. There are differences regarding promotion and dissemination of published e-books: some of the authors consider these activities important, others not. The authors that actually promote their e-books primarily use freely available online tools. Some of the surveyed authors intentionally disseminate their e-books which are then available on more websites, online bookstores etc., while other authors do not consider this activity important.

Originality/value – This survey is the first of its kind conducted in Czech Republic. It provides information about writer's motivations for electronic self-publishing and about writer's perceptions of this phenomenon.