Profiling the independent author. Who are self-published authors, what factors influence their likelihood of commercial success, and has self-publishing played a role in disrupting the publishing industry?

Greenland, Holly (2025) Profiling the independent author. Who are self-published authors, what factors influence their likelihood of commercial success, and has self-publishing played a role in disrupting the publishing industry? (PhD thesis), Kingston University, .

Abstract

Since its re-emergence in the late twentieth century, self-publishing has become an increasingly professionalised route to producing and sharing information and stories; one which is hypothetically open to all. However, stigma persists regarding its validity within the publishing community and the perception of the self-published, or ‘independent’, author as taking the ‘last resort’ continues. Against this backdrop, limited academic research has been undertaken to analyse the reality of the selfpublishing landscape today; the composition and motivations of those utilising self-publishing methods to publish their work and the potential impact of the model on the wider industry. This study identifies measurable evidence of the success of self-published authors today; defines the psychographic profiles of those self-publishing to segment and name the resulting clusters; identifies a range of factors that may impact the likelihood of commercial success when self-publishing and considers to what extent self-publishing has disrupted the established model, including representation in authorship. Research methodology included a digital author survey with 819 valid responses, including measuring for the first time the Big Five personality traits for authors publishing across three models (self-publishing, traditional publishing, hybrid publishing), and a six-month sample analysis of Amazon Kindle Ebook Bestseller sales figures.

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