The system of book creation: intellectual property and the self-publishing sector of the creative industries

ABSTRACT

This article explores publishing as a creative system and examines the changes brought by the emergence of digital technologies on this sector of the creative industries, specifically the proliferation of self-publishing. The paper examines the deep background of changes in thinking on creativity as well as the evolution of self-publishing, before focusing in on the specific legal challenges that self-publishing authors face. These challenges include questions surrounding collaboration and community-sourced services and the identification of co-authors who would also have legal rights invested in the final product as well as issues surrounding fan-fiction, which is especially popular among self-publishing authors. Linked to these are the challenges surrounding the protection of works published online, which is especially difficult for self-published authors who often work without the legal knowledge, experience and resources that traditional publishers have previously provided to enforce copyright. These and other issues raise the question as to the extent the current legal structure of copyright corresponds to the new realities facing the publishing sector and whether this underpinning legal framework satisfactorily serves this creative system in action.

KEYWORDS:

• Creative systems
• publishing sector
• e-books
• fan-fiction
• self-publishing
• intellectual property
• copyright
• legal issues

Acknowledgments

Part of this research was made possible through an Australian Research Council grant entitled Creativity and Cultural Production in the Hunter: An Applied Ethnographic Study of New Entrepreneurial Systems in the Creative Industries.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Smashwords Terms of Service are available at https://www.smashwords.com/about/tos.

2. Amazon KPD Terms and Conditions are available at www.kdp-eu.amazon.com.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

R. Matulionyte

Rita Matulionyte is a lecturer at the Newcastle Law School where she teaches intellectual property, Internet law and foundations of law. She is actively involved in research on intellectual property, creative industries and cultural heritage. She has research experience in institutions in Germany, Iran, Japan, Lithuania and Australia and has over 20 research publications. She has prepared reports for a number of organizations, including the European Patent Office and the Government of South Korea, and has been invited to present her research in a number of international conferences.

E. Paton

Elizabeth Paton teaches and researches in media, communication and creative industries at the University of Newcastle. She is co-editor of The Creative System in Action: Understanding Cultural Production and Practice, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016. Elizabeth is also a senior research associate on two projects with a science communication focus at Monash University, investigating the anti-aging treatment market in Australia and the unintended consequences of open access publishing for both the public and scientists.

P. McIntyre

Phillip McIntyre worked creatively for a number of years in the music industry as a songwriter, performer, producer, engineer, music journalist and video maker before moving into academia. He researches in the discipline of communication and media at the University of Newcastle where he teaches sound production and media theory. He is the author of Creativity and Cultural Production: Issues for Media Practice (2012) and is chief investigator on an Australian Research Council Grant entitled ‘Creativity and Cultural Production: An Applied Ethnographic Study of New Entrepreneurial Systems in the Creative Industries Hunter Valley NSW’.

D. Gleadhill

David Gleadhill is an undergraduate law student and bachelor of business graduate at the University of Newcastle. His academic interests include the global movement of intellectual property law regimes relative to current approaches to the production, protection and consumption of intangible things. He has hopes of gaining experience and employment in the area of copyright law within the publishing industry once he has completed his undergraduate studies.