ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the relationships between the publishing industry, authors, and readers exist in a power dynamic that exists between the traditional publishing model and the new ones brought about by the citizen author. Within these communities, the citizen author, the reader, and the publisher all have a role in creating new definitions of the book according to their own individual positions in relation to the industry and the power held in these positions. This chapter uses Foucault’s archaeology and genealogy to analyse the role of gatekeepers as those who ascribe value to a work, which is always an exercise of power. It goes on to argue that the hierarchy present in gatekeeping mechanisms is also imbedded in the publishing houses themselves, where the tension between cultural and commercial value is a key aspect in deciding what becomes a book. This, in turn, is echoed in the new publishing models that exist beyond the industry. Platforms themselves have become new players in saying what a book is and can be, what the hierarchy’s relationship to gender is, and how the mediation of these platforms can lead to gendered censorship. It goes on to show how McLuhan’s rear-view mirror is instrumental in understanding why the publishing industry is able to pull some citizen authors back into the traditional model.
