This dissertation thesis deals with electronic self-publishing of literary fiction, i.e. its publishing by the authors themselves, without involving publishers. Support from big technology companies led to unprecedented growth of this type of publishing in the 2010s and electronic self-publishing has in some countries become one of the standard ways of publishing. In spite of its expansion, electronic self-publishing is affected by many problems. The most prominent one is comparatively lower quality of many independently published e- books, mainly caused by limited knowledge of the publishing process from the side of the authors, many of which are not proper acquainted with publishing practices. The activities that should an independent author perform during the publishing process are the same as those performed by a publisher. Due to complicated character of some of these activities, many independent authors outsource them to other parties, or do not perform them at all. In the Czech Republic, electronic self-publishing is relatively undeveloped. It is true that there has probably been hundreds or thousands e-books published independently and that the number of downloads of these books is in hundreds of thousands copies. On the other hand, majority of this literature is offered for free or for...

This thesis examines the popular and non-canonical Victorian novelist Ouida (Maria Louise de la Ramée) her relationship with her publishers and the reception of her works. In particular, through the study of published and unpublished correspondence, as well as nineteenth century periodicals, certain views concerning the writer and her oeuvre will be revised and amended, especially in the context of social and moral standards, anticipated from the female fictional character and the artist, the writer. The first chapter will concentrate on Ouida’s correspondence and will argue that the author’s reputation and sales were not only damaged by her ostensibly immoral plots but also as a result of her publishers’s differing priorities. In order to delineate the content of these ‘indecent’ novels and later the impact they had on reviewers, critics and readers, as well as Ouida’s writing, four of her three-decker novels have been selected for critical discussion. Strathmore (1865) is discussed in relation to sensation fiction and marriage law and Folle-Farine (1871) as an examination of inequality between classes and genders. Francis Cowley Burnand’s parody Strapmore (1878) is then read as a critical account of and response to Ouida’s ideologies. The thesis will then examine the controversy surrounding Moths (1880), and In Maremma (1882) will be read as a response to this controversy through its relation to mythology and the representation of the artist. The analysis of these novels and Ouida’s correspondence with her agent and publishers will trace the path that led to the gradual decline in her reputation and the posterior obscurity of her works.

This is a study of the Parisian Latin book industry in the first four decades of the sixteenth century. It challenges the assumption that the Reformation brought about a profound change in the European print world. Luther's engagement with a mass audience is believed to have led to an increase in the number of vernacular publications produced by printers throughout Europe. This was not the case in Paris. Parisian booksellers traded on their established expertise with certain genres, such as theological texts, educational books, and works by classical authors, to maximise their readership both in Paris and farther afield. Working in close proximity inspired the Parisian bookmen to unity and collaboration rather than enmity and direct competition. When printers, booksellers and publishers collaborated they were able to undertake bigger and riskier projects. Such projects might have involved testing new markets or technologies (such as Greek or music printing), or simply producing a book which required a high capital investment. The familial unity extended to the widows of printers, some of whom were able to capitalise on this and build substantial businesses of their own. This high level of collaboration and the continued focus on the established Latin market give the Parisian book world its very specific character. It also helped Paris build an international reputation for high-quality books.

This presentation was given during Open Access Week in October 2009. Open Access Week is a world-wide event where academic institutions explore Open Access – the ideal of free, full-text, immediate, online access to peer-reviewed scholarship and research results so new ideas and information can be obtained rapidly and freely by everyone.

This presentation was given at the 2012 Open Access Week program, “The Open Data Revolution: Challenges and Innovations” on October 23, 2012. Open Access Week is a world-wide event where academic institutions explore Open Access – the ideal of free, full-text, immediate, online access to peer-reviewed scholarship and research results so new ideas and information can be obtained rapidly and freely by everyone. Many funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, and journal publishers, such as Nature, require researchers to share data produced during the course of their research. When researchers share their data, other researchers can reuse it to answer new questions, opening up new interpretations and discoveries. Sharing data may also lead to sharing research processes, workflows and tools and may make research articles and papers more useful and citable by others.

This presentation was given at the 2012 Open Access Week program, “The Open Data Revolution: Challenges and Innovations” on October 23, 2012. Open Access Week is a world-wide event where academic institutions explore Open Access – the ideal of free, full-text, immediate, online access to peer-reviewed scholarship and research results so new ideas and information can be obtained rapidly and freely by everyone. Many funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, and journal publishers, such as Nature, require researchers to share data produced during the course of their research. When researchers share their data, other researchers can reuse it to answer new questions, opening up new interpretations and discoveries. Sharing data may also lead to sharing research processes, workflows and tools and may make research articles and papers more useful and citable by others.

This Ph.D. thesis consists of a novel, EXEUNT, and research associated with it, both being specifically concerned with literary/cultural representations of love and relationships over the age of sixty-five. In consideration of the changing dynamics of ageing, declared internationally by gerontologists during the 1990s, the research investigates the perceptions of British writers, publishers and readers regarding their acceptance of late-life sexuality in British contemporary novels. It identifies key stakeholders in specific interest groups, and operates within an interpretive perspective as a suitable analytical framework for a pragmatic mixed methods investigation. Although the initial focus of the research was on publishers and writers, the inclusion of readers resulted in wider consequences that call for more transparency and a fuller understanding of concepts linked to ageism. Having explored the dynamic between author, publisher and reader, the study concludes there is a superficial disharmony between them, whereas in fact they are mutually complementary. This dichotomy appears to be due to misunderstanding, and lack of trust. In reality, a large percentage of readers, in line with recent research on film audiences, feel it acceptable for people over the age of sixty to have such sexual needs and desires. This acceptability and the new dynamics of ageing inform the novel which places the research in a wider context and constitutes the second part of the Ph.D. The multi-layered novel EXEUNT, in part ontogenetic, works against ageism within current prejudice by depicting the lovers in their fifties, sixties and seventies, and by doing so reveals the wide gap between subjective reality and the perceived public image. Their relationship is accepted by the British woman s friends, family and contemporaries, so that the epistemology of age is acquired only through negative opinions or actions, with the narrative embodying much of current research on the subject. Contrasting attitudes to ageing are found within the ethnographic detail of Romania during the period of communism, revolution and consequential freedom: 1982-2005. The frameworks of the fiction are encapsulated in the concept of Theatre as an analogy for life and death with a unique structure that portrays an ontological viewpoint. This underpins a reality where the attention of the reader/audience is disrupted by an intermittent reminder of the analogy. The term fictodrama has been used to describe this combination of fiction and theatrical effects.

China's media have undergone significant commercialisation since the introduction of the economic reforms initiated three decades ago. But how this process is unfolding is still not well discussed. Book publishing, the oldest media sector but the one least studied, has been in the forefront of media commercialisation and provides a useful vantage point for the investigation of this transformation. This thesis will examine the role of the party-state and the market during the commercialisation of state publishing, paying particular attention to the core processes of conglomeration and corporatisation and, since the party-state has also been decentralised, to the role of regional government. Drawing on original documentary research and primary data generated in an internship in a provincial publishing group, this thesis advances three main arguments. Firstly, that the process of commercialisation in publishing cannot be fully understood outside of the transformation of the wider economic and political context, especially the shift in the general organisation of industry and the evolution of party ideology. Secondly, that this process has been marked by persistent tensions and contradictions. And thirdly, that despite the ongoing commercialisation the publishing industry remains controlled predominantly by the party-state and is far from being a market-driven business. Decentralisation may have enabled local governments to gain strong control over the economics of local publishers, but the central party-state remains dominant on political issues.

The author conducted a study comparing of two lists of full-text content available in Academic Search Full-Text Elite. EBSCO provided the lists to the University College of the Fraser Valley. The study was conducted to compare the accuracy of the claims of full-text content, because the staff and library users at University College of the Fraser Valley depend on this database as part of the librariesâ journal collection. Interlibrary loan staff routinely used a printed list of Academic Search Full Text Elite to check whether the journal was available at UCFV in electronic form; therefore, an accurate supplemental list or lists of the libraries electronic journals was essential for cost conscious interlibrary loan staff. The study found inaccuracies in the coverage of 57 percent of the journals sampled.

This research is a content analysis of six recently published basal reader series, each of which begins with a readiness/priming sequence that starts with letters, words, connected strings of words, and a few pages of activities which might be considered general readiness. While this concept of readiness for reading reflects a word recognition view of reading, marketing promotions include eclectic statements regarding philosophy, materials, and methods which reflect an early childhood view of child development and meaning construction. Publishers imply that reading is a process of constructing meaning, but they supply materials for both students and teachers which neither encourage nor allow for meaningfulness. While descriptions of the series studied promise special and unique approaches to readiness, they are very similar to one another in every aspect of readiness. Each provides an overwhelming proportion of activities and workbook pages with the major instructional focus on letters and words. There are minor differences in connected text among the various series, but those differences are primarily in regard to the specific type of vowel control used. Considerations about the syntactic and semantic language systems follow the same formulae throughout the industry. Publishers of basal readers hire professional educators to quote research and lend credibility to their "scientifically" designed programs, but the published materials often contradict statements made by these professionals. While there is some indication in the manuals and promotional materials that suggest knowledge on the part of editors and authors concerning research in the areas of emergent literacy and psycholinguistic theory, there is little within the materials and methods that reflects this knowledge.