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Self-Publishing Fiction as Creative Microenterprise: A Conceptual Integrative Review of Managing Independent Writing Businesses
Author(s): Kathryn E. Kelly
Abstract: Self-publishing has transformed fiction writing into a form of creative microenterprise in which authors assume responsibility for creative production, market positioning, legitimacy, and long-term sustainability. Scholarly treatments of self-publishing, however, remain fragmented across cultural, platform, labor, and entrepreneurial perspectives. This article presents a conceptual integrative review synthesizing research from creative industries, cultural economics, platformized cultural production, creative labor, trust and reputation, pricing under uncertainty, and boundary management. It advances the argument that self-publishing fiction is best understood as a managed professional practice shaped by structural uncertainty rather than individual talent or effort alone. From this synthesis, six core principles are articulated addressing strategic genre positioning, legitimacy signaling, creative workflow governance, financial architecture under probabilistic returns, ethical and reputational risk, and sustainability through boundary and identity management. Together, these principles clarify why success is uneven, attrition is common, and long-term viability requires governance rather than improvisation.
Keywords: Self-publishing fiction; Creative microenterprise; Independent authorship; Platformized; Cultural production; Creative labor sustainability
Article: e011002
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