The Digital World of Self-Publishing : A qualitative multiple case study examining how digitalization has influenced self-publishing authors.

Abstract: Background: The third revolution, also called the digital revolution, has challenged the traditional way of publishing and the existing business models. Digitalization has become the center of this development and with innovations such as the internet and computers, a whole new world of possibilities for authors have opened up, including self-publishing.  Purpose: This thesis aims to advance the knowledge on the influence of digitalization in the self-publishing book industry in general and for self-publishing authors in particular. This information will further the current understanding of self-publishing practices and guide future digital development. Method: This study was conducted with an inductive qualitative approach under the interpreventism paradigm, additionally, this study is conducted with a case study approach that was chosen to best capture the phenomenon. The primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with self-published authors, and a thematic analysis was applied to interpret the empirical findings and relate them to the theory presented.  Conclusion: The findings shows that digitalization has been having a large influence in the positive direction on the publishing industry in general and self-publishing authors in particular. In addition, the findings show that digitalization has enabled people to become self-publishing authors and thereby create their own lucrative businesses. The findings also highlighted the major development the digitalization has created with networking since the digitalization has enabled new digital social media channels to establish and thereby ease the networking and marketing process for businesses.