This is a research report "produced as a result of the authors' placement at the British Library during their PhD study". Here's the abstract:
This project on romance self-publishing and legal deposit was conducted September 2023 – February 2024 in order to investigate the practices of self-published authors in the UK and their relationship to legal deposit. In particular, the research aimed to support the British Library and other deposit libraries in the identification and processing of self-published popular fiction, assess self-published authors’ opinions of libraries and deposit regulation, and point to communications strategies that may improve compliance with deposit among this population. Through interviews with twelve authors, the research found that despite author’s activity in researching publication requirements and processes through multiple means, awareness of legal deposit was inconsistent, and in most cases, insufficient. Authors were discouraged from selfinforming on and participating in legal deposit due to limited time and financial resources. However, authors held a high opinion of libraries and deposit libraries, and positive views of legal deposit as a general practice. The research results suggest that positive, values-based messaging and clear, simple guidance on UK legal deposit directly addressed at self-published authors will greatly encourage deposit in this population. Finally, the financial burden of print deposit remains a significant barrier for self-publishers utilizing print-on-demand services. Given the prevalence of pre-formatted EPUB files among the sample, the researcher advises that digital deposit be made more broadly available for this group in order to ensure the diversity of self-published works entering the collection.
This is a research report "produced as a result of the authors' placement at the British Library during their PhD study". Here's the abstract: