Romancing the Algorithm: Navigating Constantly, Frequently, and Silently Changing Algorithms for Digital Work

Here's the abstract:

Many romance novelists have shifted to self-publishing mediated through online technologies, such as online retailer platforms for selling novels and social media for marketing. However, engagement with such complex algorithmic systems has posed challenges, including understanding continually changing algorithms, frequently changing silently, impacting novelists' successful professionalization and monetization. We conducted surveys and interviews with romance novelists to examine how they experience, interpret, and navigate algorithms. Our findings detail interviewees' efforts to comprehend algorithms, both individually and collectively, and leverage that comprehension to navigate and manipulate algorithms. We discuss how our interviewees constructed literacy of precarious algorithms on their work platforms, suggesting implications for designing algorithmic systems supporting digital work.

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Romance novelists we interviewed explained how they pieced together their digital publishing and marketing experiences to comprehend algorithms by forming folk theories. Some participants had a basic understanding of the algorithms they encountered in their work. These interviewees worked as IT professionals before becoming full-time novelists or were still working in IT at the time of the study while writing novels on the side. They attempted to comprehend algorithms by passively observing the platforms or actively changing their online practices to analyze how algorithms react. Interviewees who lacked technical expertise sought assistance from family members or friends working in the IT industry to understand algorithms. While interviewees formed some fundamental folk theories, the precarious nature of algorithmic systems hindered them from developing a more comprehensive understanding of algorithms, adversely impacting their ability to be successful. (7)

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We noticed that many participants were married to IT professionals. We asked Helen about this observation, to which she replied, “so it’s kind of a running joke at novel industry conferences: how many of us have husbands or wives who are software developers, and all the hands go up.” She added, “It is kind of a power pair, in the sense that the marketing is tech-heavy for what we do, and so if you’ve got a partner who can help you navigate, that helps.” More work may be required to understand the prevalence of novelist-technologist partnerships. (9)

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Although romance novelists successfully formed algorithmic folk theories, there were instances when the changing nature of algorithmic systems prevented them from establishing clearer comprehension. Algorithmic systems are dynamic. They frequently change mainly driven by platform capitalism, forcing online workers to repeatedly adapt their practices to accommodate new features and affordances. (9)

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Interviewees reported that online platforms never announced or notified them about algorithmic changes even when the changes could majorly impact their book sales. This lack of communication demonstrated that online platforms, such as Amazon and Facebook, did not recognize or care about how the changes could impact workers who may make a large portion of their living through such platforms. (10)

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Many romance novelists shared their knowledge and experience of successfully navigating algorithms through conducting paid online and offline classes and writing books, articles, and blogs. (11)

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We found that romance novelists actively leveraged social media to troubleshoot the problems they face when working with platforms online. Whenever they faced an issue, interviewees usually posted about it on private social media groups, exclusive to romance novelists, to seek assistance from other, more experienced novelists. (12)

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A majority of interviewees told us that they did not use Twitter for novel marketing. Due to the embedded political ambiance on Twitter, many novelists had been targeted for writing romance which was deemed a “derogatory genre” by some users, making it unsafe for the novelists to use the platform for marketing. (13)

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To gain new readers, interviewees requested their existing readers to like and comment on the marketing content (e.g., blurbs or covers of their novels) they posted on social media. Participants told us that the marketing algorithm on social media favors and further promotes the content that has been liked and commented on by others. They also asked the readers to share the content on their social media profiles to reach potential readers; when existing readers share the content, it reaches the users they are connected with, getting attention and thereby increasing the marketing efforts of romance novelists. (14)

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We noticed that romance novelists posted non-novel-related content on social media to find new readers. The content varied from sharing information about their personal life and conducting polls to asking the audience about their favorite trope. Such posts helped novelists connect with their readers as they join the reader base on a more personal level which could help with building a relationship; to show readers that novelists are just like them, facing similar challenges and living similar lives. (15)

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While some platforms (e.g., TikTok and Clubhouse) have evolved and become popular, many other platforms (e.g., Vine) have disappeared from the market; some platforms (e.g., Myspace, LiveJournal) have vanished overnight. Nobody knows which platform will join the sprawling graveyard next. Interviewees reported that sometimes platforms disappear without any notice, and thus having a cross-platform presence would help them communicate and stay connected with their readers. (16)