Information, Medium & Society – The Publishing Studies Research Network International Award for Excellence

An annual award for newly published research or thinking that has been recognized to be outstanding by members of the Information, Medium & Society – The Publishing Studies Research Network.

Award Winner for Volume 22

Deference and Diplomacy: Navigating Authors’ Moral Rights in a Converged Literary Landscape

Authors’ moral rights throughout history have been protected in various degrees across the globe: French law honors authors’ rights to their particular individual creative expression as supreme and perpetual; German law considers an author’s moral rights and economic rights in equal measure; in Australia, moral rights, though only recently codified, are not transferrable as they can be in the UK if waived. While the overarching Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works promises to protect the personality and reputation of authors, the literary landscape is now more diverse, with cross-platform entertainment streams expanding subsidiary rights opportunities in ways not anticipated even a decade ago. This paper explores how publishers and authors are currently navigating the publishing process post contract negotiations. Do authors defer to having their work manipulated to increase exposure or sales? Are publishers and editors successful negotiators and mediators of multiple uses of creative content and the authors who are inextricably tied to the work? Ultimately, where are the lines drawn when considering moral rights and opportunities in a converged literary landscape?


My research is positioned at the axis of publishing studies and law. As a former editor with over 15 years’ experience in the trade publishing sector, I am particularly interested in editorial mediation of authors’ works and the impact of cultural control of creative expression. This paper interrogates how editors assist authors in maximising the commercial potential of their writing and where this process might impinge on authors’ moral rights. I propose that editors are powerful cultural intermediaries, post contract, in determining reader trends but also protecting authors’ livelihoods. This practice emerges from a ‘post negotiation space’ (Day 2024), which is a term I use to explain the dynamic interchange and negotiations that occur between an author and the publishing house during the production process. In this space, I reveal the true work of editors as triaging the competing interests of writers, publishers and the reading public.

—Katherine Day

Past Award Winners

Volume 21

Eliza: Lessons from Interactive Novels about Publishing in the Era of AI

Dora Kourkoulou, Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies, Volume 21, Issue 2, pp. 17-32


Volume 20

Thirty Years Reflection and Implication of the Allowability of Controversial Anti-government, Revolutionary Book Publishing by Great Britain

Susan Fredricks, Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies, Volume 20, Issue 1, pp. 1-16


Volume 19

Post-truth Reflections on Public Origins and Functions of Publishing

Jayson Harsin, Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies, Volume 19, Issue 1, pp. 7-19


Volume 18

Are You Okay?: Mental Health Narratives in Art Zines from the Zineopolis Collection

Jackie C. Batey, Information, Medium, and Society: Journal of Publishing Studies, Volume 18, Issue 1, pp. 1-12


Volume 17

The Beetle and the Bard: Aspects of 17th Century Printing Practice as Illustrated by the Works of Thomas Moffet and William Shakespeare

Alexandra Alvis, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 17, Issue 2, pp. 15-28


Volume 16

Could the Digital Option Work for a Book Market under Stress?: The Case of Greek Publishers

Anna Karakatsouli, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 16, Issue 1, pp. 1-11


Volume 15

Ben Lerner and the Novel in the Age of Digital Media

Denise Rose Hansen, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp. 11-21


Volume 14

Christine de Pizan and Emily Dickinson: Feminine Power through Textual Production

Keith Kopka, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 23-39


Volume 8

A Codicology of the Interface: Reading Practices and Digital Reading Environments

Voytek Bialkowski, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 8, Issue 2, pp.101–106


Volume 7

Peer Review and the Revolutionary Academic: A Kuhnian Critique

Adam Riggio, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp.9–16


Volume 6

Innovation and the Future of e-Books

John W. Warren, The International Journal of the Book, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp.83–94