Writing Manuals for the Masses The Rise of the Literary Advice Industry from Quill to Keyboard

• Other Authors: Masschelein, Anneleen (Editor), de Geest, Dirk (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2021
• Series: New Directions in Book History
• Subjects: Literature: history & criticism; Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900; Creative writing & creative writing guides; Literary studies: general; Cultural studies; History of the Book; Nineteenth-Century Literature; Creative Writing; Literature and Technology/Media; Culture and Technology; Literature and Technology; literary culture; publishing culture; literary advice manuals; creative writing advice; self-help books; popular literature; writing podcasts; reading communities; commercial writing culture; popular amateur writing culture; Open Access
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

This open access collection of essays examines the literary advice industry since its emergence in Anglo-American literary culture in the mid-nineteenth century within the context of the professionalization of the literary field and the continued debate on creative writing as art and craft. Often dismissed as commercial and stereotypical by authors and specialists alike, literary advice has nonetheless remained a flourishing business, embodying the unquestioned values of a literary system, but also functioning as a sign of a literary system in transition. Exploring the rise of new online amateur writing cultures in the twenty-first century, this collection of essays considers how literary advice proliferates globally, leading to new forms and genres.