The concept of the author has changed over time. In antiquity, the author was considered an authority, a role model and a genius; in (post-)structuralism, when the text took centre stage, the death of the author was proclaimed; in today's age of the hyperproduction of literature, the author has been revived, and his/her role radically reshaped: the author, by taking part in the promotion, enables the literary work to survive. The author who does not want to market himself/herself will consequently find it difficult to stay on the literary market; if he/she wants his/her work not to be overlooked, he/she must be visible and consciously assert himself/herself. In my master’s thesis, this process of assertion has been explored. In more detail, I am interested in which entities enable the author to assert himself/herself and to what extent can he/she as an individual challenge the logic of the market. Since the media and publishing houses play a decisive role in this process, I interviewed five Slovenian media editorial offices (to find out how they choose the authors they cover, how they ensure balance, how they shift authors, etc.) and six publishing houses (to find out how they approach promotion, which authors are interesting to them, how they cooperate with the media, etc.). Both mention literary prizes as an important factor in the process of promotion, especially the kresnik prize awarded by the Delo newspaper – the role of the latter is discussed in the last chapter. In the conclusion, good practices that contribute to the promotion of non-established authors in Slovenia are highlighted and suggestions for improvements that could be made in the media and publishing are listed.
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