The Role of Instagram in the Performativity of Post-digital Authorship in the Comic, Zine, and Art Publishing Community

Abstract

Insights have been developed into social media influencers and marketing strategies which aid book discovery and sales. However, less is known about the distinctions in the use of social media platforms in the comic, zine, and art publishing sectors. Focusing on the author’s use of Instagram in her artist-publisher-researcher practice, this article analyses the role of the platform and conceptualizes its use in the performativity of post-digital authorship. The article introduces the concept of post-digital authorship, in which a process-based performance of content aims to build identity, participation, and recognition connected to live and virtual events and digital and print formats of micropublishing. The contribution of this paper is the relative un-performance of the author on Instagram, amidst the micropublishing strategies in the community of comic, zine, and art publishing, in comparison with authors in other sectors of the publishing industry.