Beth Driscoll is Associate Professor in Publishing, Communications and Arts Management at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on contemporary book cultures across two main domains: socio-cultural practices of reading, and the global publishing industry.

She investigates reading cultures and emotion, publishing communities and systems of taste, and computational and arts-inspired methods for researching book cultures.

Driscoll's research expertise encompasses contemporary popular and middlebrow literary culture. Her monograph, “The New Literary Middlebrow: Tastemakers and Reading in the Twenty-First Century” (Palgrave Macmillan 2014), presents research into forms of middlebrow literary culture including Oprah’s Book Club, the Man Booker Prize and literary festivals. Her research on the publishing industry includes “The Frankfurt Book Fair and Bestseller Business” (Cambridge UP 2020), co-authored with Claire Squires. Upcoming publications include a co-authored monograph, “Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction in the Twenty-First Century.”

Find out more about Beth Driscoll's experience

Beth Driscoll's highlights

FEATURED Journal article

The transnational reception of bestselling books between Canada and Australia

Beth Driscoll's selected work

New Tastemakers And Australia'S Post-Digital Literary Culture

Research Grant

The rise of the microgenre

NEWS ARTICLE

Difficult literature on Goodreads: reading Alexis Wright'sThe Swan Book

Journal article

Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction In The 21st Century

Research Grant

The arrival of Amazon and the future of Australian publishing

NEWS ARTICLE

The Frankfurt Book Fair and Bestseller Business

Book

Projects

Displaying the 2 most recent projects by Beth Driscoll.

New Tastemakers And Australia'S Post-Digital Literary Culture

This project aims to investigate the effect of digital technologies on taste-making in Australian literary culture. The project will examine..

2017 - 2020

Active

Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction In The 21st Century

This project intends to conduct a systematic examination of 21st-century Australian popular fiction, the most significant growth area in Aus..

2016 - 2019

Completed

2

Projects

Project Types

2

Research Grant

Scholarly Works

Displaying the 44 most recent scholarly works by Beth Driscoll.

The transnational reception of bestselling books between Canada and Australia

Beth Driscoll, DeNel Rehberg Sedo

Journal article | 2020 | Global Media and Communication

This study investigates the circulation and reception of six bestsellers between Canada and Australia (2005–2014). We ask which co..

Difficult literature on Goodreads: reading Alexis Wright'sThe Swan Book

Emmett Stinson, Beth Driscoll

Journal article | 2020 | Textual Practice

The Frankfurt Book Fair and Bestseller Business

Elizabeth Driscoll, Claire Squires

Book | 2020

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the leading global industry venue for rights sales, facilitating business-to-buzzness deals and interna..

Faraway, So Close: Seeing the Intimacy in Goodreads Reviews

Beth Driscoll, DeNel Rehberg Sedo

Journal article | 2019 | Qualitative Inquiry

Playful Twitter Accounts and the Socialisation of Literary Institutions

Millicent Weber, E Driscoll

Journal article | 2019 | First Monday

Humour serves a variety of purposes on social media, from aesthetic content creation and social interaction through to corporate a..

Book Blogs as Tastemakers

Elizabeth Driscoll

Journal article | 2019 | Participations

What is Australian Popular Fiction?

K Wilkins, B Driscoll, L Fletcher

Journal article | 2018 | Australian Literary Studies

Genre Worlds and Popular Fiction: The Case of Twenty-First-Century Australian Romance

Lisa Fletcher, Beth Driscoll, Kim Wilkins

Journal article | 2018 | The Journal of Popular Culture

The publishing ecosystems of contemporary australian genre fiction

B Driscoll, L Fletcher, K Wilkins, D Carter

Journal article | 2018 | Creative Industries Journal

The Sleaze-O-Meter: Sexual Harassment in the Publishing Industry

B Driscoll, C Squires

Journal article | 2018 | Interscript

The Current Publishing Environment

E Driscoll

Reference Work | 2018

Oh Look a Ferry, or The Smell of Paper Books

E Driscoll, C Squires

Journal article | 2018 | TXT

One of the ways in which people express bookishness is through a declaration of love for ‘the smell of books’, a phrase that evoke..

Serious Fun: Gaming the Book Festival

B Driscoll, C Squires

Journal article | 2018 | Varia

The book festival provides an intriguing instance of the overlapping cultural, social and economic dimensions of contemporary lite..

The Frankfurt Kabuff

E Driscoll, Claire Squires

Original Creative Work - Textual Work | 2018

Local places and cultural distinction: The booktown model

B DRISCOLL

Journal article | 2018 | European Journal of Cultural Studies

The international development of booktowns during the late 20th and early 21st centuries has facilitated the accumulation of cultu..

Middlebrow and nobrow: Tracing patterns across culture

B Driscoll

Book Chapter | 2017

On Evil Genius, By Catherine Jinks

E Driscoll

Journal article | 2017 | Griffith Review

Readers of Popular Fiction and Emotion Online

Beth Driscoll

Book Chapter | 2016

Women, Akubras and ereaders: Romance fiction and Australian publishing

B DRISCOLL, L Fletcher, K Wilkins

Book Chapter | 2016

The Middlebrow family resemblance: Features of the historical and contemporary middlebrow

B DRISCOLL

Journal article | 2016 | Post45

Publishing in Australia National interests in a transnational age

Beth Driscoll, Aaron Mannion

Journal article | 2016 | LOGOS-JOURNAL OF THE WORLD PUBLISHING COMMUNITY

Review: Love Between the Covers, produced, written, and directed by Laurie Kahn

B DRISCOLL

Beth Driscoll

Book Chapter | 2014

Contemporary Australian Literary Culture

Beth Driscoll

Book Chapter

Contemporary Australian literary culture is formed through networks of institutions that support writing and reading. This infrast..

44

Scholarly Works

Keyword Analysis

Literary Studies

Communication

Cultural Studies

Communication and Media Studies

Expanding Knowledge

Arts and Leisure

Climate and Climate Change

Commercial Services

Other Studies in Creative Arts and Writing

Philosophy

News

Displaying the 3 most recent news articles by Beth Driscoll.

The rise of the microgenre

Beth Driscoll

May 7, 2019

The arrival of Amazon and the future of Australian publishing

Beth Driscoll

August 28, 2017

Reading as a creative act: Eleanor Catton's bold new grant

Beth Driscoll

September 10, 2014

3

News Articles

Credentials

Positions

Associate Professor In Publishing & Communications

Culture And Communication

Asal

Association for the Study of Australian Literature

Sharp

Society for the History of Authorship, Readership and Publishing

Education

Doctor of Philosophy

University of Melbourne

Bachelor of Laws

Australian National University

Bachelor of Arts (Hons)

Australian National University

Links

ORCID

0000-0002-2725-5682

Dr

Beth Driscoll

Associate Professor In Publishing & Communications

Culture And Communication

Dr

Beth Driscoll

Contact Beth

Division

Arts

Primary Interest

Literary fiction and genre fiction

Dr

Beth Driscoll

Enquiries

Contact

Find out more about Beth Driscoll's experience

Beth Driscoll's highlights

FEATURED Journal article

The transnational reception of bestselling books between Canada and Australia

Beth Driscoll's selected work

Research Grant

NEWS ARTICLE

Journal article

Research Grant

NEWS ARTICLE

Book

Beth Driscoll's selected work

Research Grant

NEWS ARTICLE

Journal article

Research Grant

NEWS ARTICLE

Book

Projects

New Tastemakers And Australia'S Post-Digital Literary Culture

Genre Worlds: Australian Popular Fiction In The 21st Century

2

Projects

Project Types

Scholarly Works

The transnational reception of bestselling books between Canada and Australia

Difficult literature on Goodreads: reading Alexis Wright'sThe Swan Book

The Frankfurt Book Fair and Bestseller Business

Faraway, So Close: Seeing the Intimacy in Goodreads Reviews

Playful Twitter Accounts and the Socialisation of Literary Institutions

Book Blogs as Tastemakers

What is Australian Popular Fiction?

Genre Worlds and Popular Fiction: The Case of Twenty-First-Century Australian Romance

The publishing ecosystems of contemporary australian genre fiction

The Sleaze-O-Meter: Sexual Harassment in the Publishing Industry

The Current Publishing Environment

Oh Look a Ferry, or The Smell of Paper Books

Serious Fun: Gaming the Book Festival

The Frankfurt Kabuff

Local places and cultural distinction: The booktown model

Middlebrow and nobrow: Tracing patterns across culture

On Evil Genius, By Catherine Jinks

Readers of Popular Fiction and Emotion Online

Women, Akubras and ereaders: Romance fiction and Australian publishing

The Middlebrow family resemblance: Features of the historical and contemporary middlebrow

Publishing in Australia National interests in a transnational age

Review: Love Between the Covers, produced, written, and directed by Laurie Kahn

Sentiment analysis and the literary festival audience

Could not put it down: Review essay of 'The other side of the world', 'The landing' and 'Relativity'

Book Clubs, Oprah, Women and the Middlebrow

Recognizing the Literary Middlebrow

Book Clubs, Oprah, Women and the Middlebrow

The Middlebrow Pleasures of Literary Festivals

Harry Potter and the Middlebrow Pedagogies of Teachers and Reviewers

Harry Potter and the Middlebrow Pedagogies of Teachers and Reviewers

Introduction

The New Literary Middlebrow Tastemakers and Reading in the Twenty- First Century Introduction

The Man Booker Prize: Money, Glory and Media Spectacle

The new literary middlebrow: Tastemakers and reading in the twenty-first century

Genre, author, text, reader: Teaching Nora Roberts’s Spellbound

Recognizing the Literary Middlebrow

The Middlebrow Pleasures of Literary Festivals

Using Harry Potter to teach literacy: different approaches

Making the list: The value of prizes for women writers in the construction of educational reading lists

Twitter, literary prizes and the circulation of capital