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Distant Voices in the Dark: Understanding the Incongruent Information Needs of Fiction Authors and Readers

Online tools enable authors and readers to share information, questions and feedback about a written work without the mediation of a publisher or agent. Little is known about how the two groups interact online around works of fiction, using either specialist social reading platforms e.g. GoodReads or Wattpad, or popular social media tools like Twitter. A better understanding of the interplay between them and the role technology plays as mediator can help inform the development of next-generation tools to suit their needs. We describe findings from interviews conducted with genre fiction authors and readers about how and why they interact and share information online. Interviews revealed that the social dynamics between the groups are complex, and that intercommunication can be both limited and somewhat unwanted. This shifted our focus from identifying how they interact to understanding why they do not. We found that communication patterns established by the traditional publishing industry create barriers between the groups, made visible, and exacerbated, by their retrofit to online social platforms where readers and authors are treated as equal. We discuss our key findings and highlight opportunities to better support the incongruent information needs of the groups.