Background/context. Students studying creative writing often have ambitions to be a published author. However, they will be entering an insecure and highly competitive industry (Larson, 2020; Crimmins et al., 2021). Furthermore, both traditional and independent publishing requires marketing labour and activities, not just creative writing skills (Matulionyte et al., 2017). However, few university creative writing degrees teach any marketing skills, and the marketing knowledge of creative writing students remains unexplored.
The initiative/practice. To address this research gap, and to provide information relevant to the curriculum design of creative writing majors and degrees, nine semi-structured interviews with creative writing students at a Queensland university were conducted.
Methods of evaluative data collection and analysis. A qualitative methodology was utilised because it is highly appropriate for exploratory research (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2008). Semi-structured interviews allowed for follow-up questions, probing, clarification, and gaining rich insights (van de Weerd et al., 2016). The interviews commenced with grand tour questions (Leech, 2002) and were recorded with the permission of the students and transcribed. This research utilised thematic analysis to analyse the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006) using a traditional human interpretative approach in combination with the software program, NVivo 12 plus, to allow for greater accuracy of meaning expressed by the participants (Arvidsson & Caliandro, 2016; Kozinets et al., 2018).
Evidence of outcomes and effectiveness. Despite audiences and value being essential parts of marketing (American Marketing Association, 2017), students described marketing as promotion or selling their work reflecting a less sophisticated understanding. All confirmed they were uncertain what marketing was, wanted to publish books after their studies and, save one, wanted more marketing knowledge in the curriculum. Furthermore, all the students used social media but not to highlight their writing. Authors, even those who have publishers, need to undertake marketing activities such as using communication channels to build an audience and building a brand and need to understand the purpose of marketing to do so effectively (Matulionyte et al., 2017). This research is the first to explore the marketing knowledge of creative writing university students. Overall, it appeared that the students were likely to graduate and with little marketing knowledge. Including guest lectures from marketing academics and professionals in the publishing industry, and team teaching could address these marketing knowledge gaps for students.