Date of Award

Spring 6-9-2024

Document Type

Thesis (Undergraduate)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Jason Houle

Second Advisor

Janice McCabe

Abstract

How has the level and type of education received by bestselling and award-winning authors changed? How has publisher size and type changed for these same books? Does an author’s education influence the kind of publisher who produces their book? This study examines two of the institutions most involved in producing works of fiction—universities and publishers. I pull from the top-ten bestsellers as listed by Publishers Weekly as well as winners and finalists of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award between 1913 and 2023. I compare bestselling and award-winning fiction along the metrics of their authors’ educational backgrounds and the books’ publishers, plotting how they vary over time, running and analyzing changing effects models. Findings indicate that the proportions of authors who graduated college and who attended private schools have steadily risen, almost linearly, while the share of authors who studied at prestigious universities has been slightly declining. The rates of books published by large and conglomerate publishers have exponentially increased, beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Prestige in educational background does not seem to be correlated to publisher size. Moreover, there is a growing gap in educational prestige between bestsellers and award winners over time. Both categories of books have similar shares of large, corporate publishers, except in the past few decades when bestsellers have been published by such companies at a greater rate. This study thus provides insight into what schools and publishers most impact American literature, both among the public and elites.

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