This study examines how digital literature in Indonesia generates cultural value within the digital creative economy by integrating cultural capital, reader agency, and platform aesthetics. A conceptual model is advanced with operational definitions of negotiated capital, a mapped capital conversion and monetisation landscape, and actionable policy levers for equitable discovery and transparent intellectual property and monetisation. The construct of algorithmic habitus is also proposed as the durable yet adaptive dispositions through which works are calibrated to platform aesthetics and platform grammars without forfeiting craft. A multi-stage design was applied, combining observational analysis of creative practice across Wattpad, Instagram, TikTok, Medium, and YouTube; semi-structured interviews with ten creators (R1 to R10); an online survey of 100 readers aged 15-29; and an expert–practitioner FGD. Thematic synthesis produced a cross-platform matrix and propositions on opening fit, unit calibration, prosodic layout, affective timing, and navigability. Creator portfolios align with platform grammars, including serialisation and cliffhangers on Wattpad, three-second hooks and affective pivots on TikTok, caption depth and visual lineation on Instagram, and framed openings with chapter markers on YouTube and Medium. In conclusion, platforms operate as co-authors of both form and value. The framework extends Bourdieu’s field and capital to platform infrastructures, clarifies how symbolic recognition is converted into economic opportunity, and specifies policy levers for fairer discovery and transparent monetisation. While grounded in Indonesia, the propositions might be generalisable to other platform ecologies. It also introduces a Creator–Platform–Reader (C‑P‑R) system model to map how attention and legitimacy circulate as platform signals and how these signals condition monetisation pathways. The study closes with policy recommendations for fairer discovery, revenue transparency, and rights protection in Indonesia’s creative economy.

Keywords: capital conversion; creative economy; digital literature; platform aesthetics; reader agency

DOI: http://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2026-3202-03

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