Collective biography and bibliometrics are large-scale empirical historical approaches that I used to write my PhD thesis on New Zealand writers and expatriatism. In the time since, I have discovered the greater possibilities afforded by the addition of database technologies and structured datasets. In this paper I will discuss the benefits of scaling up from analogue to digital methods when it comes to interrogating long-held assumptions such as the importance of expatriatism for New Zealand writing. For subjects like international literary networks and the movements of writers it is important to be able to grasp the system as a whole, which cannot be achieved by ‘stitching together separate bits of knowledge about individual cases’ (in the words of Franco Moretti). Publishing history and the book trade have largely been written about as individual, national cases, and thus linked digital technologies are important for creating ongoing interrogative resources that are useful beyond a single project.