Before I explain the question in the title, let me just say, Amazon and other eBook outlets have opened up a world for writers that didn’t used to exist. There was a time when the only way an aspiring author’s work would ever see the light of day was if they managed to somehow survive their journey through the dark forest of literary agents and publishing houses. Even then, when they had finally achieved ‘success,’ it was with their intellectual property irrevocably in the hands of someone else. And, if they weren’t deemed the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, the next Hunger Games or Twilight, their labor of love might still languish in the metaphorical basement storage room. So yeah, the advent of self-publishing has opened up a whole new world to aspiring authors of all topics and genres.
Now that we have the obligatory ‘thank you’ out of the way, let’s talk about some of the flaws of the book publishing industry as it exists today. Chief among modern book-world problems is ownership. I personally have thousands of dollars worth of eBooks acquired over the years via some of the biggest retailers. Trouble is, I don’t actually own those books. I have nothing more than a license (subject to a lot of fine print) to view them on a propriety device or app (which I also had to acquire from the very same company). There is nothing stopping that company from revoking my access because of their mistakes (like they did here) or because the publisher decides they no longer want their work distributed via that particular service. Could you imagine someone walking in your house and pulling books off your shelves? That’s effectively what can happen with your eBook library at any time (even though it is admittedly rare). Bottom line, we should own the books we buy. We should be free to resell them on the secondary market, and we should be able to lend or give them to a friend (full disclosure – some eBook retailers have recently instituted lending your eBooks subject to certain conditions). The cost of technology shouldn’t have to be a complete surrender of control (ok…that’s a little dystopian but I’m trying to make a point 🙂
There are other challenges for authors that thicken this plot. First, advertising is quite expensive and very difficult to do profitably (usually via the same platforms that are distributing the books). Even though Amazon and others are quite literally collecting troves of data about you (the consumer) as well as the sales of physical and digital products, that data is incredibly opaque from the author’s perspective. I’m not being unreasonable. I don’t want a bunch of readers’ personal information so I can spam them to buy my books, but it would be nice to be able to get even a smidge of dis-aggregated sales data for my OWN BOOKS or others in the genre. I could go on all day about the frustrations and obstacles that tech giants present to Indie authors, but instead I’ll leave you with one final example before moving on. There’s a new trend on Amazon brought about by a ‘hack’ being promulgated on social media – buy an eBook, read it all the way through within the seven day return window, then return it for a full refund (You can learn more about this ridiculous phenomenon here). As a result, some authors have even found themselves indebted to Amazon (because of “delivery” fees) rather than collecting their meager royalties in a given month. Anyway, I digress. The point is, there has to be a better way.
So how do we do better? This is where web3, blockchain technology, and NFTs comes into play. Before everyone sighs and navigates away from the page, hear me out. I’m not talking about speculative bets on the ‘next 1000x’ coin or jpegs of bored monkeys that sell for six and seven figures. I’m talking about using this technology the way its creators intended – to create a permissionless system where we don’t need a tech giant to decide what we own in the digital world, what we can say in the digital commons, or how we connect with each other. Humor me a moment longer by taking a look at a concrete example of what I’m talking about in the video below. If you still think I’m trying to sell you some fad tech that can’t make a real difference, we can agree to disagree. Instead of continuing to read this post, scroll to the bottom and pick up a free short story compilation that has nothing to do with web3 or the blockchain 🙂
Pretty cool right? The video says a lot, but I highly recommend checking out their website to learn even more. It’s a little early to make guarantees, but I’m pretty confident you’ll see some of my future work published on their game-changing platform. In case you’re wondering, I’m not an investor or anything. I’m just gushing about the technology because I can’t wait to get my hands on it, both as a reader and an author.
Here’s the thing though, books as NFTs that you truly own and can resell is only the beginning. The possibilities with this type of technology are quite literally endless. Here’s just a few examples of the way blockchain and NFT technology can completely change the world of books and the author-reader relationship:
Authors can mint limited edition NFTs that give readers special access (discussion groups, virtual meet-ups, etc.). Smart contracts can be programmed to unlock special bonus material to any reader that acquires a full set of books, or reads a certain amount in a series. I’m not even close to done…
Ooh, here’s a fun one: Authors can mint very limited NFTs that admit the holders into a small collaboration group. This group might then be written in as characters in the author’s next novel, or might provide the author their thoughts on where the plot ought to lead in the later books of an epic twelve book series.
Here’s another one for you investor types: What if you could quite literally invest in your favorite author or your next favorite book? With blockchain technology, authors could also mint NFTs that convey a share of their royalties. You might think this sounds crazy (why would an author give up a royalty share, even only a small slice?). Well, remember what I said earlier about how expensive it is for self-published authors to advertise profitably through social media sites or on Amazon? Imagine if fifty or a hundred of an author’s biggest fans were personally invested in seeing a book do well. Let the guerilla marketing begin! Imagine investing a few hundred dollars in an author you know and love, then seeing the book you own a stake in picked up for TV or film. Not a bad ROI…
My head is literally bursting with ideas. If you can dream it up and find a smart guy to help you write it into a smart contract, there is absolutely no limit to where this can go.
I hope you enjoyed reading this half as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’re seeing this now (in mid-2022) you’re here on the ground floor. I hope you’ll join me in getting involved in these exciting changes that are coming to the book publishing (and broader entertainment) industry. It’s going to be a lot of fun.