What is blockchain?
A blockchain is simply a technology, a Distributed Ledger Technology that allows transactions to be carried out safely and securely without going through a third-party.
A blockchain consists of blocks which are linked together. A block can be likened to a distributed digital ledger which contains various transactions that are verified and validated. Depending on the network, a new block is created every seconds or few minutes and each new block is always linked to the previous block. People don't do this, but I like to call it a chain of blocks. Also know that each block is timestamped and contains metadata.
Blockchain formation. The main chain (black) consists of the longest series of blocks from the genesis block (green) to the current block. Orphan blocks (purple) exist outside of the main chain.
Blockchain has 3 major properties and they are;
Decentralization, immutability, and transparency
Decentralization
The data on the blockchain is not stored on a single computer or server. It is rather stored on several computers owned by different individuals across the globe. Therefore, blockchain is not controlled by a single individual or organization and cannot be shut down.
Immutability
For you to change the data on the blockchain, you will have to attack over 50% of the several computers that hold the data and you have to conduct the attack simultaneously. Succeeding is highly improbable. Oh, I almost forgot that you have to undo all blocks from the recent one to the data timestamp.
Transparency
Since the blockchain is not controlled by anybody, it has to operate by certain rules. This rules are not kept secret, they are agreed upon and open. The transactions that occur on the blockchain are also visible to everyone.
How will this technology affect book publishing?
Getting rid of middlemen is what blockchain is good at. For traditional publishing, the middlemen include your agent who negotiates with the publisher who will more likely not publish your book, the wholesalers and retailers. For self publishing, the biggest middleman is Amazon.
Profit
The most obvious benefit is that you get a bigger cut of the profit. With Amazon, you can earn up to 50 to 70% of the sales but with the blockchain, you can easily get over 90%. However, profit is just the visible part of the iceberg.
Control
Blockchain gives you more and better control of your book. You decide the price of your book and no one can it or shut down your book. Amazon can change her numerous and complex policies without your permission and this decision might be less favorable to you. On the blockchain, no one can shut down your book and everyone has a say in the policy making.
Security
You also have to worry less about hack and security. Blockchain does not have a single point of attack unlike centralized systems. Although, no system is 100% secure, blockchain is definitely better at this.
Instant payment
Payments on the blockchain are peer-to-peer and instant or almost instant. Payments are given at the point of sale and it goes straight from the consumer to the author. You don't have to surpass a minimum threshold or wait for months to receive your money.
No geopolitical boundary
Blockchain makes free trade truly free. Blockchain is not affected by geopolitical boundaries, which means anyone can access your books from anywhere in the world.
Micropayment
Since there are no middleman such as bank, credit card company, PayPal and etcetera to make profit per transaction, micropayments can be made. This can enable consumers to pay for the pages they read instead of buying the whole book.
Smart contacts
Publishing contracts are complex. There are multiple contracts between the publisher and authors, editors, designers, distributors etcetera and this make payment to contributors quite complex. If this is made simple and everyone knows exactly what he/she is worth, sales and payment has to be properly monitored so that the contracts are not breached and everyone gets what he/she was promised. This task is daunting, costly and yet things go wrong.
Smart contract is a feature of some blockchain which enables contract to be automated. It automatically execute some actions such as dispensing tokens when a certain task is completed.
Smart contract will ensure every contributor get what they were promised. Infact royalties are payed instantly at the point of sale instead of waiting for months to accumulate sales and process fees.
Crowdfunding
Do you need money to finish your book? Presale in the form of book ICO enables author to gain fund to finish their book. By launching a book ICO, you can start receiving funds from your supporters before the book is actually finished. It's more or less like crowdfunding and these supporters get their copy when the book is ready.
Human rights
If you buy a book from the bookshop, you don't have the right to reproduce it in any form, it is illegal. However, you can lend the book to your friend or resell it to your neighbor. With digital books, such rights are taken away from you. Digital Right Management (DRM) technology in blockchain gives the consumer their right to lend or resell their books. The author also benefit from this transaction because he will receive a share from the profit made. This is usually referred to as secondary market.
Certification
Blockchain is not just meant for transactions but can also be used for certification. As I mentioned earlier, data on the blockchain is timestamped and immutable. This allow a permanent trackable record for identifying the origin of a content. This will help settle dispute on the ownership of an asset such as intelligent property. A project working on this is po.et.
Po.et is a shared, open, universal ledger designed to record metadata and ownership information for digital creative assets. Po.et aims to create the largest verifiable record of digital media assets.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology is not yet fully developed and has a long way to go. However, it is worth keeping an eye on because it might be the next big thing and a good place to start is po.et and publica.com.
Publica is the first publishing platform to use blockchain technology to innovate how books are funded, distributed, bought and read. She won the award for "Best use of blockchain for publishing technology" by Digital Book World in September 2018.
Mathew Kepnes popularly known as Nomadic Matt launched the first book ICO on this platform. Several books and book ICO are already available at shop.publica.com. I strongly recommend you go to publica.com and check it out.
Another platform to watch out for is Scenarex. Scenarex is a Montreal-based start-up founded in 2015, born out of a passion for literature, sharing and technology. Using blockchain technology, our goal is to create flexible, user-friendly, non-restrictive solutions that will benefit the evolution and development of the digital publishing industry.
Blockchain does not fix all publishing problems but it offers an alternative and it's up to you to decide if you want to take it. However, as I said earlier, it is worth keeping an eye on.
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Peace out ✌️