Think we can al agree 2020 has been a shitty year. So too for book sales of my crypto and quantum computing inspired novel Ragnarok Conspiracy.
I've had a good run with my HIVE-first published novel. First when publishing the chapters on HIVE (formerly STEEM) where proceedings allowed me to crowd-source my editing and hire an amazingly talented illustrator. Then (mainly) on Google Play, Apple iBooks and Kobo, where proceedings from e-book sales allowed me hire a translator and get my novel translated to Spanish. And finaly from trading crypto that I earned on HIVE (formerly STEEM). Can't say I made a killing from my book, no, but I broke even and earned back the loss I made on my earlier publications and on trying to market my book on Amazon. Broke even with a bit of crypto left.
Then covid hit, people got stuck in quarantine and I decided to make my book free for a while, trusting sales would pick back up after the free period. But guess what, it was 2020, so on top of everything, sales didn't pick back up at all. I went from a few sales per day, before the free period, to a total of five sales across all channels in the last four months of 2020.
In short, the book, as source of income dried out completely in 2020.
But it's 2021 now, time for a change. Maybe, just maybe, a radical change of strategy could still give me some revenues from my novel, hopefully helping me fund art work and editing for my current fiction project, that in 2020 didn't progress nearly as much as I hoped it would. So what is the new strategy? I's a free book with a tipping jar.
Ragnarok Conspiracy will soon be free, permanently.
For now I'm starting with the original English edition. The Spanish edition will remain available at a fair price for the foreseeable future. The English though edition will soon be available for free on most of the channels. I've pushed a new and updated version of my book to the three prime channels and am awaiting propagation. The update contains:
- A long overdue update replacing most mentions of STEEM with mentions of HIVE
- A few links to a crypto tipping-jar page
No more Amazon
Amazon as a channel for my e-book has proven to be a disappointment, a waste of time and a money sink. I've priced Ragnarok Conspiracy down to $0.99, the lowest price point permitted by Amazon, but as soon as the updated version of my novel is available on all other channels, I'm taking Ragnarok Conspiracy from Amazon. Amazon is just not worth the trouble.
The link between $STEEM, $HIVE, $QRL and my novel
In Ragnarok Conspiracy, the story starts with what could be considered a quantum computing blockchain heist. I think it's rather ironic that the platform where I first published the chapters of my novel later turned out the blockchain where the first actual blockchain heist happened. It wasn't a quantum computing powered blockchain heist. It was a consensus attack blockchain heist by 孙宇晨 (sunyuchen from the TRON Foundation) and friends, where a few large stakeholders
were effectively robbed of their stake. In response to this brutal blockchain heist, the STEEM community forked the blockchain and this fork became what is now known as HIVE.
When I wrote my novel, I thought a quantum blockchain heist was interesting and realistic enough to use in fiction. I didn't realize then just how realistic an actual blockchain heist actually was, or how potentially close the day might be when an actual quantum computing powered blockchain heist might actually take place. When after publishing my novel I got feedback from a few crypto experts, I found out I got a few technical details wrong, and had to resist the urge to patch these in my novel. I didn't as it would have hurt an already vexing technical scene. What I also learned later was that $QRL, an alt coin using a quantum resistant signature algorithm, exists and is currently the only crypto asset that is truly immune to a quantum blockchain heist as outlined in my novel.
The crypto tipping jar
So as for my attempt to find a second life for my novel, there are now multiple links to a tipping jar page (screenshot below), allowing the reader of my soon FREE novel to tip me some crypto. I've made my tipping page default to $QRL because I think that crypto folks who have read my novel will surely want to hedge their crypto holding with some $QRL, and sending me a little tip might be a good way to test their new $QRL wallet. There is also a link to my HIVE account and the possibility to select $BCH, $LTC, $NEO and $ZEC. All low-transaction-cost alts with active communities actually using the coins in a functioning economy. I hope I didn't miss any important ones.
