Web3 books are possibly the most underdeveloped sector of the Web3 economy. Illustrations, videos, songs, and other types of media have gotten their fair share of love from Web3 traders and investors.
But books?
You’d be hard-pressed to find the first Web3 investor to claim their exclusive copy of Dracula sold for 50,000 ETH, unlike their Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT-collecting compatriots.
And yet, it might be that Web3 books are the most reliable NFT asset ever proposed, perhaps more so than audiovisual NFTs.
Let’s find out why:
NFT Books Are The Backbone of Web3 Media
The book is the spine of all audiovisual content. Whether a poem, a short story, or a full-blown novel series, books are the building blocks of the entertainment chain, and NFT books are no different.
In fact, they’re better. That’s because NFT books can be configured with smart contracts to allow for new, more immersive storytelling experiences. You can add videos, songs, illustrations that show on the page, and more innovative features to enrich the storytelling medium for your readers and collectors. There are even augmented reality (AR) integrations now.
Now, think of your favorite audiovisual NFT. Perhaps its a Moonbird, a Bored Ape Yacht Club, or a CryptoPunk. It could even be a song NFT. We’ve seen how those can appreciate a lot on their own, but you have the option of configuring them with an original story made into a book NFT for even more added value.
Book NFTs and audiovisual NFTs aren’t mutually exclusive.
Why not leverage the advantages of both?
Smart Contracts Make Book NFTs Better
Let’s start this off by saying that smart contracts are the unsung heroes if Blockchain technology. If it weren’t for them, Blockchain wouldn’t have many practical use cases. These utilities also translate to book NFTs, where their technology can be used to tackle many of their usual issues.
In a survey we undertook for developing Legerly’s platform, we asked a diverse group of writers which included both published and unpublished fiction and non-fiction authors about their main obstacles in the publishing industry. Royalty payments and piracy were among the most popular replies, both of which can be solved with the clever use of Blockchain smart contracts.
Smart contracts can be programmed to automate a myriad of financial compensation agreements. Think royalty payments, revenue sharing, licensing agreements, and more ways to ensure equitable and fair compensation for all of the Orange Economy’s participants. Furthermore, Blockchain’s tamper-free nature stops piracy right in its tracks from the get-go, ensuring a fairer, and more transparent industry for authors.
Now, let’s talk a little bit more about the current industry, and how investing in Web3 books could benefit it. A key term to understand here is that of the Orange Economy.
Web3 Books Support the Orange Economy
The Orange Economy proposes goods and services as valuable intellectual products because they’re the product of the ideas and expertise of their creators. That’s why it’s called the “creative economy”, and currently accounts for 3% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
The main five pillars of the Orange Economy are: communications (social media), culinary arts, coding, sustainable entrepreneurship, and art, which includes writing along with theatre, film, painting, and more.
As a whole, the Orange Economy supports around 30 million jobs in the present day. Community managers and digital graphic designers would be very likely be without a job if social media didn’t exist, but this trend also replicates with other creative professionals of all ventures.
The Orange Economy industries provide direct employment to many creative professionals: writers, designers, musicians, and artists.
But more than just providing many individuals with a source of income, the Orange Economy also preserves cultural diversity. It serves as a platform for cultural expression, dialogue, and exchange between communities.
Well, there’s no technological system that empowers artists more than Web3.
Many of these creative professionals have to rely on third-party services to keep their portfolios or promote their work, in exchange for their personal information.
It enables creators to retain ownership, control, and monetization rights over their intellectual property.
The Rise of Decentralized Content Platforms?
The first online marketplaces to ever exist, both of which are still kicking about, are are eBay and Craigslist. They exemplified what a good marketplace should do: provide users with an easy way to purchase items online. The years passed, and suddenly the joint of Web3 technologies and the need for an online venue where content could be traded gave birth to decentralized marketplaces.
Most decentralized marketplaces allow their users to buy and sell almost anything as NFTs and pay using crypto.
But let’s be realistic for a moment. Not everyone wants to dabble in crypto just to have access to a marketplace. It’s clear that besides crypto degens and some enthusiasts, we’re still a long time away from widespread cryptocurrency adoption.
The good news is that many decentralized marketplaces are also implementing fiat purchase options, as easy as paying with a debit or credit card, instead of going through the hassle of setting up a crypto wallet.
The main challenge for them is to get more buyers and sellers. Adoption is key for the crypto industry, and people will only flock to places where they find something of interest, that’s also not inherently dangerous to them.
Decentralized marketplaces are getting more popular than ever with every passing day. There’s even a platform,Origami Network that helps you build marketplaces on your own. So many people were creating marketplaces that a service for that was created.
These marketplaces mobilize the Orange Economy by making it easier for NFT books to be traded.
Book NFTs Allow For Real Ownership of Assets
Why would I want to own a digital copy of a book when I can just buy it on Amazon?
Well, not exactly. When you purchase on Kindle or related platforms, you rely on these companies to provide you with the service to access books published there. But you’re not the real owner of them.
In traditional ownership models, proving ownership of assets often relies on centralized authorities, such as government registries or financial institutions.
It’s almost like streaming: you don’t really own the movie or song you’re streaming, you’re just paying for the rights to stream them temporarily. And if Netflix or Spotify were to go under one day, you’ll lose all of these rights.
Blockchain won’t go bust. It enables immutable proof of ownership through decentralized ledgers. With NFTs, ownership records are stored on a blockchain, providing transparent and tamper-proof evidence of ownership that cannot be altered or disputed.
And for those looking to invest in something more meaningful than in just the economical, here’s another reason why you should give Web3 books a chance:
NFT Books Preserve Heritage
When you tokenize a book, it’s as if you were saving it inside of a time capsule. One that can be accessed permanently, at any time, and cannot be replicated, or modified. It’s preserved eternally if so to say.
Imagine if the same could’ve been done with the books at the Library of Alexandria back then in 285 BC?
All of that knowledge could’ve been immortalized. Today, NFT books give us an opportunity to safeguard cultural heritage, historical documents, and rare manuscripts from loss, damage, or censorship.
No need for history to repeat itself, so no important papyrus scrolls will be burned while in Blockchain.
The bottom line
So, how to promote books NFTs, and literary Web3 projects?
The primary ways are buying NFT books and investing in existing Web3 projects. You can also share existing NFT books and literary Web3 projects throughout social media, to help them grow in traction and popularity.
The main obstacle for these projects is adoption. Let’s hope that with time, more and more authors can get accustomed to the new possibilities opened by Web3 books, and that more investors can leverage these opportunities for good.
