The Tokenized Author

With tokenomics and smart contracts, authors are no longer beholden to distributors or financial institutions. This means exploring an entirely new paradigm for getting your projects funded and then sharing your content with your readers.

You could crowdfund your book project in the traditional manner, i.e. through Patreon, Kickstarter or GoFundMe. But this route doesn’t incentivize potential supporters with long-term rewards. Your supporters might get a free signed copy of your book, a mention in the acknowledgements, or even a character named after them, but that’s as far as it goes. But by tokenizing your next writing project, you can conceivably raise funds to help you meet all the major costs of bringing your manuscript to market.

Through Tokit, many filmmakers and musicians have successfully tokenized their projects by launching campaigns that covered everything from production through marketing. Here’s how the new paradigm might work: An author could launch a Tokit campaign to fund the entire editorial development of his or her manuscript, i.e. from final draft completion, story editing, copyediting and proofreading. Cover design, formatting, website design, even hiring a publicist and marketing costs could all be figured into the author’s campaign goal. Supporters would then purchase tokens toward the campaign, sharing the journey with the author and unshackled by the intermediaries of the legacy publishing industry.

Upon successful completion of the campaign, you as the author could offer your manuscript available as a download to your token holders in exchange of tokens on SingularDTV’s peer to peer content distribution platform. The transaction on SingularDTV would be instant, so no waiting around for months for the royalty check to arrive!

Entrepreneurship + Tokenomics = A New Dawn for Authors

None of the above eliminates two non-negotiable imperatives: One, an exquisitely workshopped, edited and fine-tuned manuscript — there are no shortcuts to quality — and, two, an entrepreneurial spirit. Once you’ve accomplished step one, you can unleash your inner entrepreneur. Your author website, social media engagement, and marketing outreach will all play vital roles in driving traffic to your pages on SingularDTV and elsewhere.

Here’s how I see this mix of plucky entrepreneurship and tokenization playing out for independent authors, and an overview of how to make it work when you are your own industry: From your website to your Tokit page and your social media accounts, your platform will be the focal point for your release. To build awareness and anticipation, use your platform to announce your Tokit campaign weeks or months before launch. Thinking months in advance, indie authors have announced giveaways, calls for reviewers, and launch parties to promote the release of their books. As a blockchain author, you could hit the ground prior to even starting your book to bring attention to your project, begin the fundraising journey, and keep supporters up to speed on your progress.

One essential part of your platform is your author website, where you’ll house links to your SingularDTV or Tokit pages and to all your digital retailers. On your site, you can embed your podcast (if you have one), list your speaking and signing engagements, your book trailer (more on this below), Q&As, interviews, and anything relating to awareness-building for your book. Cross-link everything on your official site to your product/author page on SingularDTV as well as your social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, etc.). This gives your potential supporters and readers multiple avenues for engaging with you and your work.

Like musicians and filmmakers, many authors are embracing book trailers. A cinematic trailer can do wonders to intrigue and delight your current and potential fans. A smart, cleverly edited trailer builds anticipation and stokes curiosity. Embed your trailer everywhere you’re promoting your work, including on YouTube. And as a blockchain author promoting his/her book, a Reddit AMA is in the cards. Millions are members of the r/iAMA community so it’s the ideal forum to introduce yourself and engage.

Getting reviews and interviews, participating in competitions and panels, giveaways on Goodreads, ad boosts on Facebook, etc. — all these will prime potential readers and are crucial steps if your Tokit campaign is going to succeed. Then again, all of the above would be just as important no matter how you chose to publish.

Bringing it Back to Blockchain

Blockchain technology has signaled a new dawn for artists — whether you’re Gramatik, Khushnuda Shukurova, Liga de Artistas, or a new crop of authors eager to join this technological revolution. Compared with filmmaking and music, publishing culture has been tentative in adapting to new technologies and new business models. But there’s no reason why new and established authors can’t ride the wave of change that blockchain and cryptocurrency are currently sweeping over the old guard. Speaking of the old guard, it may be possible that Amazon and other major retailers will (sooner rather than later) incorporate cryptocurrency and the blockchain model, and that’s bound to make to make authors’ lives easier as they seek to consolidate SingularDTV and non-SingularDTV revenues.

The advantage of blockchain publishing — and of tokenizing your work — is the sheer freedom and control it offers. There are no gatekeepers to muzzle your voice and no “waiting in line” for a publisher to put you on their release schedule. Blockchain’s smart contracts allow you to transact directly with buyers while protecting your copyright. With its unique model of fundraising, tokenization as a strategy leaps out in front of other forms of crowdfunding and self-publishing by offering all parties a transparent and rewarding means of engagement. More freedom, complete rights control, greater revenues, zero gatekeepers, and, most of all, a culture of value and reward vis-à-vis your supporters are on the horizon: speaking as a writer, it sounds pretty good to me.