There was a big critical response yesterday on Twitter to my tweet about the creative potential of NFTs. Wow! Did I open a can of worms! I was expecting a couple of desultory Likes, then for my tweet to quietly slide into obscurity.

The previous evening I’d enjoyed a very informative and inspiring chat with writers, poets and publishers about what our tiny corner of the blockchain world could look like: the implications for intellectual property rights, for community building, for fomenting creative relationships, and for building businesses free of the platform giants that have a stranglehold over independent creators.

Screen shot of the tweet from @millsverse about a discussion on NFTs

The previous evening I’d enjoyed a very informative and inspiring chat with writers, poets and publishers about what our tiny corner of the blockchain world could look like: the implications for intellectual property rights, for community building, for fomenting creative relationships, and for building businesses free of the platform giants that have a stranglehold over independent creators.

I’ve been looking into NFTs for a while now and have specifically dived deep into the publishing aspect. But of course, the Tech Bro, Bored Ape, get-rich-quick, speculative aspect of this world hasn’t escaped me. It’s the beginning of a long journey and I’m still learning.

I even watched a very detailed, highly regarded critique of cryptocurrency, blockchain and NFTs, so I assure you all I’m not hiding my head in the sand:

I don’t see the crazy world of insane prices for shitty jpeg NFTs as anything to do with the world of book NFTs. We’re not interested in bigging up a digital file to con other people into thinking it’s worth something.

Maybe the best thing to do is give you some examples of what we’re looking at here, which is very different to the shady stuff you’re worried about.

Firstly, there are emerging communities of artists, writers, poets and musicians that are using NFTs as a platform and a new medium. Small, independent creators – beyond the world of comics – are really excited about this stuff. They aren’t Tech Bros. They’re not speculators trying to make a fast buck, or rip-off merchants.

The indie publishing community is already exploring how NFTs can be harnessed as new way of publishing. Author Joanna Penn has a great discussion on her podcast:

 

 

 For a good overview, check out this article published by the highly respected Alliance of Independent Authors.

It’s such early days, no one knows the full scope and how it’s all going to shake out, but some key benefits I can already see include:

  • The ability to create limited digital editions, e.g. 150 signed copies of a book with additional bonus material such as the audiobook version, a variant cover, a new chapter, or a limited edition digital art print.
  • Having a smart contract attached to the book NFT, that ensures we earn a percentage whenever it is resold. This is revolutionary!
  • The option to send bonus content in the future to the buyer of your NFT. That bonus content could be a new chapter or story, new artwork, or even an invitation to an event, or a one-to-one creative jamming session.
  • The option to award a percentage of the earnings to each NFT holder. This is already happening in the music industry.

This is just the beginning. There are doubtless endless ways to add genuine value to the NFT ‘bundle’.

To only see the scammy, pyramid scheme side of NFTs is not looking at the bigger picture. On a corporate scale, DC, Marvel and Disney (to name a few) are already doing NFT collectibles, and whilst we’re no fans of them, it’s clearly going to extend into publishing and become mainstream sooner or later, like it or not.

Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media company just announced last month a new partnership with World of Women NFT collective:

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/reese-witherspoon-hello-sunshine-world-of-women-partner-nft-movies-tv-shows-live-events-1235185212/

It’s only a matter of time before Amazon offers an NFT version of books alongside their Kindle edition. Ebay have already started. It would be a crying shame if indie comic creators stayed away from these developments, wouldn’t it? The rest of the publishing world can move forward, but comics can’t?

There is no way of avoiding the capitalist system. Hence publishing on Amazon, where we have no control over our account and do not know who our customers are. And customers who buy one of our Kindle books or comics do not own it: they just have a licence to read it. If they do something to piss off Amazon and get their account suspended, that’s it: they’ve lost all their books, not to mention their music, TV shows and movies.

I’m aware of how some artists have been ripped off by NFT pirates, and that’s appalling. But there are pirates, scammers and liggers in every creative arena. Pat’s been ripped off by publishers and creators. It goes with the territory, unfortunately.

Coming on to the environmental aspect, I should first say that I have skin in the game here. I’ve got a masters in Conservation Management and have worked in the field for several years for Essex Wildlife Trust and Essex Ecology Services. I do give a very big fuck about this stuff.

So a vital aspect of NFTs for me is choosing the right platform.

I’m currently looking at Soltype, which runs on the Solana blockchain, which has a decent energy record:

Solana has revealed its network energy consumption statistics for November show a standard SOL transaction now only consumes 1,837 Joules of energy – fewer than two Google searches.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-solana-transaction-uses-little-114956337.html

So while I’m doing due diligence, it’s pretty chilling to discover that we can’t even discuss NFTs on Twitter without getting scorn poured on our heads, or warned that we will lose readers if we even consider it. It doesn’t feel democratic. In fact, it’s autocratic.

Just to be clear: we are looking at the possibilities of NFTs to help us and our fellow creators grow and carry on creating, at a difficult time of economic squeeze where organic reach is shrinking, advertising is increasingly expensive and the algorithms call the shots.

What we’re proposing to do is an NFT test on one of our text books, probably Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! It’ll be a learning curve. Maybe we’ll have to build a new following around it, so that we don’t upset some of our existing readership? But it seems wrong to actually condemn us for researching publishing options.

Like it’s not allowed to be discussed or considered.

But if there’s a significant number of British comic fans that still feel hostile – despite the strong case laid out here – then we have to acknowledge that. Equally, it would be nice if they would acknowledge that it’s a viewpoint that doesn’t resonate elsewhere in publishing or other creative industries. My own view is that in two or three years time, everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Meanwhile, I think it’s best to leave it there.

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