Chainreads.com demonstrates how NFTs and blockchain can be used to improve the eBook industry. Go ahead and buy one of the books on the Shop page. Check out the FAQ, and the whitepaper, and of course go ahead and mint an NFT. If you’re an English language author, please see our Authors page for information on publishing with us.
Introducing Chainreads.com
Have you ever wondered how books are made? Nobody knows! Actually, a lot of people know, but the truth is that the book industry is opaque. We won’t bore you with details, but basically publishers throw a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick. It’s hard to make a living as an author, and it probably will always be that way. But there are things that we can do to make life better!
Chainreads.com is the first ever website where you can buy a book, and then mint an NFT of that book! It sounds faddish, and in some ways it is (ten-thousand dollar pixel art anybody?), but there’s actual groundbreaking technology behind it. Technology that has the potential to change the way that authors are paid for their work; change the way readers acquire, gift, and resell authors’ work; and allow for a new relationship between authors and their readers. This has the potential to drastically change things (for the better), especially when it comes to honoring copyright, allowing authors to publish and receive payment from any country in the world, and generally creating more transparency and honesty in the act of selling a book.
As seen on these websites
SO, WHAT’S SO SPECIAL?
Blockchain is really, really cool. Don’t take our word for it, ask all the celebrities who have created NFTs for various reasons! But, that’s just the trendiness that comes with something shiny and new. What blockchain is really about is creating the ability to do transactions in a way that are public and trustworthy without needing an intermediary (like a bank) to prove that it’s a legitimate transaction.
NFTs piggyback on the blockchain’s trustworthiness, as the transaction itself can serve as the proof of authenticity. For example, it can serve as proof that I bought a copy of an eBook and that I have the right to resell that eBook to someone else (just the same as if it was a used physical copy). This may sound silly, but this is actually a big deal. Why shouldn’t an eBook exist on the same legal footing as a physical book?
Take a look at the infographic, ‘Blockchain for Authors’. Here we’ve outlined some of the benefits of blockchain. First, there’s the ability to receive payment faster – more quickly than with current eBook retailers and especially faster than waiting for a traditional publisher to pay out.
There is also the the potential for higher payments. Using blockchain, we can reduce some of the overhead of the financial system, and pass that on to the actual content creators. This means that royalties can be higher per-sale.
A key capability of blockchain is that it allows financial access for authors in countries that are under-served with reliable and trustworthy banking. We take this for granted here in the West, where banking is generally available and not very corrupt.
For more information, please check out the whitepaper!
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A few of our newest books
AND WHAT ABOUT THE READERS?
Not to beat a dead 8-bit pixelated image, but the use case of NFTs here at Chainreads is to represent the ownership of a copy of an eBook. This allows ownership to be transferred in a way that isn’t possible today.
Each Chainreads NFT includes a Standardized License File, which specifies the rights that the copyright owner has. For example, the owner can allow you to lend a copy to a friend (or not), or bundle additional content with the NFT that is covered by the copyright of the book. This license file eliminates the uncertainties of ‘naked’ NFTs, where people make all kinds of assumptions about their ownership.
And now that you have proof of ownership, you actually have something that, as a reader, you don’t really have with the major eBook retailers – a book that exists independent of their proprietary ecosystem, that you know you actually own and can cherish for years and pass on to others.
For authors, the possibility exists to find new ways to gain and interact with your audience — ways that we may not have even discovered yet. And you know that this interaction is protected by the copyright rules set out within the NFT, so that it is clear and fair for everyone.
What next?
Go ahead and buy one of the books on the Shop page. Check out the FAQ, and the whitepaper, and of course go ahead and mint an NFT. English language authors, please visit the Authors page for information on publishing with us.