A Web3 Self Publishing Journey: What is Web3?
Publishing on Web3 is a voyage of discovery.
Whilst many authors may be interested in Web3 publishing opportunities, I am guessing far fewer share my enthusiasm for the technology. Therefore, I will try to keep techno-babble to a minimum, but it is quite correct to acknowledge the technology is in its infancy and some explanations will be necessary. Not only are the applications I am using to publish in development, but so too are the platforms upon which these applications are built. Everything is pretty raw. This is nascent tech. There are limitations.
Many of the limitations will be overcome in short order - weeks and months, not years - but anyone with experience of developing technology will tell you the development process is seldom smooth. Therefore, one must exercise patience. Of course, this doesn’t mean one cannot kick the tree and taste the fruit. Hence the decision to publish Tseitgeist and this blog.
What is Web3?
This is a question we may benefit from revisiting in the future. Usage of the term has exploded in recent months, but my experiences in this space is that when new tech arrives we use a combination of “good enough” words combined with metaphor, which ultimately leads to misconceptions. For the moment, let’s just say Web3 is born out of the fundamental technology behind Bitcoin. Called Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, this tech has brought a great many changes to the public domain, but two are worth mentioning here. Firstly, it gives physical properties to digital things. Secondly, it enables peer-to-peer trade.
What do you mean, digital things have physical properties?
The internet gave us the capacity to share digital content, but without any safeguards. It gave us the key to the information kingdom, but there was never any lock for the key. We have fallen into a trap of “copy, cut and paste” digital convenience. When we cannot copy, cut and paste we get frustrated. And yet, for tens of thousands of years humans have “understood” physical things such as Horses and Houses cannot be treated in this way (forgery is a different issue, perhaps a discussion for another time). I believe this wizard-like ability to overcome the limitations of individual digital objects has made us giddy, irrational and accidentally disrespectful of others’ property.
Blockchain fixes this.
When I publish content on Nuance, like this post and Tseitgeist, even though Nuance is developed by others, I am the only person on the planet with the ability to alter, or unpublish the content.
Let’s think about that for a moment.
When we self publish content on Medium, Amazon, or our own websites the content resides on others’ servers (unless you have your own server, which is increasingly rare these days). Therefore, while these services may “promise” not to change or delete the content, they can. Not so with Web3. We can explore the implications of this another time, including appropriate steps to ensuring the content is secure in the event of death.
What do you mean, peer-to-peer trade and how is this useful to me as an author?
Peer-to-peer trade literally means that when you buy something of mine, you do business directly with me. While the economics of Nuance is still being built, they have suggested the platform fee will be in the region of 5%, meaning authors will receive 95% of the value of every sale. Directly. No one will hold onto the money for 30, or 60 days. Every sale, as it happens, will result in authors receiving 95% of the retail price.
Clearly, we are talking about digital publishing here so there are no physical printing costs. The ability to produce physical copies may well come, but it is not on Nuance’s roadmap and therefore may be a service someone else develops.
Also, we are not only talking about fiction, but blogs too. This is a new field for me. Therefore, I encourage you to read this post by fellow Web3 blogger “Ghostwriter”, who explains why Nuance has his attention https://exwqn-uaaaa-aaaaf-qaeaa-cai.ic0.app/FreelanceGhostwriting/507/okay-nuance-earn-got-my-attention
Let’s get down to brass tacks, can I earn money publishing on Nuance?
The answer is, “Not yet, but soon.” Like I said, this is nascent tech. It is literally being built as we live and breathe. I know the team at Nuance are working towards integrating payments. It will not be long.
What can I expect from you in the future?
Over the coming weeks, I will share my understanding of this emerging ecosystem so you have clarity of expectations for the purpose of making informed decisions.