NFTBooks isn’t the only NFT blockchain book publishing platform out there; it doesn’t have the catchiest name, and the ticker is a bit of a mouthful, but it is functional and accessible with an innovative, hyper-economic transaction model. And the name does get to the point after all: eBooks in NFT format—traded and rented out on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain.

Their mission statement is ambitious:

NFTBooks was founded with a vision of becoming a leader in the industry of publishing books. The platform addresses persistent difficulties such as copyright and pricing. The books are directly delivered to users without a third-party intermediary.

NFTBOOKS wants everyone to have access to any reading content available in the world. As well as protecting and supporting the authors to increase their income to secure their life. The NFTBooks team is taking that as a criterion to perfect the product day by day.

 

Could they be to the centralised book publishing industry what Audius is to Spotify, for example?

‘As of January 2024 Spotify has a market cap of $40.33 Billion. This makes Spotify the world's 450th most valuable company according to our data.’ And dwarves Audius’ $215.27 Million.

So NFTBooks would have to achieve something extraordinary to make a similar dent in the likes of Amazon or B&N’s market share. They would need to offer something radically different.

Audius has a relatively intuitive interface, but sound is a different medium to the written word. Getting accustomed to NFTBooks by contrast is a bit fiddly, even if ultimately rewarding.

New authors are required to schedule a face-to-face engagement with staff to assess their identity prior to publishing. NFTBooks also operates a pretty robust plagiarism checker, perhaps a little too robust, as my book was flagged as too similar to another title that couldn’t be more different. Maybe the algorithm needs tweaking.  

Your manuscript is converted from most common formats into a readable NFT which can be then be traded and rented out (by lessors) and exclusively accessed via the platform’s browser.

The proceeds in trade/rental revenue and royalties are paid in the native token (NFTBS) into your MetaMask/Phantom (or other) wallet. You’ll need to know how to connect a wallet and procure some MATIC to convert to the native token to cover the nominal costs of publishing and other transactions. There is also a swap option on the website.

To recap in their own words: ‘NFTBooks will allow authors to self-publish books, lessors for lease of purchased book, translators to create smart contract with authors to publish translated books and build a competitive model to reduce costs for readers. Moreover, 2% of every buy, and sell is redistributed between holders.’

It’s been nearly a year since its launch in February 2023, so early days.  

You aren’t likely to make serious money short term, think in terms of dollars and cents. But that could all change if you get in early as an author and/or investor and earn yourself enough NFTBS, bearing in mind the value of NFTs and tokens could fluctuate wildly in the future.

It’s still a good place to gain some exposure, some publishing experience and familiarise yourself with pricing and royalty options. Market your own or other’s books and the platform as an affiliate to gain more rewards. 

Like a lot of solid start-ups, NFTBooks has some interesting potential for early birds particularly.