Blockchain: Rewriting the Relationship Between Publishers and Authors

For publishers and agents, the stakes are high. Competition is greater than ever and everyone’s looking to get behind the next best seller on the list. No one wants a diamond in the rough but would rather hop on the next Game of Thrones train — where success is guaranteed, and sales are secured.

And what about all the freshly minted creatives who have an important statement to make but seem to stand no chance of getting their voice heard? They are getting their 5 minutes of fame, don’t worry.

The War of the Centuries

For centuries, writers have been fighting for their place on the shelf. Nabokov’s Lolita was refused so many times in so many countries that he had to travel to France to get it published; Animal Farm was rejected by at least 4 publishers; and Kipling — his English was so heavily criticized that it seemed The Jungle Book would never see the light of day.

Modern times are no better — Stephen King had had to publish his The Running Man under a pseudonym before the world realized there is an audience for his strange tales of the supernatural.

The truce discussion points

While writers and publishers fight a pointless battle, none of the two is in a better position than the other.

A writer

• The pool of writers is continually expanding, and to ensure profitability, only the most talented ones will get to become published authors. Only a few will get the chance to hear the feedback that will benefit their future creations. Others will be left to speculate what they could have possibly done better.
• The publishing process is complex. Even if you do get picked, you are not reaping the benefits of your work anytime soon. Not only do you get to wait for the first sales to kick in, but the publishing company also collects a large chunk of the earnings.
• The battle with plagiarism is ongoing and, in some instances, it is impossible to claim the rights to your work.
• Terms of agreement are complex and difficult to interpret by non-legal professionals. Consequently, writers are often put in a position where they have to hire a legal advisor who will help them understand all the points presented in the agreement (which is yet another undesired financial burden). On the other hand, when writers decide to handle this matter on their own, they tend to miss out on the fine print. To avoid getting the short end of the stick, writers are in the perpetual state of negotiation with the publishing company regarding their rights to the content they produce. As a result, the time they spend creatively writing is limited and the quality of the book is jeopardized.

A publishing company

• The pool of writers is continually expanding, and to ensure profitability, only the most talented ones will get to become published authors. Time is limited, and decisions need to be made quickly. Surely, they are not always the right ones, as you never know if any of the disregarded writers could have produced something much greater if they were only given constructive criticism.
• The publishing process is complex and it truly takes a village to publish a book. Publishers are pressured during the initial phase, where the first draft of the book is evaluated. It is impossible to predict the public reaction and all editing, proofreading, designing, reviewing, printing, distribution, and promotion might be in vain. The team of experts working on each of the publishing phases is large, which means that expenses are high, while significant profits are rarely guaranteed.
• Adapting to new distribution channels is challenging and publishers need to revise their distribution and promotional strategies that produced satisfactory results (so far). They need to refocus on discovering new ways to target, approach, and engage a modern, digital reader.
• The battle with plagiarism is ongoing and, in some instances, it is impossible to claim the rights to a published property.

With issues being fairly the same for both parties, it’s normal to expect one solution, isn’t it?

The Treaty of Blockchain

So why we choose to become writers?

To express our ideas; to draw concern; to rephrase the issues of the world; to make sense of things that surround us; to question and to provide answers.

Not for money; that’s not something anyone would list among the top reasons. Though, unfortunately, it is a crucial factor. Namely, people do start writing for a greater cause, but in time they realize that some kind of compensation is necessary if you want to continue contributing with your ideas. The technology should support writers on their mission; it should provide a mechanism to interact with their fans, to streamline and hasten earnings, without forcing them to shift their focus from their writing.

What we need is a technical solution that will enable authors and writers to collaborate as a team. Scriptarnica is a platform which acts as a digital field that welcomes both sides; a stamping ground for publishers, and writers, as well as all others who are willing to participate in the book creation process.

The good thing for the entire ecosystem is that we are not the only ones. The rising popularity blockchain technologies and evident benefits that come with it have sparked the formation of an entire community which utilizes technological solutions to facilitate the resolution of all the above-listed bullet points, along with many other issues that stem from the ones we’ve mentioned.

We’ve already discussed how blockchain aids the publishing industry, and it’s precisely what helps rewrite the rocky relationship between writers and publishers:

• Writers get a platform where they can present their work while it’s still in the production phase and get valuable feedback that helps them circumvent the writer’s block, fix loopholes in the storyline, perfect grammar, improve vocabulary, and overall — deliver an exceptional piece of writing.
• Publishers get to observe young and independent talents as they write and analyze their potential. Talent selection is simplified, as a publisher gets to see first-hand how a writer responds to criticism, applies corrections, and how big of a hype they can create around their writing.
• The quality of content improves — writers find themselves in a kind of a learning environment where objective minds point out minor flaws that would have otherwise set them back. For publishers, this means the majority of the editing and proofreading has already been completed and they can move on to the next stage faster and at much lower cost.
• As the central figure is eliminated, the newly-produced content is observed more objectively. The community is the one who gets to comment on the work in progress, judge the quality of content, and contribute to its improvement. No longer will we rely solely on an opinion made by one or a selected group of editors.
• Self-published and indie writers can build trust with their readers before their work is officially published, thus improving the chances of a book becoming a success.
• Miscommunication is taken out of the equation — smart contracts are pre-programmed to carry out the terms of agreement automatically, and none of the parties will be denied their pre-defined rights. In fact, all participants will get the share of the profit that they have rightfully earned. Technology has advanced to the point where all activities are recorded in their entirety, and we see it, black-and-white — how much rewriting, proofreading, translating, or any other type of work was done, and who completed it. Ultimately, smart contract will utilize this data to distribute the funds accordingly.

The New Frontier

No more conflicts. The objectives are the same for both sides but somewhere along the line, constant pressure made collaboration and alignment of goals almost impossible.

The decentralization of the system eliminates the authoritative figure that somehow always ends up being the bad guy. The community gets to voice its opinion, decide whether or not a piece of writing is of satisfactory quality and whether it deserves to be published. At Scriptarnica, we are building a platform where writers will share their ideas, learn from the publishers’ rich industry knowledge, and advance their skills. Publishers will get an additional distribution channel where they will discover talent-in-the-making, as well as optimize the process to meet the new, modern publishing ecosystem.

And what about you? Care to join the discussion with predictions of your own? Feel free to leave your comment below!