I was surprisingly able to get about four hours of sleep last night, which has fortified me for the day ahead - Mint Day! The first book in my bestselling Lawson Vampire series, THE FIXER, mints today at 9PM UTC over on Book.io and I am perhaps the most excited I’ve been about publishing in a very long time.

If you’ve read my previous two articles on The Rise of NFT Books (Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here), then you know the many reasons I feel that they represent a true revolution for creators and readers alike. Unconstrained by the shackles of gatekeepers, distributors, and the fact that ebooks are currently not even owned by those who “buy” them, NFT books offer a wide range of solutions to the problems plaguing both traditional and indie publishing. This is the 3rd stage of evolution for the publishing industry and the early adopters will benefit the most.

But only if authors also change their mindset.

I’ve talked at great length about how traditional publishers shot themselves in the proverbial foot at the onset of the ebook revolution by first resisting ebooks (thereby bequeathing Amazon the dominant market share publishers should have had) and then pricing them so ridiculously that it further pushed many authors and readers to embrace indie publishing. And I’ve talked about how while indie publishing represented a step forward, it also has not been the utopia that it might have once appeared. 

At stage 1, the publishers were largely to blame. At stage 2, both publishers and authors bore responsibility. But if stage 3 falters, it will be authors who bear the brunt of responsibility.

Why? Because authors who treat NFT books as if it’s “just another way to publish” are doomed to fail.

What NFT books are, is an opportunity for authors to finally have a real and lasting relationship with their readers. And in this case, it definitely takes two to tango. 

It’s not enough to simply mint an NFT book and expect that a huge audience will miraculously form around you and support your mints. (I mean, maybe Stephen King, right?) For the majority of authors, it’s going to take work to endear you to your potential audience. And it’s work you’d better be willing to put in…because the rewards are worth it. 

It would be especially egregious if any author approaching NFT books at the moment simply put their book out and expected the mint to sell out without any effort on their part. The people who are minting NFT books right now are the early adopters - the readers and NFT enthusiasts who are, in effect, taking a risk on both the platform and the author. They are not simply to be tossed a book and forgotten until the next mint.

Which brings me to a concept I’ve talked about previously, and one that is massively important: rewards.

For authors migrating from traditional publishing, this concept may be especially foreign. Because frankly, we never had much cause for it. The book went out to bookstores and we had no idea who might have bought it unless they - the reader - made the effort to reach out to us. If that happened, maybe we’d write them a response email. Perhaps we sent them a cover flat or a bookmark. 

Maybe.

Indie authors are slightly more comfortable with the notion of rewards because a lot of them put much more marketing effort into their publications. They have to, given the nature of indie publishing. Pens, bookmarks, posters, t-shirts…those physical rewards get distributed to readers or people they meet at conventions.

There’s a progression here and it boils down to this: relationships. 

There’s almost no relationship with the reader in traditional publishing unless they engage on social media somehow. Indie publishing is a bit better. But NFT books offer the most in-depth level of reader interaction and as such, the relationship demands more if it is to be successful.

Since I signed my contract with the awesome team at Book.io for THE FIXER, I’ve been studying the space, mints, reader reactions, minting philosophy, etc.. All of which have led me to develop a 3-tiered reward system and it works something like this.

Tier 3: Airdropped Stories & Novellas

I’m lucky in that my Lawson Vampire series spans 35 adventures (so far) comprised of novels, novellas, and short stories. I’ll be focusing on minting the novels, but some of the novellas and stories occur between the novels in the timelines of events. This enables me to airdrop reading material in between mints. The material is already written and it’s an easy enough matter of making a list of wallet addresses and sending the airdrops to them. If they’ve read the novels, then this is a nice reward and hopefully keeps them invested in the series.

Tier 2: Contests & Raffles

These are an escalator in terms of value and reward for minters. A couple of times each year, I’ll put together contests or raffles that reward those who mint. There may be certain conditions on contest entries to enhance value and investment. My first Tier 2 reward is for those who mint both THE FIXER today and THE INVOKER (book 2) in December. Minters who do so will have a chance to win a trip to the set of the pilot that I’m currently in pre-production on. It’s a big reward and frankly, it’s a pretty nice way to announce my presence in the space. Now, obviously all authors don’t have to do this, but for me, it was important to do so because I want early adopters to know I’m making as much of an investment into this space as they are. 

Tier 1: “Loyalist” Rewards

In my Lawson Vampire series, the humans who help vampire society are known as “Loyalists,” so I took that as the label for my most exclusive rewards tier. Tier 1 rewards are special. They are distributed 3-4 times each year to those who mint and HOLD. They’re in it for the long haul - they want to be invested in the series and the author. They realize that this isn’t a pump & dump but rather the start of a real author/reader relationship. They want to be there for me and my books and I want to be there for them. As such, these perks are reserved for the most ardent fans.

The benefits of instituting a rewards system for your readers is immense. Tier 3 rewards detailed above enhance the benefit of having a book in their wallet. Tier 2 rewards induce reluctance on the part of the minter to pump & dump instead of holding - especially if there is an incentive to hold for a certain period of time. And Tier 1 is designed to reward the minter who is invested for the long haul, as well as reduce secondary market supply and raise the floor (and therefore the value of the investment made by the minter).

Not only do rewards enhance the author/reader relationship but they also improve the value of the NFT book for both parties. For the minter/reader, the NFT’s value is increased if there is less reason to sell it on the secondary due to the ongoing reward structure and distribution. For the author, if an NFT is sold on the secondary, the value of it is greater therefore the amount of the secondary royalty is also greater. 

Now, I’m not naive; there will plenty of authors who come into NFT books and treat it exactly like they’re publishing on Amazon’s KDP platform. And maybe that will work for them. NFT book technology will certainly progress to the point where it’s easier to both publish and purchase than it is right now. But if authors wait until that time, they will miss out on the amazing opportunities that exist right now. Those opportunities, however, do not come without an investment on the author’s behalf. Be it time or actual real cost, authors hoping to capitalize on NFT books absolutely must be prepared to invest time and effort in doing so.

This is a relationship you absolutely cannot “set it and forget it.” You need to be present on social media, you need to interact and answer questions, and you need to reward the people who are willing to take a risk on you. Because there hasn’t yet been a mass migration of web2 readers to NFT books (but it’s coming), attracting web3 readers means that an author has to be willing to commit to the relationship. 

And that means changing the author mindset. 

Plenty of authors might be content sitting around a coffee shop smoking cheap Soviet-era cigarettes waxing philosophically about how no one understand their art. And that’s cool. You do you, boo.

I’m not one of them. And for authors like me who want to expand our audiences and move into an exciting new evolution of publishing, it takes more. More time, more effort, more willingness to connect and treat readers with respect and rewards.

My advice to authors looking to move into NFT books is to figure out how you’re going to reward these early adopters, how you’re going to interact with them, how you’re going to hold up your end of the relationship. It simply has never been this immediate or in-depth. And as an author, you need to be willing to embrace that or risk missing out entirely as it continues to move forward.

What’s Next for NFT Books?

NFT books represent a fantastic opportunity for authors to capitalize on sub rights. Traditionally, authors have relished sub rights sales such as film/TV options, translation rights sales to other countries, audiobook rights, and more for their ability to greatly improve an author’s bottom line. But with NFT books, these avenues may already be open to exploitation without necessitating an agent who can broker those deals.

There’s no reason an enterprising author couldn’t produce their own audio book and then mint that on a platform like Book.io. They could do the same thing with translations of their books. The only upfront cost would be paying someone to translate it into the language of choice. If that translated version is done as a collectible NFT, the cost can easily be recouped at mint. It would further create profit and more if a mass market NFT book is minted later. Audio books could also be translated and minted in much the same way.

It doesn’t end there. Authors could create book trailers & pilot presentations (like I’m doing), and even short or full length films to go with their NFT books, selling them directly to those wallets that minted their NFT book. Will that obviously cost more to produce? Of course. But what we are witnessing with NFT books is the empowerment of creators; being able to take an idea, write it down and then fully realize all of its earning potential without the need for traditional gatekeepers.

That is awesome in every aspect. An author exploiting the capabilities of NFT books has at their disposal the means to create a rabid fan base around the world they’ve created using every available means of media. Never before has this been possible.

But it soon will be.

NFT Books represent the most groundbreaking revolutionary aspects of creation that has ever existed. And the potential will only keep growing, pioneered by the team at Book.io as they work ever further to expand the opportunities for creators all across the Web3 landscape.

As for me, I’m going to be hanging around the Book Discord server today and also my own (discord.gg/CaDhAMzk) answering questions, interacting with minters, and hopefully watching the excitement build. Mint kicks off at 9PM UTC at Book.io - I hope you’ll grab a copy…and maybe I’ll see you on-set!