I’ve stopped advertising on Amazon. 

And Facebook.

I’ve stopped subscribing to author services that “funnel” readers into my newsletter sign-up in order to get free ebooks. I’ve stopped worrying about my ranking on Amazon or how many reviews I have on Goodreads. I don’t chase viral trends on TikTok for #booktok or any of that. I’m not actively trolling social media looking for ARC readers in the hopes their reviews will spur some sort of buying frenzy on Amazon or elsewhere.

I don’t need to do that anymore.

On November 4th, I minted the first book in my bestselling Lawson Vampire series, THE FIXER, with Book.io. In full disclosure, it did not - as had the majority of previous mints - sell out right away. It did sell over 1500 copies within an hour or so but it took me an additional two weeks to finish selling the book out. 2750 copies in two weeks is good thing for any book - traditionally-published or otherwise. And while I was at first disappointed that it didn’t sell out as fast as previous mints, the time I spent pushing sales on Twitter BE (Before Elon) gave me a real opportunity to interact with more readers and minters who went back and minted even more copies of my book.

And that’s why I’m really excited about the future.

Ten years ago (thereabouts), a brand new sensation hit the publishing airwaves: ebooks. Digital files of books that you could download and read pretty much anywhere. And then Amazon introduced the Kindle and things changed…a lot. 

Back then, the naysayers said there was no way people would ever give up printed books and that ebooks were simply a fad. While it’s true many people still do love printed books, a whole lot of people really do enjoy ebooks and being able to read them everywhere. 

Back then, the naysayers claimed that in a year or two, ebooks would be forgotten about. But they haven’t been forgotten. Not by a long shot. Ebook revenue in 2022 is projected to reach $13.62 billion USD and market penetration will be around 15% by 2027.

So much for being a passing fad.

What will change, however, is that ebook consumers will want to actually own what they “buy.” Right now, they can’t. Not unless they do a direct sale through an author’s personal website and get that actual digital file. Amazon and other e-tailers only lease the product to them. As more readers become attuned to this reality, they will start to look for ways to ensure their ownership is protected.

NFT books are the solution.

The current barriers to mass adoption for NFT books are few, but still somewhat complex. First, there’s a general distrust of the crypto markets (sometimes for good reason) in general. Second, the process for purchasing NFT books is currently cumbersome. And third, the only way to currently read NFT books is on the website where you mint them.

Three obstacles standing between novelty and widespread adoption. 

That’s it.

The solution to the first obstacle is simply time. As more shady crypto projects fall away and oversight helps firm up the foundations of crypto, people will start exploring it again. The truly great projects will rise to the top, of which the team behind Book.io are certainly one of the very best.

The solution to obstacle two is technological. The process for buying an NFT book needs to be as seamless and simple as clicking a “buy now” button on big retail websites. It shouldn’t matter whether you use Cardano to buy it or some FIAT currency. Your bank or crypto wallet should simply do all the exchanging behind-the-scenes; you shouldn’t have to buy a currency at one place, exchange it, and then transfer it elsewhere to mint. Once that tech is developed (and it probably is being developed right now) then there won’t be any real friction left keeping people from minting.

And as for the third obstacle, that is also technological. But the team at Book.io is working on a mobile reader that will allow minters to read their purchases anywhere. That’s huge. And it’s coming soon. 

So with all of that said, why am I abandoning the so-called “tried-and-true” practices that most authors have been using since ebooks became a thing?

Because they don’t work well enough to justify the expense. All of the advertising in the world is really just a guess. Sure, you can test and re-test ad campaigns on Amazon (and they’re all too pleased to encourage you to keep experimenting) trying to find a decent ROI. But even the best ads don’t garner enough sales unless you’re prepared to spend huge. 

And those author funnels? Most of the time all you attract are people who want a freebie ebook. They don’t engage, they don’t care about the book itself or the author behind it.

As for TikTok, the salad days of #booktok are probably already waning. Once TikTok figured out they had a potential goldmine on their hands, they started figuring out ways to monetize it and work their algorithm to its maximum earning potential. Sure, some folks have had tons of success with it. But are the odds in your favor? I highly doubt it.

Instead, I’m spending my time interacting with a brand new audience - one comprised of eager readers and early adopters who have a vested stake in this new frontier. They’re intelligent, savvy, and enterprising. And they love having conversations with authors about their books and the worlds they’ve created.

Public social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are limiting interactions unless you pay to be seen. That’s the simple truth. Private social media platforms like Discord don’t throttle posts and they don’t have annoying algorithms that change every few weeks as they try to squeeze more pennies out of users.

Roughly 850 people minted THE FIXER. 850 people who are brand new to the world of Lawson and the adventures that have been written thus far. And they are all reachable using Web3 tech or on the Discord server. I can reach out to a wallet address and airdrop a special thank you NFT to them. I can post a question on Discord and not worry that it will get lost amid a swirling maelstrom of supposedly curated newsfeed items served up by an anonymous algorithm whose only true function is to improve the bottom line of a massive corporation.

So why would I waste time and money trying to find readers through advertising or TikTok posts or book funnels or ARC giveaways when I can instead focus on people who actually have minted my book and reward them for doing so? 

By concentrating on those people who minted THE FIXER, I can interact with them, I can prime the pump - so to speak - for the next mint of book 2 in my series, THE INVOKER on 12 December, and I can attract new readers who may not have minted THE FIXER but see my activity in the community and want to support new authors in the space. All of these things and more are so much more fruitful than simply tossing money at the wall and hoping something manages to stick until the next iteration of an algorithm renders it useless.

After all, if you ask any author - and I’m including myself here - the goal is to have enough time to write the books that we want to write. I never relished the thought of spending hours on social media posting tidbits and quips and videos and hoping something went viral enough to launch my book sales. It’s draining, quite frankly, and wholly unfulfilling.

These days, I can concentrate on getting my writing done and then genuinely enjoy interacting with minters and readers on the Book.io Discord server or my own. It’s immediate and immensely gratifying; the community that is emerging for NFT books is fun and rewarding.

So yes, some authors will no doubt shake their collective heads and say I’m taking too big of a risk by cutting out all of those usual methods that web2 authors are using to try to find new readers. 

But I don’t care. 

I’m not a web2 author any longer; I’m a web3 authorpreneur in the NFT book space…and I couldn’t be happier and more excited about the very near future. I’m building vertical integrations into a massive ecosystem around the universes I’ve created in my books - the ability to scale and expand in all directions is finally here. 

This is the dawning of the age of true creator-owned intellectual property maximum exploitation. (And I’m using “exploitation” in the best sense of the word.)

Anything is possible.

And thanks to the awesome team at Book.io, I’m here for it.