The crypto currency craze has finally been stunted by reality. The crypto market crashed as the Dow Jones approaches bear territory last month. Stocks, upon the economy’s return, will bounce back. They always do. But fake digital crap parading as currency and failing as a commodity, seems to have an uncertain, if not uneven fate. So, what does this mean for book publishing?
Block chain technology, the backbone of crypto currency, could outlast economic downturns. It’s a new way to track transactions and follow the lineage of any item or creation. NFTs, which use block chain technology, are connected to crypto. First, you can’t buy an NFT without crypto. Second, if the NFTs can’t hold their inflated values, they will have a short future.
If you look at things objectively, which is hard to do, your gut would say that NFTs are really nothing and crypto is a joke. And for now, that’s a safe stand to take. But, in reality, this technology appears here to stay,
At some point, the market will have a way of establishing value, and NFTs will get collected, traded, and sold like any artwork, memorabilia, or historical artifact/document. Crypto will be needed but it may not replace money or national currencies.
The lure of NFTs and crypto is that anyone can buy and sell things and make up prices as they go. You could get lucky and make a huge profit if you make quick transactions.
However, the drawback is the same: You can easily and quickly overpay or get burned.
Sure, authors can sell NFTs that are book covers, even pages of a book, or a whole book. Early on, everything is new, boundless, and unknown. But it’s a gimmick. Eventually, we’ll see there’s not much of a market for useless things that seemingly are far from unique. They can be replicated. They only live in our digital devices. We can never hold it, display it, or really feel like we own anything.
NFTs are like IPOs. Everyone wants to launch a new company, take it public, and sell shares to investors. Many companies that have IPOs have not turned a profit at the time of the IPO. Investors merely think an idea is good and that somehow it will be a profitable venture, One’s faith that an NFT will go up in value is one I find hard to support. I wish it would be true. But there’s not much to go on.
Then again, what’s anything worth? Why are famous paintings worth 100 million dollars or an old baseball card $300,000? Well, scarcity and unique value. There are only so many Van Gogh paintings or Micky Mantle mint condition baseball cards out there. But an NFT of a photo one would otherwise post on Instagram is supposed to be worth huge sums? Don’t be a sucker!
Let’s all get a microloan or raise money on a crowd funding sites. Take that to buy some crypto and then sell some NFTs. Geeze, just look at these sentences. What has the world come to? Eh, whatever, just Tweet about it or go on a blog tour to encourage people to attend a virtual summit. Then write an e-book about it and stream the audiobook. This is our new world.
Okay, okay, I must stop sounding like a curmudgeon. Let’s see if we can exploit this new technology to help today’s new author and publisher.
First, wait for the dust to clear. Rather than be drawn to NFTs that go for millions of dollars, think downscale. Imagine if NFTs could be worth something- five bucks? Twenty? A hundred? If we make it reasonable, it has potential. When the pricing is wildly erratic and high, no one really feels secure.
So, if you can sell limited editions of a book as an NFT, you might get some nibbles. If the NFT version can be different than the version the public will eventually access in regular content formats, that would be a plus.
Second, for NFTs to settle into a market, crypto would need to also settle down. Who wants to buy something that can go down in value twice -- once because a NFT is not perceived as rare, new, or cool and once because the funds used to buy it drop down in value?
Eventually,
NFTs will have some use. Block chain technology is cool. But as of today, NFW
do I recommend you buy an NFT unless you don’t care about money-- or you hope
to quickly resell it to other idiots hoping to keep the Ponzi scheme going.
Please
Contact Me For Book PR Help
Brian Feinblum,
the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors promote their story,
sell their book, and grow their brand. He has 30 years of experience in
successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres.
Read
These Posts
Blogging 101 For Authors
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/blogging-101-for-authors.html
Authors: Don’t Accept Anything But A
YES
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/authors-dont-accept-anything-but-yes.html
How Can Authors Work With Non-Profits?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/how-can-authors-work-with-non-profits.html
Is Free The Way To
Book Riches?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/is-free-way-to-book-riches.html
Advice
For Authors Who Say Nothing Works
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/07/advice-for-authors-who-say-nothing-works.html
Do
Literary Agents & Authors Need Couples Therapy?
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/07/do-literary-agents-authors-need-couples.html
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/05/why-bad-books-outsell-yours.html
The Truth That
Authors Need To Hear
https://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-truth-that-authors-need-to-hear.html
About Brian Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter
@theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2022. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and
Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This blog, with
over 4,000 posts over the past decade, was named one of the best book marketing
blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and
recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing
blogs. It was also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For
the past three decades, including 21 as the head of marketing for the nation’s
largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has
worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along
with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth,
Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey
Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Susan RoAne,
Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a
panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, IBPA,
Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers
Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, and Connecticut Authors
and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published
in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News,
Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The
Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun
Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information,
please consult: linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.