Pat’s been ripped off by publishers and creators.

But there are pirates, scammers and liggers in every creative arena. I’m aware of how some artists have been ripped off by NFT pirates, and that’s appalling. If they do something to piss off Amazon and get their account suspended, that’s it: they’ve lost all their books, not to mention their music, TV shows and movies. And customers who buy one of our Kindle books or comics do not own it: they just have a licence to read it. Hence publishing on Amazon, where we have no control over our account and do not know who our customers are. There is no way of avoiding the capitalist system. It would be a crying shame if indie comic creators stayed away from these developments, wouldn’t it? The rest of the publishing world can move forward, but comics can’t? It’s only a matter of time before Amazon offers an NFT version of books alongside their Kindle edition. Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media company just announced last month a new partnership with World of Women NFT collective: On a corporate scale, DC, Marvel and Disney (to name a few) are already doing NFT collectibles, and whilst we’re no fans of them, it’s clearly going to extend into publishing and become mainstream sooner or later, like it or not.

To only see the scammy, pyramid scheme side of NFTs is not looking at the bigger picture. There are doubtless endless ways to add genuine value to the NFT ‘bundle’. This is already happening in the music industry.

The option to award a percentage of the earnings to each NFT holder.

That bonus content could be a new chapter or story, new artwork, or even an invitation to an event, or a one-to-one creative jamming session.

The option to send bonus content in the future to the buyer of your NFT.

Having a smart contract attached to the book NFT, that ensures we earn a percentage whenever it is resold.

150 signed copies of a book with additional bonus material such as the audiobook version, a variant cover, a new chapter, or a limited edition digital art print.

The ability to create limited digital editions, e.g.

It’s such early days, no one knows the full scope and how it’s all going to shake out, but some key benefits I can already see include: For a good overview, check out this article published by the highly respected Alliance of Independent Authors.

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