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NFTs are trying to solve for this, but I'm not sure how mainstream that will become.

For instance: https://emily.mirror.xyz/0AFENlMKv9amUC1OJIZY26udpISw_raXkoE...

In this case, Emily crowdfunded her novel using the cryptocurrency ETH. People "invested" in her book buy purchasing the NFT, so that they can later sell their investment again (and the writer will get royalties if they do).

I think this might be a little too out there to become mainstream. HOWEVER, I do think the library model could be tweaked to favor the author.

Right now the ebook library model is based off the physical book library model where the library purchases a certain number of ebooks (say 10) and the author only gets a portion of the royalties on those ten copies, and then the library loans those copies out to an unlimited number of people.

It should be managed more like Spotify- where books can be read unlimitedly, but the author gets paid royalties every time someone reads their book. (Similar to how an artist gets paid everytime their song is streamed). I might actually write about this for a future post.



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