PUBLISHING
Notes On The New WIP Publishing Company
The goal of the publishing process is to help authors make money from their written work — it sure isn’t doing a good job, lately, is it?
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Hey everyone! I’ve been absent for awhile, and I want to start writing again! It has been remarkable to join a community of other writers from around the internet and the world to create a startup company capable of taking on the largest players in our industry. None of this would be possible without the open-source ethics and purity of heart displayed by industry insiders and cynics alike when the values we collectively aim to manifest come up in conversation. The MediaTech Ventures Accelerator program I’ve been immersed in the past few months has been wonderfully informative as well, and while I’m at it, the communities of people coming together around these ideas are absolutely stunning.
Over the past year, I’ve become acquainted with crypto and blockchain technology and learned to earn enough money to spin up a startup company despite very humble beginnings. In this article I’ll lay out the background that has led me to the hunt for a publishing solution that can address the needs of writers everywhere. The technology required to make all of this happen does not exist yet, at least not completely.
The Specific Market Aim of WIPP
WIPP aims to solve one problem, over and over again, until the entire process of publishing becomes more attractive for everyone. For authors, this involves credit for written works and financial support — but for readers, it involves the improved access to markets and better experience with respect to ownership and accessibility to works in the public domain. The WIPP #NFTBook Genesis Series NFTs represent the beginning of an iterative development cycle intended to create a Web3.0 optimized experience for books.
The problem is a simple one to state, but will become increasingly difficult to solve as successive iterations of the technology are developed for each new answer to it in turn. Thus far, we have observed three separate answers to the question of what, precisely, could make reading and writing a better experience for authors and for readers:
- January 12, 2021
Back in January, I minted Bring Back Satire to the Ethereum blockchain — and it sold for .1ETH 2 days later. I minted this book to WAX as well, a few months later, but the format was too basic: an IPFS-based PDF link that the user needs to enter separately into a web browser. Here is a link to the text, if you’d care to read it: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmRCWa7kwkhUS4YVLcrE6P49VVgMWPss1xLFjnEj3LHbyD - April 28, 2021
WIP Publishing (WIPP) launched the NFTBook Genesis Series with 8 original titles, minted to the Ethereum blockchain (ETH). These tokens and the ones minted a week later will likely be the last major releases until ETH gas fees drop significantly. Their collectibility will have to do with their novelty, so there are no plans at this time to update them or modify them in any way. Here is what that version of Bring Back Satire looks like. Click the “open item” icon in the top right to get to the good part (shown below using Erick Stow’s groundbreaking HappyMan graphic novel). - May 8, 2021
WIPP launched the NFTBook Genesis Series on the Polygon (MATIC) blockchain, allowing users to purchase without paying an ETH gas fee for each transaction. These tokens are now available for purchase at OpenSea.io and will be periodically updated with new content over time.
Subsequent iterations may be more substantial, faster, and more novel than these few that led us to where we currently find ourselves. In any case, it has all been a great deal of fun thus far and I can’t wait to see where we get to go next!
The Project’s Impact On My Philosophical Work
Truly, the WIPP project has been a lot of fun, but it has caused me to become extremely busy, which in turn has led to my missing a few things I would ordinarily not have missed. To everyone in the Existential Philosophy Reading Group, things are settling down! To the team at Cryptowriter, it’s great to be back! To everyone else, now that we’ve gotten through the Accelerator program, I should have more time. But I reserve the right to run off and experiment with technology and just come back to update you all periodically!
I do not currently have any active philosophical projects I’m involved with, but my daily life puts me in constant contact with both blockchain and artificial intelligence as I work with top-of-the-line developers from around the web to do extraordinary things like changing what the word book means and creating an art project that buys people pizza. What a time to be alive! I do not foresee any permanent need to blog less or read less philosophy books, so we’ll see how long it takes me to get back around to that style of engagement.
I look forward to introducing everyone to the technology we’re creating at WIPP as soon as it’s available, and if you’ve been following me but not this project you should probably go check out https://wippublishing.com right now and get a load of all the techie fun I’ve been having! We also have a mailing list here at the Medium publication so feel free to sign up either here or via the form at our website to get all the latest updates.
To a bright and happy future for creative people, even the writers!
T. Dylan Daniel
WIP Publishing, Founder
Libernet, Founder
PizzaDAO, Pizza Mafia (@PizzaPresser)
Writer.io, Writer
