Blockchain Publishing Startups Are Poised to Disrupt a Troubled Industry.

Blockchain Publishing Startups Are Poised to Disrupt a Troubled Industry. To learn how and when, we talked to the founders of TxStudios. They are developing a Digimedia publishing platform called CONSTANTPUB that will change the way content is monetized and distributed.

First off, who are you guys?

Andrés:  We’re Sam Shapiro and Andrés Cruciani, founders of TxStudios, a blockchain development company.  Sam Shapiro is a developer, and I’m a writer. We’re building ConstantPub, a blockchain-powered publishing platform.

Well, before we get into ConstantPub, let me ask you this.  Despite the Bitcoin hype, a lot of our readers may not know what the blockchain is.  Can you explain it for them?

Sam:  Well, the blockchain, essentially, is a distributed ledger.  So, whereas a bank, for example, keeps a centralized ledger of all its users’ accounts, you can think of the blockchain as a ledger being held in many different places.  

Why’s that a big deal?

Sam:  Because it’s the same exact information being held, well, everywhere.  So, if a bank is record-keeper, you don’t need banks anymore for one thing.  The other corollary is the smart contract, which is basically a contract “living” on the blockchain.  It’s a contract that executes and enforces automatically without need for a third party. The implications of this technology are perhaps even more astounding.

And is that where ConstantPub comes in?

Andrés:  Exactly! We’re basically taking blockchain and smart contract technologies and applying them to the behemoth of digital publishing.  

So what is it?  What is ConstantPub?  

Andrés:  Well, we’re still building it, but ConstantPub is a platform that will allow creators to publish their content (books, songs, videos, anything digital), sell it, sell the rights, and generate affiliate-marketing links—meaning, users will be able to advertise content and receive commissions on sales they make.  So if I link your book, for example, and someone buys the book through my link, I make money.

And how’d you guys decide to make this?

Andrés:  In truth, I was having a hard time getting my books published the traditional route.  And I thought, if I’m having a hard time publishing (and I’m a decent writer), there must be thousands and hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of others globally having the same problem.  There are just too many creators now. So I wanted a different way of publishing.

So why not just self-publish?

Andrés:  There’s no quality control.  Anyone can self-publish, so anyone does, which means that there are some golden nuggets out there, but there’s also a lot of low quality work.  The idea was to blend the best of traditional publishing—curation, distribution, marketing—with the best of self-publishing—accessibility and cost.

So ConstantPub will be curated?

Andrés:  Eventually, absolutely.  It’s a must.

Why blockchain and not just the regular ol’ internet?

Sam:  What we’re talking about—selling rights to profits and affiliate-marketing—is immensely cheaper using smart contracts.  This cost-reduction only happens with the blockchain.

And why are you confident this will work?

Sam:  Even with the Bitcoin bubble, the blockchain effect has yet to be seen—the tech remains largely untapped.  Someone will apply it to publishing. That happens to be us.

Andrés:  Also, we’re bringing crowdinvesting down to the product level.  You’ll be able to buy and sell the rights to profits (profit-shares) on a single piece of content.  Imagine you could have bought a piece of Jurassic Park.

So it seems like we’re talking about some interesting opportunities for artists, photographers, writers…

Andrés:  That’s who we’re trying help.  These creators will be able to sell shares in their work and pay others to market their work on commission.

Well, let’s say I’m a publisher, influencer, or blogger, how does ConstantPub help me?

Andrés:  If you have a big following, you can post links to content you like, and if anyone buys content through your links, you make money.  It’s a revenue stream.

Sam:  And, again, all this is happening automatically.  So if as a publisher you want, say, twenty-five percent of Stephen King’s next book, you can buy that, market the book, and profit-shares are allocated automatically (to both you and Stephen King).  

When will it be online?

Sam:  This is actually a giant project, so we’re building it in phases.  At the moment, we’re launching an e-store where creators can sell digimedia for Ethereum (a cryptocurrency).  We’re basically doing it to prove we can build what we’re talking about. And our e-store should go live June 24, 2018.

And have you guys found investors?

Sam:  We had an offer of $200,000 for some equity contingent on a $50 million ICO (initial-coin offering), but believe it or not, the offer wasn’t right for us.

Andrés:  So we’re still looking.