Soltype

For as long as there have been words, there have been stories. For as long as there have been ways to put these stories to paper, there have been books. While the medium in which we read books has changed over the years, the fundamental place of books and stories has never wavered. 

Books of the past, present and future

Libraries have always provided a safe place for books to be consumed, free of charge. Bookstores like Barnes & Noble offer physical stores to get lost in a sea of tales, finding the perfect book to sink your teeth into. 

Online retailers like Amazon let you order straight to your home, eventually turning the physical page into an electronic escape with tools like the Kindle. Audiobooks have taken off and can help pass the time on road trips or the long commute to work.

The technology of books, like almost every other industry, has continued to advance. Soltype is looking to take the next step of that journey by bringing books to the blockchain. They're storing the data permanently on the chain and providing authors an alternative way to take control of their stories. No longer will they need to go through a publisher to put their works out to the masses, and therefore can earn a higher percentage of sales.

How does Soltype work?

Think of it as a library meets Amazon meets Kindle. A book will be minted on the Soltype platform. For example, let's use their first scheduled launch: RIGLAN. There's 1,001 total supply at the cost of 3 SOL. If you mint one, the book will go into your account and show you as the owner. Within your account, you can decrypt the book, allowing you to read it. Encryption is a crucial part of protecting against just anyone from being able to read the book and is also a remarkable technology with other use cases on the blockchain.

You read the book. Now what? Well, now you can list it for sale like any other NFT. Essentially, it's a resale market for eBooks. It's like a library because there are a finite amount of copies of each book. It's like Amazon, a retailer you can buy books from. Finally, it's like Kindle because you're reading a digital copy, not a physical book. The author will get a percentage of the mint sales and a royalty on all secondary sales. Given the finite supply, the value of owning a copy could easily climb if the book is popular.

Of course, achieving mass adoption will take a lot of work. A high-quality selection of books will be required, for starters. RIGLAN is written by Benjamin Jackendoff, also known as B. Earl. Ben is a writer for Marvel, and has worked on things such as Werewolf By Night and Deadly Neighborhood Spiderman. You can read more about the story of RIGLAN on the launch page. 

Users will need easy access to their books, including mobile viewing, which is currently not live. This feature will be a priority to get up and running as soon as possible. Rewriting how we read books is going to take a lot of work. However, this is an excellent use of the blockchain and has the potential to reshape the book industry. If there's a book you want to read and the only way to read it is by purchasing an NFT, then by default, you're going to onboard to NFTs.

Also, if the resale market is consistent, you can read books for free while helping the author. If the mint price is 3 SOL and the floor holds at the mint price, you can read the book and sell it for what you paid. The author will still get royalties, and everyone will be happy.

Again, this is going to take a lot of work. Soltype is the exact kind of project that Radar proudly supports. We're happy to announce our partnership with them and will help guide them along as best we can.

We look forward to finding new ways to further this technology and onboarding the next wave of book readers to the blockchain.