As a Frankfurt BookFair Business Club 2017 Ambassador I had the opportunity to work with the Fair organisers on creating unique experiences for some important visitors in Frankfurt this year. I was the only African representative.

In the Business Club, I found many of the discussions applicable as learning experiences for the South African Book industry.

Kallimat’s Approach to international business, for example, is interesting. Kalimat has come up with an ingenious way to get their best Arabic literature translated into many other languages and disseminated across many other territories. The key is a partnership format in which Kalimat exchanges titles for translation with other major global publishers. This process guarantees not only translations but also sales – every publishing house uses its own channels to promote work from the UAE in its own market, and Kalimat in turn then sells that publisher’s books in the Arab world.

Kallimat has created partnerships with big foreign publishers like Bloomsbury and others to license popular characters and rights to localise content. This not only creates new industries and fields of work for employment but is a soft diplomacy when our children can understand each other beyond the barriers of language.

A round table with His Excellency, Nigeria’s Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar was full of debate as the German representatives were quite insistent that translations were important where as student delegates felt that translations change the messages authors wish to convey.

The Ambassador proposed a middle ground that would draw more German investment to Nigeria by means of inter-cultural exchanges and pointed out that the marketing had to go beyond foreign-educated African writers publishing abroad. Dr Nnedi Okorafor, the Science Fiction writer was used as an example of how authors are marketed at the Book Fair in German translation

France was the guest of honor, which saw Merkl and Macron open the Fair with thoughts on books as a uniting factor in the world, which is always a promising thought.

It was apparent that Brazil and Latin America are primed for major growth in the book industry. I hung out with the Brazillians after hours and at the annual BookWIRE digital awards night. Colorful caipirinhas at the Brazil stand are now a firm fixture after a long day of negotiating with Publishers.

The weather got better during the week and Saturday was glorious sunshine and light bringing all the school children dressed up as their favourite book characters in some extreme costume play. Dan Brown gave a private reading on the Saturday evening that was very well attended.

Functioning almost as a show-within-a-show, the second annual The Arts+ program at Frankfurt focused, in particular, on robotics and virtual reality within the creative industries.
In addition to 54 exhibitors in The Arts+ area, some 120 speakers from nearly 20 nations were heard on two stages. Their topics addressed aspects of cultural and technological connection, correlation, and sometimes collision.

There were some really interesting interpretations of what happens when you combine big data, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in book related applications.

Facial recognition software attached to cameras in bookshop windows can for example allow a bookseller insight to customers as they approach their bookstore. Using big data, software can tell certain characteristics about the Customer in order for the bookseller to better serve them. It has a pretty good guestimate of demographic segmentation and then determines likely purchasing behaviour. When I stood in front of it, it got my age right and what kind of mood/disposition I was likely to be in.

In academic applications, VR can be used for a myriad lessons from showing the interior of the Egyptian tombs to giving students insight to the human vascular system from a blood cell’s point of view. It is incredibly illustrative. Some difficult mathematical models, three dimensional designing problems and physics challenges can be more clearly defined as concepts that one can see and “touch” which vastly improves the learning outcomes and potential for further enquiry and research.

Augmented reality can be used to show the hidden stories of the world around us with real-time information on the significance of perhaps historical buildings around us.

Other things we need to watch out for: “Social is real. Mobile is real. Millennials are real. These things have an effect on each other, they accelerate each other. So that leads to this exponential disruption” of a market. Doing nothing is not an option. It was an option a few years ago. Before the iPhone, it was a super-valid option to just wait on mobile. ‘Let’s see if people read on mobile phones. Do they download apps?’ Now, waiting is not an option. So look at startups. Learn from them, from their concepts of most viable product (MVP) and speed to market. Start with exponential change,” Maks Giordano told Publishing Perspectives after the Fair. “And then respond. With hyperinnovation.”

By Melvin Kaabwe

https://publishingperspectives.com/2017/10/maks-giordano-the-arts-book-marketing-hyperinnovation/

In a Moneyweb article dated 31 October 2017, Hilton Tarrant suggests “When Tasha’s reports a decline in sales, you know there’s a problem”. Based on Famous Brands’ financial results to 31 August, he suggests that South Africa’s upper middle class are under more pressure than we think. Tasha’s, Turn ‘n Tender, Mythos, Vovo Telo, Europa and other brands in the company’s “Signature” portfolio have all reported negative results. Added to this, Woolworths reported a 0,9% decline in its general and clothing sector. Although same-store sales in its food sector grew by 4,6%, this translates to a 3,8% decline if inflation is taken into account. Shopping malls are visibly quieter. For instance, the Woolworths food queue in Brooklyn Mall used to be 10 minutes long on any given Saturday: on month-end Saturday this September, one could whiz right through to till-point.
Of even greater concern is the sudden decline in private education spend. Tarrant, in the same article, reports declining enrolment numbers at both ADvTECH and Curro, partly due to financial pressure, and partly due to a rapid increase in families emigrating.
Considering that books are still seen as luxury items in most households, all this paints a gloomy picture for the general trade, which duly reflects in the numbers: according to SAPnet, the South African general book trade saw a decline of 3,9% in value in 2017 to date, with 7% fewer books sold. The decline spanned across all categories (adult, children’s, fiction and non-fiction).
South African books had a torrid time in the year up to September. Unit sales fell by 17%, with the average selling price shooting up by 8% from R137 to R148. In contrast, books published in the UK, which make up the majority of books sold SA, held steady on price and units. Publishers cite increased printing costs as the main reason for the steep price increases.
On the positive side, green shoots were starting to appear on the horizon at the time of writing this report. Jacques Pauw’s strictly embargoed book, The President’s Keepers, hit shelves on Sunday the 29th of October, promptly shooting to the no. 1 slot on Nielsen’s bestseller list and into immediate reprint. DA leader, Mmusi Maimane, waved the book at Jacob Zuma in a historical moment in parliament on the 2nd of November, asking him to table his declaration of interests since 2009. Pauw alleges in the book that Mr. Zuma was on the payroll of a security company owned by ANC benefactor Roy Moodley. Together with Redi Thlabi’s explosive book Khwezi, which released at the end of September, Pauw’s book might just have an effect on the political landscape, while at the same time resurrecting a struggling local book market. The launch of Thlabi’s book at Exclusive Books Hyde Park was attended by more than 500 people: a record of sorts for in-store launches in South Africa.
( Insert pic)
Launch of Redi Thlabi’s book, Khwezi, at Exclusive Books Hyde Park on 27 September 2017
General booksellers enter the festive season in trepidation of what Black Friday and the ANC conference might mean for book sales, yet buoyed by the hope that books can still change the world. Benjamin Trisk, CEO of Exclusive Books, stated the following in an internal letter to staff at the end of October:
“October trading was just about the best monthly result we have had this year. There was
a feeling in September that we might be emerging from extremely tight monetary conditions and
October has given us another sense that this might be so. However, we should not think that we
have reached the end of an extremely difficult economic time. Our country suffers when viewed
against every economic matrix you can imagine.”

By Olinka Nell

* All statistics courtesy SAPnet

Will the goal of updating the law for the Internet Age sacrifice creative industry instead?
In December it will be 20 years since South Africa signed international copyright treaties to bring its copyright laws into the digital age. South Africa has still not ratified these treaties and the Copyright Act has not been amended to apply to the Internet environment, resulting in uncertainty for creative industry and consumers alike.
The Copyright Amendment Bill, introduced in May 2017, has the object of addressing this deficiency, but is so poorly drafted and introduces so many other egregious provisions, that it has led to more questions than answers, as well as vociferous debate.
The Bill was preceded by the findings of the Copyright Review Commission which mainly dealt with the application of copyright in the music industry. However, the Government did not carry out any serious study to support many provisions of the Bill, especially new exceptions to copyright that it proposes to introduce, and an independent impact study promised by Government in 2015 never materialised.
In Parliamentary hearings in August this year, the Publishers Association of South Africa (PASA) presented an economic impact assessment by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that they had commissioned, showing the detrimental impact that the proposed “fair use” exception and very broad exceptions for education would have on the publishing industry.
The impact assessment found that the proposed amendments would result in declining revenue from sales of educational publications, a sharp reduction in licensing income via collective management organisations and an erosion of the incentive for the creation of educational works, specifically:
• Weighted average decline in sales of 33% – implies a decrease in sales revenue of approx. R2.1 billion on the baseline, concomitant reductions in GDP, and VAT and corporate tax revenue collections.
• Decline in revenue.
• Reduction in licensing income via collective management.
• Imports to increase as a proportion of sales in the domestic market.
• Exports to decrease as a proportion of total sales.
• Weighted decline in employment of 30%, associated reductions in personal tax collections, equating to around 1 250 full-time equivalent jobs.
PASA pointed out that these findings are largely consistent with a review of available literature on the impact of copyright reforms in Canada and the potential impact of similar reforms once contemplated in the UK.
The 2012 Copyright Modernization Act in Canada has negatively impacted Canadian educational publishers in particular. “The royalties that have traditionally come from our Canadian sister organizations have fallen like a stone since the 2012 Copyright Modernization Act,” said Copyright Clearance Center’s Michael Healy, speaking on a panel at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. But “what has become the norm in Canada,” Healy added, has for some reason become “an exemplar” for other governments around the world. The takeaway seems to be that when it comes to educational use “copy as much as you like, and to hell with the creator.”
Of importance to the South African case is the comment that the addition of “education” as a purpose for fair dealing in the Canadian legislation has meant that both the school and higher education sectors in Canada now claim – for free – the same copies for which they had previously paid license fees.
PASA’s submission to Parliament highlighted specific issues with the Bill:
Fair use: Introduction of ‘fair use’ defence to copyright infringement, which is based on a statutory defence to copyright infringement under the laws in the United States, but admitting more permitted use cases than in the United States (including “education”, “underserved populations”, “public administration”).
User rights – A new right by a “user, performer, owner, producer or author” to claim a royalty for the “use” of the copyright work, which not only runs contrary to the objects of copyright, but does not exist anywhere else in the world.
Parallel importation: Reversal of recognised rules relating to parallel importation, that will undermine the local publishing industry.
Moral rights: Provisions that are held out to be improvements to authors’ moral rights, instead take rights away from authors, specifically in the application of exceptions to copyright.
Limitation on assignments: A limitation on all transfers of copyright to a period of 25 years.
Contract override: A blanket override of all contractual terms by the provisions of the Act, interfering with the freedom to contract and creating uncertainty in every agreement involving copyright works.
PASA’s submission also highlights the changed focus of the Bill from the original directive, which was to benefit the position of authors and performers, to a more “users’ rights” agenda and State control over copyright works.
Following the public hearings in August, Parliament came to the conclusion that the Bill had so many shortcomings, it decided not to return the Bill to Government, but to rewrite it itself. A task team has been established with a directive to have an alternative Bill ready to present to the General Assembly in early 2018, subject to a fresh round of public hearings.
Professional Editors Network (PEN) South Africa is convinced that many of the changes envisioned by the Bill will have a direct and detrimental impact on its members, and indeed all South African authors.
“By granting a set of exclusive rights, copyright incentivises authors and the larger creative industries to expend their skills, talent and labour in the creation of works for the ultimate benefit of all. Copyright enables authors to earn income from their creative work. The introduction of wide-ranging exceptions and limitations would discourage authors from writing books and publishers from taking the financial risk to publish those books, as it would create a climate within which freely copying copyright works for a wide range of purposes is permitted. Other points of objection are the proposed weakening of moral rights protection and the appropriation of state-funded copyright works by the state.”
Lazarus Serobe, who represents the rights of writers and publishers at DALRO, also suggests that the Copyright Amendment Bill places too much emphasis on giving free access to creative works, and not enough on the benefit to creators of those works.
However, there are some copyright scholars who disagree. The Daily Maverick quoted Dr Tobias Schonwetter, from the University of Cape Town, as saying that “fair use” has flexibility on its side and is in line with international best practice.
The Daily Maverick also quoted US copyright academic Professor Sean Flynn at the public hearings in August, who argued that the notion of “fair use” in the Bill should be extended even further in order to cover the digital realm.
Flynn pointed out that it is only because of the US’s accommodating copyright legislation that companies like Google have been able to thrive. Google’s search function and language applications both use copies of copyrighted work. The Google Books function takes it even further, with Google having digitised the books of university libraries in order to make them available for research purposes. This does not substitute for purchasing the book on the market, Flynn argued, because only portions of the books are made available.
“When you introduce fair use you will be giving a green light for innovators,” Flynn told the committee.
PASA Copyright Legal Counsel, André Myburgh, strongly disagrees with this sentiment in a piece written for the Business Day after the hearings.
“We hear about internet search engines and other technological applications, all of which use machines to “read” millions of works with the purpose, it is said, “to expand our knowledge and improve our lives”. This description does not cover the Google Books Project, which started with Google making digitised reproductions of entire book collections of participating libraries and keeping a copy for purposes held by the US courts to constitute “fair use”, namely the making available on the internet of bibliographical data and so-called “snippets”.
“The concern publishers have with this result, which was raised by the Publishers Association of SA at the hearings, was that this case and others are causing US “fair use” law to become — in the words of Jon Baumgarten, former general counsel of the US Copyright Office — “a legal regime that permits regular, concerted, systematic, commercially purposed, 100% complete and uncompensated copying without permission, day in day out, of millions of copyrighted books”.
“The digitisation exercises must have left Google with the world’s biggest library, without having bought a single book.”
Mpuka Radinku, PASA executive director and Copyright Alliance member, told Fin 24 that the association welcomes one of the main goals of the Bill, namely to bring the Copyright Act of 1978 up to date with the Internet age.

“PASA supports the principles of access to copyright works if permission is obtained where required by international treaties and practice,” said Radinku.

“PASA, nevertheless, suggests that many of the provisions in the Bill will need to be re-evaluated, reconceptualised and rewritten. We strongly feel that new rules allowing the state to assume ownership of copyright works made with state funding and the across-the-board overriding of contractual terms should be rejected.”
In PASA’s view, the Bill must do more to improve the protection of authors and publishers in the internet age.
“Whereas publishers recognise that exceptions to copyright are part of the copyright landscape, we contend that, as the PwC report shows, overly broad exceptions are to the prejudice of authors and publishers and interfere with their legitimate expectations to earn from their work,” said Radinku.

Thanks to Andre Myburgh for his expert and editorial input.

http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=16
http://www.publishsa.co.za/file/1501662149slp-pwcreportonthecopyrightbill2017.pdf
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-08-02-copyright-amendment-bill-in-parliament-whose-right-is-it-anyway/#.Wfrj7YZx1E4
https://www.fin24.com/Economy/new-copyright-bill-may-negatively-impact-publishers-pasa-20170802-2
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2017-08-24-reassurances-about-fair-use-benefits-ring-hollow-to-publishers/
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2017-08-24-reassurances-about-fair-use-benefits-ring-hollow-to-publishers/

The South African book industry was abuzz in September and November as two locally published non-fiction titles, both exposing Jacob Zuma, rocked the nation.

The launch of Redi Thlabi’s book Kwezi at Exclusive Books in Hyde Park in September stood apart as the only book launch in the history of the country that was so well attended it had to be held in the concourse of the mall with people standing on the upper levels as if in a stadium. Over 500 people attended the event which received huge media attention. In a country where book launches are normally attended by a small crowd of the usual suspects, this really was unprecedented.

Just a few weeks after this watershed moment in the SA book industry’s calendar, the top secret and embargoed The President’s Keepers – Those keeping Zuma in Power and out of Prison by investigative journalist Jacques Pauw, launched at Exclusive Books Hyde Park to a crowd of nearly 1000 people, again in the concourse of the mall, with a giant Christmas tree and big screens lighting up the action. That is until the power was mysteriously cut and the back up generators failed to kick in. Nevertheless, the people stayed and Jacques Pauw carried on signing books with a cell phone flashlight.

For some, the launch represented a rallying point against the scourge of state corruption. The action against the book has provoked solidarity from civil society both locally and globally. The President’s Keepers is being reviewed and featured in global media from the Guardian to the Financial Times and as the controversy surrounding it escalates, so does the interest.

For others the hype surrounding the book itself, along with the sales generated, is simply exciting.

Pauw’s book was officially sold out of its first print run of 40,000 copies, before it was even launched and the new run of 30,000 is largely pre-sold. Exclusive Books sold 3455 copies on the day it hit the shelves and it shot to the top of the Nielsen best seller list. It is now recorded as the fastest-selling book since official Nielsen data gathering began in 2004.

“Together with Redi Thlabi’s explosive book Khwezi, which released at the end of September, Pauw’s book might just have an effect on the political landscape, while at the same time resurrecting a struggling local book market,” says Olinka Nell in her report on page 9.

Pauw’s book is also being widely circulated – for free – as a PDF via Whatsapp, which has stirred up another debate in the publishing world around copyright, the illegal sharing of digital media and the future of the book, a topic dealt with in this issue of Bookmark on pages 22.

Pauw’s opinion is this: “If you have a PDF copy and can afford to buy a book, please do it. Erase the PDF and buy a book or the kindle version. If you cannot afford a book, go for it and read it. You have my blessing. This is not about money…”

It is an interesting angle to take considering how much hard work went into the book and how Pauw endangered his life to bring it out.

In this edition of Bookmark we also look at the South African Literary Awards, the SA Book Fair, Frankfurt, the Blockchain, Puku Children’s Literature Foundation, Audiobooks, and BELA.

It has been an interesting year full firsts, full of change. I hope it continues in the same vein next year. Until then; Merry Christmas, happy holiday reading and happy new year.

Jessica.

Blockchain, the technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. is the world’s leading software platform for digital assets. Offering the largest production block chain platform in the world, Blockchain is using new technology to build a completely new and “radically better” financial system.

“We are on a mission to build a more open, accessible, and fair financial future, one piece of software at a time. Our technology is revolutionizing the financial services industry by empowering millions across the globe to authenticate and transact immediately and without costly intermediaries,” states the Blockchain’s website.

There are many that think the hype around the blockchain is a bubble that will burst, but it could have a profound effect on the publishing industry as a whole. The Alliance of Independent Authors, (ALLi) and licensing marketplace IPR License, are both taking it very seriously. In fact Alli has set up a committee and a campaign called the Blockchain for Books to investigate the opportunities and present a white paper of reccommendations. Led by Orna Ross, an Irish author, and the founder of ALLi who has been named one of the top 100 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller, the white paper, when released should be of great interest to the global publishing industry.

What exactly is this blockchain?

The blockchain is new technology, which, while launching an entirely new financial model, is also likely to underwrite the next disruption in publishing, a widening of the concept of intellectual property and the next digital revolution.

The Blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured. “The blockchain allows one person to transfer a unique piece of digital property to another in a way that 1) is guaranteed safe and secure; 2) open, visible and agreed by all; and 3) cannot be subsequently modified.”

The blockchain is a decentralized model that relies on the agreement of the peer network in order to process the next set of transactions so no individual or organization can subvert the rules that have been established, and the currency traded is Bitcoins.

The Bitcoin as “a cryptocurrency which is not owned by any individual, government, or organization. It allows for transactions to occur outside the traditional financial frameworks and fiat currencies.”

How does it affect the publishing industry?

Alli proposes that the Blockchain will impact Copyright. “The piracy of digital files becomes much more difficult, as the blockchain cryptographically time -and person- stamps the act of publication (and, indeed, of creation through earlier stages of the process, if we want). Ownership becomes indisputable,” says Ross.

“Following on from clear ownership are contract rights and property rights. Automated digital “smart” contracts will be able to simultaneously represent ownership of an intellectual property and the conditions that come with that ownership. Such contracts will be able to automate rules, checking conditions and taking actions with minimal human involvement and cost. Goodbye to lawyers who are too expensive for, and don’t speak the language of, individual creatives,” she continues.

In Alli’s vision, “The blockchain allows authors to become the first calling point and information hub for the work they have created and to credit all who have contributed and collaborated. The blockchain allows us to forward a book, directly from author to reader, without any middle-man, freely or for bitcoin exchange.”

It is the removal of the middle-man and putting authors first in the value chain that most excites ALLi.

“ALLi’s aim, as an indie authors’ association, is to advocate for and lend our support to those who are serious about creating an author-centric financial model for books. Such a model would maximize the value of the authors’ moral and monetary rights and intellectual property and pay the author first, not last, in the chain. We contend that the money flow should begin with the creator, that the creator should be the entry point of payment.”

IPR License development director Tom Cox believes that blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way Intellectual Property (IP) is traded.

IPR License development director Tom Cox shared some insight with Porter Anderson of Publishing Perspectives recently and he describes the tech behind the Blockchain quite succinctly. Cox believes that blockchain has the potential to revolutionize the way Intellectual Property (IP) is traded.

Cox shared his ideas around the Blockchain with Porter Anderson of Publishing Perspectives recently. “There are now platforms such as Hyperledger and Ethereum that allow developers to build on top of a distributed blockchain infrastructure, which should greatly reduce the time-to-market needed to develop blockchain-based systems,” he says.

“Rights management is, in many ways, similar to financial processing, in that trust is the core component. At present, that trust is provided by large institutions and the complex contracts that describe the ownership, use, re-use, translation, permissions and royalties associated with a product. These rights often cross company and country boundaries,” explaines Cox.

“If we imagine that the industry remains much as it is today, one possible path would be to establish a blockchain network of publishing industry rights trades. Over time, this ledger of rights could become the definitive source for searching and establishing the authoritative rights holder. This shared ledger means that there’s no one single company that’s holding the data and that the ledger itself is always an accurate reference.”

“Publishers would have an incentive to take part in the initiative, as it would reduce the discovery and coordination time associated with searching for and establishing new contracts.”

“The network would be able to provide real-time details about rights holdings across the industry without the need for a central authority to police this. The blockchain ledger wouldn’t be a replacement for existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Instead the current systems could publish key life-cycle events to the blockchain.”

“If we were to take this a step farther and look at a more disruptive implementation of blockchain, it would be possible not only to store the record of products and rights, but also to implement “smart contracts” enforced by the design of the network. Smart contracts don’t just contain the terms of a contract but also can act in programmed ways, delivering aspects of an agreement once specific terms are fulfilled. If connected to additional resources, such as distribution networks as well as online and physical stores, the contract could automatically deal with recouping costs and paying royalties. When a new contract or a change to a contract was published to the network, the time needed for this information to be available to all nodes would likely to be minutes. If the contracts were sophisticated enough, the complex area of royalties could be handled in almost real time by the system.”

“Some advocates of blockchain suggest that eventually the technology may be sophisticated enough that instead of our current corporate model, we’ll operate with “decentralized autonomous organizations” (DOA)—a distributed corporate model enforced by the setup of the smart contracts that capture the organization’s goals and processes.”

This is a model that could replace the siloed functions of publishing companies with distributed services and could allow content creators much greater oversight and flexibility in how their work is published and disseminated. However, such a model is yet to be proven in any industry, and until the necessary building blocks and technologies are in place, this is only a pipe dream and one which may never come to pass.

The Challenges

“It’s hard to see how such a network could be built without the support of publishers and while the benefits can be clearly laid out, we’re likely to see resistance to this level of change,” says Cox.

There are other challenges to this model and though exciting, the blockchain is far from perfect, as Stefan Thomas points out on Medium in an article titled: The Subtle Tyranny of Blockchain Re-learning old lessons about shared state, which is well worth a read. Some of the more debated concerns centre around security. The environmental impact of all the tech is also huge as the ‘mining’ of the blocks takes enormous amounts of computing power.

“Depending on how it develops, blockchain could go the way of so many technologies now consigned to the dustheap. It could be used to reinforce the status quo or further embed existing privilege. For now, this is an open moment,” says Ross.

“We could just sit back and observe the blockchain and see but by actually advocating for it, we can shape it and we can perhaps help mould how it develops in a way that is advantageous for authors.”

“The scenarios described here are just some of many possible implementations that blockchain that could affect the publishing industry. While much of the current hype around blockchain is certainly unfounded, there’s definitely great potential in this model.
We believe that the publishing industry should be investing in and understanding this new and disruptive technology in the same way that financial institutions have been. It’s certainly an area that IPR License is going to continue to research and develop,” concludes Cox.

https://iprlicense.blog/2017/09/29/blockchain/

Blockchain and Potential Implications for International Book Publishing

https://medium.com/@justmoon/the-subtle-tyranny-of-blockchain-91d98b8a3a65

https://selfpublishingadvice.org/indie-authors-are-we-ready-for-self-publishing-3-0-part-2-blockchain-for-books/

https://cointelegraph.com/news/8-best-sources-to-study-blockchain-technology