College textbook maker Pearson eyes NFTs to claim a cut of second-hand sales

NFT advocates often tout the technology's ability to grant the creator a cut of second-hand sales as one of its major attributes. Artists can earn from one of their digital creations years after first selling it. Others are looking at NFTs to earn a buck from the secondary market too, including the publishers of college textbooks.Pearson, which said in 2019 it would focus on digital textbook sales, wants a piece of the action. “In the analogue world, a Pearson textbook was resold up to seven times, and we would only participate in the first sale,” CEO Andy Bird told Bloomberg this week. “The move to digital helps diminish the secondary market, and technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life."There's an obvious reason why students resell textbooks. They're expensive! Students often have to spend hundreds of dollars on required materials each semester — or even hundreds of dollars on a single textbook. Selling on a textbook when it's no longer needed just makes sense.Turning textbooks into NFTs and banking on the blockchain to track ownership of them (from “owner A to owner B to owner C,” as Bird put it) seems unnecessary, though. Digital rights management already exists and doesn't need to go anywhere near cryptocurrency. Pearson has a $15 per month subscription service for its textbooks as well.Bird could simply be bloviating about a zeitgeisty technology to try and keep Pearson's investors... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-08-03 20:10:20 UTC ]
News tagged with: #second-hand sales #nft advocates #major attributes #secondary market #analogue world #makes sense #pearson

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Zakiya Dalila Harris' life inspired 'The Other Black Girl.' Why she had to cut the cord

The former editor explains how she turned her acclaimed publishing world satire into a Hulu series, while learning to 'divide' herself from her heroine. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-09-13 19:57:43 UTC ]
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British Academy Names a Shortlist; Reports on Sales Impact

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-09-12 12:57:48 UTC ]
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Indigo Loses CEO, Reports Sales Drop, Relaunches Website

Peter Ruis has resigned as CEO of Indigo Books & Music, a position he held for a year. The news comes after the retirement of founder Heather Reisman, a boardroom shake-up, and a destructive cyber attack that impacted sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Print Book Sales Fell Again Last Week

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-07 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-01 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Safiya Sinclair cut her dreadlocks and wrote a memoir of pain and poetry

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Scientific journal retracts article that claimed no evidence of climate crisis

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[ The Guardian | 2023-08-25 15:00:14 UTC ]
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‘A tired old show’: Friends writer claims cast deliberately ruined jokes

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[ The Guardian | 2023-08-24 10:34:01 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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[ BBC News | 2023-08-21 06:34:33 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Twitter hands over Trump’s DMs

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[ Engadget | 2023-08-17 11:15:13 UTC ]
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Print Book Sales Fell in All Categories Last Week

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-17 04:00:00 UTC ]
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