Written is revolutionizing digital publishing through blockchain technology, creating a decentralized ecosystem where authors maintain full control over their work while readers gain true ownership of their digital books. Our platform addresses key challenges in the current publishing industry by enabling direct author-reader relationships, transparent trading, and true digital ownership.
The digital book market has grown into a commanding force in global entertainment, with the market research firm Statista projecting its value at $137 billion in 2024, surpassing the combined revenue of music and movies ($125B). The eBook segment alone is expected to reach $23.4 billion in 2024, with an annual growth rate of 4.5%. Over 1.1 billion individual consumers are projected to purchase digital books in 2024, representing a massive and growing market opportunity. However, this remarkable scale masks deep structural inefficiencies that have persisted since the dawn of digital publishing.
The market concentration is striking: Amazon controls approximately 80% of the eBook market in the United States, with this dominance extending to 87% of eBook sales. This centralization has led to an outdated model that disadvantages both creators and consumers. Each year, over 1.4 million self-published books are released through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing alone, yet authors struggle to achieve sustainable income.
At the heart of these inefficiencies lies the author compensation model. Traditional publishers typically offer authors up to 20% in royalties, meaning an author earns just $0.50-1.00 on a $10 book sale. This rate has remained stagnant despite the dramatically reduced costs of digital distribution compared to physical books. Even modern self-publishing platforms, while offering improved rates of up to 30%, still retain significant control over pricing, distribution, and author-reader relationships. For perspective, independent musicians on streaming platforms earn 70% of revenue, highlighting the disparity in creative industries.
The challenges extend far beyond simple economics. Authors face a systemic lack of transparency in their book performance metrics, with a Digital Book World study revealing that only 60% of books bought are ever opened, and of those, 50% are never finished. This means approximately 70% of sold books go unread, yet authors receive no data about this reader behavior. The traditional publishing industry maintains high barriers to entry, with average response times to manuscript submissions ranging from 3-6 months, and only about 1% of submitted manuscripts receiving publishing offers.
Perhaps most concerning is the fundamental disconnect between authors and their readers in the current digital ecosystem. While platforms like Patreon, Substack, and Ko-fi have enabled creators to earn sustainable incomes through direct supporter relationships—allowing many to make an average of $2,500 per month or more—the book industry remains stubbornly intermediated. A recent Authors Guild survey revealed that the median author income has dropped by 42% since 2009, with over 50% of authors earning less than the poverty line from their writing. This separation prevents authors from building genuine connections with their readership, understanding their preferences, or receiving direct feedback. By contrast, digital platforms like Kickstarter and Gumroad empower creators in other fields to crowdfund projects and cultivate engaged communities, showcasing the potential for more direct and profitable relationships that the book industry has yet to fully embrace.
From the reader's perspective, the current market presents equally significant issues. Recent studies show alarming trends: 33% of high school graduates never read another book after school, 80% of U.S. families haven't purchased a book this year, and 70% of adults haven't been in a bookstore in five years. The concept of "purchasing" a digital book is fundamentally misleading – readers are actually buying limited access licenses rather than gaining true ownership of their digital content. A 2023 consumer rights study found that 92% of eBook buyers were unaware they don't actually own their digital books.
The situation is further complicated by the market's skewed structure. While major retailers dominate the visible market, traffic analysis reveals that community-driven sites like archiveofourown.org (ranking in the top 500 global websites), wattpad.com (over 90 million monthly readers), and similar platforms actually draw more engagement than traditional eBook platforms. In fact, these community platforms generate over 665 million story uploads annually, with readers spending an average of 37 minutes per session—30% higher than traditional eBook platforms. However, despite their popularity, these platforms offer limited financial opportunities for authors. Wattpad, for instance, reports that only 1,500 writers have earned money through its paid stories program, a fraction of its vast user base, with many earning far below minimum wage for their efforts. Similarly, sites like Archive of Our Own operate on a non-commercial, volunteer-driven model, providing no direct income for contributors. This highlights a persistent gap between high user engagement and financial sustainability for creators in this space.
These market conditions demand not just innovation, but a complete reimagining of how the digital book market functions. The traditional barriers between authors and readers — enforced by gatekeepers, slow publishing processes, and inequitable revenue models — are no longer acceptable in an age where direct creator-audience relationships have become the norm in other creative industries.
Written envisions a future where authors can publish their work in minutes rather than months, earn up to 90% of their book revenue, and build genuine connections with their readers. By leveraging blockchain technology and the power of smart contracts, we're creating a marketplace where authors maintain complete control over their work while readers gain true ownership of their digital libraries. This enables a vibrant ecosystem where readers can discover new works, build valuable collections, and participate in a secondary market through reselling their books — all while ensuring authors are fairly compensated for their creativity and are receiving ongoing revenue.
This isn't just about implementing new technology — it's about fundamentally restructuring the relationship between creators and their audience. The future of digital publishing lies in empowering both authors and readers to engage directly, trade freely, and build communities around the stories they love. Written is making this future possible today.
Written transforms digital publishing by introducing a decentralized marketplace that fundamentally changes how books are published, owned, and traded. Our platform eliminates traditional industry barriers while creating new opportunities for both authors and readers to engage with digital books in ways previously impossible.
At its core, Written is designed for mainstream adoption, with a focus on user experience that makes blockchain technology accessible to everyone. Our platform spans web marketplace, admin tools for authors and mobile applications, ensuring that readers can securely access their purchased content anytime, anywhere. Unlike conventional crypto-focused platforms, Written abstracts away the complexity of blockchain technology, providing a seamless experience that feels familiar to users of traditional digital book platforms while delivering all the benefits of decentralized ownership.
The platform's architecture enables authors to publish and sell their work directly to readers, establishing immediate connections with their audience. Through smart contracts, we automate and enforce fair revenue sharing, ensuring authors receive up to 90% of their sales revenue — a dramatic improvement over traditional publishing's 5-10% royalties. These smart contracts also enable innovative publishing models, from limited editions to dynamic pricing strategies, giving authors unprecedented control over how their work reaches the market.
For readers, Written introduces true digital ownership in the book market. When a reader purchases a book on our platform, they gain actual ownership of the digital asset, not just a license to access content. This ownership is secured through blockchain technology and highly secure and audited contracts. The ownership comes with real rights: readers can resell their books, lend them to others, or maintain them as part of a permanent digital collection. The platform's secondary market turns digital books into assets that can appreciate in value, creating new opportunities for readers or groups of readers to build and manage their digital libraries.
Our technology ensures that all transactions — whether initial sales or secondary market trades — are transparent and secure. Authors receive detailed analytics about their readership and sales performance, while readers gain insight into their book's provenance and real market value. This transparency extends to the platform's smart contract system, which automatically handles revenue distribution and enforces trading rules without requiring trust in intermediaries.
Security and content protection are paramount in our system. Written employs advanced encryption methods to ensure that while books can be freely traded, they can only be read by their rightful owners through our platform. This approach balances the benefits of decentralized ownership with the necessary protections for authors' intellectual property.
Beyond just buying and selling books, Written fosters a community where readers and authors can interact directly. The platform includes features for readers to discover new works, connect with authors, and engage with other readers who share their interests. This community aspect, combined with the platform's economic model, creates a self-reinforcing ecosystem that benefits all participants.
The result is a robust digital publishing ecosystem that serves both the creative and commercial needs of authors while delivering a superior experience to readers. Written isn't just modernizing digital book sales — it's creating an entirely new paradigm for how digital literature is created, distributed, and consumed.
The Written ecosystem consists of two core components that work together to deliver a seamless reading and publishing experience. The web platform serves as the central hub where authors can publish their work, manage their catalogs, and engage with readers. It also provides the marketplace where readers can discover and purchase books, manage their collections, and participate in the resale market. Each author receives a personalized dashboard for monitoring sales, analyzing reader engagement, and managing their published works.
Complementing the web platform, our native iOS and Android reader applications provide the primary reading experience. These apps are specifically designed to ensure secure content access, offering features like offline reading, progress tracking, and reader customization options. When a reader purchases a book, they gain access to a decryption key that works exclusively within our apps, ensuring content protection while maintaining a user-friendly experience. This dual-component approach allows us to balance the accessibility of web-based publishing and commerce with the security and convenience of dedicated reading applications.
The registration system operates on a "first-seen public key" principle, requiring new users to complete their profile (name, surname, nickname, avatar, etc.) upon initial key detection. Wallet creation is handled through a third-party integration, which creates non-custodial embedded wallets using their proprietary Delegated Key Management System (DKMS) to ensure key security and asset protection:
Magic instantaneously creates non-custodial embedded wallets for your user when they login using any of the provided authentication methods. These wallets utilize our patented “Delegated Key Management System” (DKMS) to keep keys secure and user assets protected documentation.
The smart contract implements standard token minting functionality with a fee structure. The contract supports token transfers between accounts while handling transaction costs. Each token creation records:
Tokens are automatically frozen by the smart contract post-minting to prevent unauthorized transfers without royalty payments. Token transfers with payment are executed atomically in a single instruction. Smart contract functionality will be available for everyone who is building distributed apps for the blockchain, thus frozen mints still can be traded from third-party applications.
The system exclusively accepts EPUB files during the MVP phase to maintain focused development and quality control. EPUB validation includes checking for proper file structure, content organization, and metadata presence. Each file undergoes strict validation against EPUB 3.0/2.0 specifications to ensure compatibility. For security reasons, our system might remove unnecessary scripts that are embedded in the EPUB files to prevent user espionage and targeted cyber attacks.
The upload interface implements HTML5 drag-and-drop API with preventDefault() handling for consistent cross-browser functionality. The system provides visual feedback during the drag operation with highlighted drop zones and progress indicators. File selection through traditional browse dialog is maintained as a fallback option.
The validation process runs asynchronously while displaying a progress indicator to maintain UI responsiveness. The system performs checks for file integrity, format compliance, and content structure in parallel threads. Each validation step provides granular feedback to help users identify specific issues.
The system implements a robust error handling system that captures and categorizes upload failures. Users receive specific error messages with suggested remediation steps for each failure type. The retry mechanism maintains any successfully validated portions of the upload to minimize redundant processing.
The genre selection interface presents a hierarchical structure with clear visual separation between mandatory and optional levels. Real-time validation ensures all required genre selections are made before proceeding. The system provides contextual examples and guidelines for each genre category.
Each tag category has a defined taxonomy with controlled vocabulary to maintain consistency. Tags are organized in a hierarchical structure with parent-child relationships for better categorization. The system maintains a dynamic mapping of inter-relationships between different tag categories.
Pre-designed book cover templates are categorized by genre and style with customizable elements. Each template includes safe zones for text placement and flexible color schemes. The system provides real-time preview of customization changes with responsive scaling.
The deployment pipeline includes automated checks for content integrity and metadata completeness. Smart contract interaction is handled through a queue system with retry mechanisms for failed transactions. The system implements atomic deployment ensuring all components (metadata, content, marketplace listing) are synchronized.
During minting, the server:
The token supply can be limited, with authors having control over supply parameters. Multiple tokens can be minted with a supply of 1 to simulate NFT behavior, with the option to use different cover artwork for each mint.
The conditions of the smart contract can be selected during the smart contract setup and may include:
Content files are packaged in ZIP archives containing:
The distribution flow is implemented in the following manner.
The system ensures secure content delivery while maintaining user ownership verification through blockchain-based authentication mechanisms.
Current token holder initiates resale by:
Buyer initiates purchase transaction
Smart contract calculates final price:
Seller Revenue (70% from selling price)
Platform and Network Fees (10%)
Smart contract executes atomic transfer:
New buyer receives token in their wallet
Reader receives access rights to encrypted content
Mobile clients verify access through:
The system maintains the same security standards as initial sales while ensuring automatic royalty distribution to original authors.
We are able to address a comprehensive catalog of book metadata, which we use to determine if a book has been previously published. With this, we aim to prevent unauthorized re-uploads. More specifically:
These features help ensure copyright protection and prevent unauthorized republishing of content, supporting both independent authors and established publishers.
Written's business model is built on creating sustainable value for all participants while maintaining platform operations and development. Our revenue structure is intentionally straightforward and transparent, focusing on fair value exchange at each transaction point.
The foundation of our business model lies in the primary market transactions — the initial sales of books from authors to readers. For each primary market sale:
The secondary market — where readers can resell their purchased books — represents a key innovation in digital book trading:
Resale Commission: When readers resell their books, Written collects a commission from the transaction value. This commission is split between:
The fee structure is designed to encourage active trading while ensuring all participants benefit from secondary market activity. Authors continue earning from each resale of their books, creating a perpetual revenue stream previously impossible in digital publishing.
To help authors reach more readers, we offer optional promotional services:
All promotional services are optional, ensuring authors maintain complete control over their marketing spending while having access to powerful tools when needed.
Written's business model is built on three core principles:
This business model supports our mission to transform digital publishing by creating a sustainable ecosystem that benefits all participants while maintaining the platform's continued development and improvement.
Written's development roadmap is structured to systematically build and scale our platform while ensuring the highest quality user experience at each stage. Here's how we're bringing our vision to reality:
Each phase builds upon the previous one, with continuous improvements and updates based on user feedback and market demands. Our development prioritizes:
This roadmap represents our committed path to revolutionizing digital publishing while maintaining flexibility to adapt to emerging opportunities and challenges.
The Written team combines deep expertise in both digital publishing and blockchain technology, with key members bringing over a decade of experience in creating successful digital reading platforms and products. Our leadership consists of entrepreneurs and technologists who have consistently pushed the boundaries of how people interact with digital content.
A seasoned entrepreneur and tech visionary, Andrew Baev has spent over 15 years at the intersection of content and technology. His experience spans successful tech startups and major enterprises. Prior to Written, Andrew led multiple successful ventures in digital content distribution and has a proven track record of bringing innovative products to market. His deep understanding of both the publishing industry and blockchain technology uniquely positions him to lead Written's mission to transform digital book distribution.
Shakhzod Ikromov is an accomplished software developer with over 12 years of experience, leveraging his technical expertise and curiosity to drive the development of innovative and successful projects. Throughout his career, he has worked on a diverse range of cutting-edge technologies—from wearable devices as small as ordinary rings, integrated with LTE and Bluetooth, to pioneering online payment solutions during their early stages. His deep knowledge of building and optimizing complex systems will be the cornerstone of Written’s development process, ensuring that every project is not only scalable but also efficient and user-centric.
An accomplished product leader, Olga Alexeeva brings over 15 years of tech industry expertise, including more than a decade shaping digital products for global enterprises across diverse industries. Combining a data-informed approach with user-centered discovery, Olga delivers impactful solutions tailored to market needs. Guided by a passion for resilience and ethical business practices, she drives Written's mission for sustainable growth through cutting-edge digital innovation.
Our team's collective achievements include:
The team brings together essential skills across multiple disciplines:
Every team member shares Written's core vision: that the future of digital publishing lies in creating direct connections between authors and readers, enabled by blockchain technology but accessible to everyone. We believe in building technology that serves creators and consumers while maintaining the highest standards of security and usability.
As we expand, we continue to attract top talent across technical and operational roles. Our team growth focuses on maintaining our culture of innovation while scaling our ability to serve authors and readers globally.
This section outlines important legal considerations and potential risks associated with the Written platform. Readers should carefully review this information before participating in the platform.
Written provides a decentralized digital book marketplace platform. While we strive to maintain the platform's functionality and security, we make no guarantees regarding the following:
7.1.1. Written does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted access to the platform.
7.1.2. The platform may contain bugs or errors despite thorough testing and maintenance efforts.
7.1.3. No guarantee is made regarding the financial success of any published works.
7.1.4. The maintenance or continuation of any specific feature or service is not guaranteed.
Authors using Written retain full copyright and intellectual property rights to their work, subject to the following conditions:
7.2.1. Authors must warrant they have all necessary rights to publish their content on the platform.
7.2.2. Authors are solely responsible for ensuring their work does not infringe on third-party rights.
7.2.3. Written reserves the right to remove content that violates copyright laws or platform policies.
7.2.4. The platform's smart contracts do not replace or supersede traditional copyright law.
The following market-related risks apply to all platform participants:
7.3.1. Digital book values may fluctuate significantly without notice.
7.3.2. Secondary market liquidity cannot be guaranteed.
7.3.3. Past performance does not indicate future results.
7.3.4. The platform may experience market manipulation attempts.
7.3.5. Regional regulations may affect trading ability in certain jurisdictions.
Written operates in an evolving regulatory landscape with the following considerations:
7.4.1. Platform features may be modified to comply with new regulations.
7.4.2. Access to certain features may be restricted in specific jurisdictions.
7.4.3. Users are responsible for compliance with their local laws and regulations.
7.4.4. Tax obligations remain the responsibility of individual users.
7.4.5. Regulatory changes may impact platform functionality without notice.
The following provisions apply to data protection and privacy:
7.5.1. Complete data security cannot be guaranteed despite security measures.
7.5.2. Users must implement appropriate security practices when using the platform.
7.5.3. The platform collects and processes data as outlined in our Privacy Policy.
7.5.4. Third-party services may have access to certain user data as required for platform operations.
7.5.5. Data breaches remain a potential risk despite implemented safeguards.
Written maintains the following rights regarding content:
7.6.1. The right to remove content that violates platform policies.
7.6.2. Authority to suspend or terminate accounts for policy violations.
7.6.3. The ability to modify content guidelines as needed.
7.6.4. Implementation of content moderation systems at its discretion.
7.6.5. Cooperation with law enforcement when required by law.
Users must acknowledge the following financial terms:
7.7.1. Platform fees are subject to change with notice.
7.7.2. All transaction costs are non-refundable.
7.7.3. Currency fluctuations may affect pricing and payments.
7.7.4. Payment processing is subject to third-party terms and conditions.
7.7.5. Revenue distribution depends on smart contract execution and completion.
Written reserves the following modification rights:
7.8.1. The right to modify platform features and functionality.
7.8.2. Authority to update terms of service and policies.
7.8.3. The ability to change fee structures with appropriate notice.
7.8.4. Implementation of new security measures as needed.
7.8.5. Modification of supported file formats and technical requirements.