The tBook Story

Thank you for reading and investing in yourself. If you’re reading this story, you already understand the intrinsic value of literature. You, me, and our literary siblings might be the only ones. For us, books hold not just the investment of time, research, and learning — they represent an investment in ourselves. Nonreaders and nonwriters often don’t grasp this. It’s sad to think of the years spent chasing a dream: mine and countless others pursuing the fiction of publishing. No more. Today, we take control.

Publishing — especially for the rejected — is a pipedream, regardless of skill. My struggle began in 1988. I revised, refined, and persisted, all to no avail. Like many, I lost faith in the publishing industry.

Self-publishing seemed like a lifeline, but marketing costs quickly crushed that hope. I tried building an audience through article publishing in the early 2000s, only to grow disillusioned with pay-per-click models. Worse than writing for money was writing garbage just to get paid. I was lucky, in a way — my primary income let me walk away and focus on the “real” money-making writing: term papers, websites, marketing content.

Eventually, I was blessed with heart failure. Yes, blessed — because without that wake-up call, I’d still be writing garbage and marketing other people’s garbage. Facing mortality made me realize the value of my time and the importance of meaningful work. I began publishing the pieces that had sat in a box for decades. I might die, but I wasn’t going to leave without leaving my literary mark. I returned to writing online, armed with marketing skills — and still, no audience.

Somewhere deep down, I still believed in traditional authorship. I thought maybe someone would stumble across my self-published work in Amazon’s book morgue, recognize its brilliance, and publish it. That didn’t happen. But something else did — I met Terry Trueman.

Terry is a published author, proud of his Printz Award-winning book Stuck in Neutral and his seven titles with HarperCollins. He’ll tell you about his money and fame — not to impress, but to show he kinda gets it. Despite all his success, Terry sat in his home while I sat in mine, both of us pounding keyboards, trying to recapture the magic of authorship. That’s when I realized: Terry, though still receiving royalties, was just as lost in the publishing world as I’d always been.

How could this be?

How could someone who wrote thousands of term papers, poems, articles, and books be in the same position as someone who had already “made it”?

For three and a half years, Terry and I brainstormed publishing ideas and collaborated on books. Our conversations churned out concepts, but the real problem was always the same: marketing to readers. Publishers aren’t gatekeepers of literature — they’re investors in certain writers. To get published, you must market yourself. That means spending enormous time or money building an audience — often both. Self-publishing turns writers into marketers and distributors, leaving little time to actually write.

Our conversations often circled back to the root cause: capitalism. I’ve written about this extensively, but here’s the short version — capitalism values only what can be monetized. You might think I’m full of it, imagining Stephen King making millions. You might think talent always rises to the top.

You couldn’t be more wrong.

For every artist who makes a living, thousands more are forced to treat their passion as a hobby — or abandon it entirely. We’re so conditioned by capitalism that we assume successful artists are more talented. But most great talent is never even seen. How could it be, when publishers, agents, and corporations act as investors trying to satisfy niche markets with products that require expensive marketing to reach?

Most writers live for someone to read their work. Many would give their books away just to be read. But capitalism steals that opportunity — because art is only “worth” the artist behind it. Which makes no sense, since someone had to invest in that person to make them famous.

So how do we change this self-defeating publishing dynamic and create a system where all writers thrive?

Well, we’re going to give writing away.

I can hear the accusations: “That’s crazy!” Yes, it sounds insane — but hear me out. There’s a way to distribute your books for free and still make money. Blockchain technology allows us to decentralize publishing and eliminate many of the marketing burdens. And the best part: you don’t need to understand the tech to use it.

The tBook app — the platform behind this library — uses blockchain to create a new economy for writers and creators. Your works increase in value simply by publishing copies and giving them away. As an author, you create tBooks in the volume you can afford and need — whether that’s one or a hundred. Each copy costs $1 to produce, and that dollar goes into the book itself in the form of Bitcoin. As more books are published, the value of each book rises. Your first ten tBooks cost $1 each, but by the time you publish ten more, those originals may be worth much more.

Why? Because they’re part of an ecosystem that embraces scarcity and embeds monetary value into your work. If you buy 100 books and keep 50 for yourself, those 50 appreciate in value — because they contain real, redeemable value.

The obvious question: how do I access that value?

Simple. Return to this site, submit your book.db file, and we’ll redeem it for cash — sent directly to your PayPal account. While there’s also a way to redeem via decentralized exchanges, we know many authors and readers prefer simplicity. We offer a straightforward solution that prioritizes your convenience and peace of mind.

This redemption process highlights the strength of the tBook model — allowing investors to purchase tBook tokens on exchanges, further driving up value.

From frustration with traditional publishing to the empowerment of tBooks, this story is a paradigm shift in how we think about authorship and value in the digital age. But the real story of the tBook is your story.

Are you ready to give it away?