August 02, 2022

Textbook Publisher Pearson Plans to Sell Digital Textbooks as NFTs

P Pearson, a publisher of educational textbooks, recently announced its plans to convert its textbooks into NFTs. After finishing their studies, most students no longer require their textbooks. The opportunity for Pearson to profit from second-hand sales is therefore excellent by dropping textbook NFTs that can be sold on the secondary market.

By adding NFTs to its digital titles, the publisher of academic textbooks hopes to gain a share of the secondary market sales of textbooks.

According to a Monday news report, Pearson CEO Andy Bird wants to assign NFTs to its digital textbooks in order to better track sales and recover money that was previously lost on the second-hand market.

…technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life...

Through the move, Bird hopes to use technology to generate revenue from the private, second-hand sales of its textbooks that typically occur between students. Bird observed, "Technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life. The possibility to participate in downstream revenues, I find it really interesting."

Bird added that his company would be looking into ways to take advantage of the Metaverse as Pearson investigates its options with blockchain technology to halt further sales revenues. In the medium term, entering the Metaverse could prove to be very profitable due to expectations that the market cap of the virtual world will surpass $50 billion by 2026.

The publisher, with its headquarters in London, is one of a growing number of academic institutions investigating the Metaverse. The first classroom in the Metaverse was made available by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) last week.

However, some members of the public have criticised the company's plans to use NFTs. Some academics, including Intel researcher Zane Griffin Talley Cooper, have criticised Pearson's "predatory academic publishing," but they also acknowledge that this is "likely where NFT tech is moving." Cooper added, "We gotta watch this stuff carefully." to his tweet from Tuesday.

Posted in News and tagged News, NFTs, Pearson, Publisher, Blockchain, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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