Pearson Plans NFT Textbooks for Extortion of Resale Profits

Pearson CEO Andy Bird wants to stamp the company’s e-books as NFTs to maximize profits, in perhaps the most brazen misuse of the blockchain we’ve seen yet. Turning digital textbooks into NFTs will allow Pearson to make money on every resale of an e-book, Bird told reporters while announcing the company’s mid-year financials.

“The transition to digital is helping to reduce the secondary market, and technology like blockchain and NFTs allow us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life,” Bird said. Tracking an e-book’s resale activity would give Pearson the chance to make money every time the digital book changed hands.

Because of their weight and price, physical textbooks such as those made by Pearson traditionally have significant resale value, but the company has never been able to make a profit on these resales. The blockchain – the ever-growing digital record of every transaction made with cryptocurrency – presents a unique opportunity for Pearson to take a cut of this lucrative market. If consumers buy into it at all, that is.

How would this even work? — Exactly how Pearson plans to incorporate NFTs into its business model is unclear. Not even Bird knows for sure.

“We have a whole team working on the implications of the metaverse and what it could mean for us,” Bird said in his briefing.

Pearson already has its own digital textbook ecosystem, called Pearson+, a platform that could likely be updated to include NFT technology. For the system to really work, Pearson needs to make it very user-friendly. Even the most streamlined NFT buying experiences can be overwhelming.

Blockchain Abuse — Bird is right: Blockchain gives Pearson a unique opportunity to profit from the vast textbook resale market. As is the case with many blockchain use cases, however, this isn’t so much a question of whether or not it’s possible — it’s a question of whether or not it’s a good idea to take advantage of that technology.

The reason the textbook resale market is booming is that companies like Pearson charge hundreds of dollars for their materials — books that are often bought by broke students. Students are buying second-hand textbooks because they cannot afford to give Pearson – a company which made £1.78 billion in the first half of 2022 – their already limited funds. Using the blockchain for this purpose will only further leverage the needs of students.

If Pearson implements an NFT-based resale strategy, we expect textbook piracy rates to skyrocket.