Diving into NFTs in the Publishing World with Amelia Tomasicchio

The Non-Fungible Conference took place last week in Lisbon, Portugal, and the HackerNoon team had the pleasure of being present so we could get on-site interviews with interesting people.

In our first interview, we had the pleasure of meeting Amelia Tomasicchio. Amelia is the Co-Founder and Editor Chief at The Cryptonomist. She’s been a part of the cryptocurrency industry since 2015.

She first heard about Bitcoin still in university and decided to enter the world of crypto. Years after, in 2018, Amelia founded The Cryptonomist, a magazine about crypto. Ultimately, the crypto world evolved and became more mainstream by delving into gaming and art. This spiked Amelia’s interest even more since she had studied art when she was at university.

Since Amelia’s been surrounded by NFTs for quite some time now, we couldn’t help but ask her for her thoughts on the best applications of NFTs.

In Amelia’s opinion: “The good stuff is not only the application directly, but the technology that is changing every day, because it allows for digital scarcity. You couldn’t do anything like this before.”

We moved to talking about the publishing industry, where Amelia has gained experience throughout these years while combining it with NFTs.

There’s no way to deny the number of physical books and newspapers is decreasing each second, and it’s no different in Italy, as Amelia explained. That’s where the idea of creating The Cryptonomist came from. Amelia continues to clarify how in this magazine, thanks to NFTs, you can create a community, and encourage people to engage by letting them vote on which articles and topics they wish to read.

This way, the NFT holders have a direct impact and feel heard, and it builds a real community that is involved in the work, compared to the normal public. “They have the NFT, so they can vote on the next number.” The readers have the power to choose whether the issue is about art or photography or even which artist they think the magazine should cover. Amelia continued to explain how this also is a good way to engage with readers while monetizing since a lot of publishing houses are shutting down.

When asked about how the Metaverse could impact the publishing industry, Amelia explained that, at the moment, the magazine is collaborating with Nemesis to organize events with the readers. For example, every Friday they have a sort of streaming with the readers and their avatars, so they can ask questions and chat, like a Q&A, through the Metaverse. This helps people to stay in touch and create an interactive experience.

To finish, we asked why Amelia thinks people in the publishing industry should get involved with NFTs. Amelia's answer was plain and simple “I think everyone should do it because it’s the future.”

Selling covers and articles, it’s a way to monetize. In the future, not knowing about NFTs, would be like someone not understanding the internet today. This affirmation led us to ask why there are still people shying away. She then answered that it’s still a new technology and it can be a tricky subject.

Are you enjoying these short interviews with people in the NFT world? Check out our Slogging AMAs: https://hackernoon.com/tagged/slogging