CHAPTER 14 - The Orange Pill
Five years ago, I knew nothing about finance.
I couldn’t even answer the question ‘What is money?’
Then, one of my clients asked me a different question:
“Do you know what causes inflation?”
@Niko 📚 Konsensus Network was one of my first coaching clients. I was targeting publishers who wanted to improve the quality of their English writing, and he runs an independent press for Bitcoin and self-sovereignty books.
In the Bitcoin community, we talk about the concept of ‘orange pilling’ — helping others to understand the benefits of Bitcoin and escape the Matrix of our financial system. In reality, it’s not as easy as taking a pill; the necessary knowledge requires a long process of learning about economics, history, fiscal policy, computer science, game theory, money, energy, maths, and other topics.
There is often one ‘unlock’ moment (for me, it was suffering through 20% Covid inflation and finally taking action to combat it). After that, the real learning starts. Niko guided me towards many books on the topic, and I began to ask questions about why our financial system is rigged against us.
Bitcoiners favour open-sourcing everything and are against gating ‘intellectual property’. The fact that Niko would provide all his eBooks to me for free made me question my approach to publishing (and the whole industry itself). Perhaps I’ll reflect on this in a later issue.
A few months after we finished our coaching sessions, I hit upon an idea.
I’d just been ghosted by a publisher who had initially shown interest in an anthology idea of mine (a book of nomad stories). Instead of giving up on the idea of editing a book of stories, I suggested the concept of Bitcoin fiction to Niko. He is a big sci-fi fan and saw the value in ‘orange pilling’ people via stories (almost all Bitcoin books at the time were non-fiction theses). In late 2022,
@npub12xy9...vqut was born.
I only wrote one of the stories in ‘21 Futures: Tales from the Timechain’, but bringing an anthology to market requires a LOT of time and input from the editor. I defined the concept, advertised the call for submissions, communicated with all the authors, drew up terms and contracts, selected and edited the stories, worked with the Konsensus Network (the publisher) on the book design, cover, and images, created a marketing plan, set up socials, then a website, blog submissions guidelines, merchandise, and more. I travelled to a conference in Madeira to promote the book and meet the publishing team (including Niko).
While the book has not sold thousands of copies, it’s an important proof of work that furthered the concept of stories and fiction in the Bitcoin ecosystem. 21 Futures has become a bigger project, with podcasts, merchandise, a second book, and an animation in development. All of this became a flywheel of momentum for my involvement in the Bitcoin space, generating more opportunities, leading me down countless rabbit holes, and allowing me to make plenty of friends along the way.
Those sessions with Niko changed my life, and I’ll be forever grateful to him for his patience, guidance, and support (even though he was the one paying me, LOL).
I used to wonder what it took to become an editor, a publisher. For years, I had corrected and edited my students’ work, as well as my own. Essentially, you take the leap and learn as you go (taking courses, reading books, listening to authors). I’ve since edited several books in the space.
There is another saying in Bitcoin that rings true for me:
“You can just do things.”
***
Catch up on previous issues of Unphiltered - the first 20 years of my writing life on Substack and Nostr reads.
UnPhiltered | Philip Charter | Substack
A retrospective of the first 20 years of my writing life. Click to read UnPhiltered, by Philip Charter, a Substack publication with hundreds of sub...
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