Storytellers The World Over, Unite (with AI’s help)!
So, what is Storya’s vision for its creators? We have been talking about an inclusive storytelling platform, but what does this mean?
In our vision, it means a tool that combines:
- AI-powered end-to-end publishing of multimedia projects (we are not huge fans of the word “content” at Storya)
- AI-powered social networking
- Blockchain-powered monetization tools
Publishing
It all starts with an idea. The seed of a great story, or a great message we, as creators, want to share with the world. The blockers today are many: paid tools abound, which already cut off the vast majority of talented creators that have yet to earn from their work, especially if they are just getting started.
Next come the technical blockers: publishing a book on Kindle is a process stuck in the Web of 10/15 years ago. Short media fare better but stifle ambition (and attention spans). We like to work with creators that have massive goals and ambitions. But to achieve these, the technology must be easy or, put differently, mobile-first. Because the world is mobile, especially in emerging markets.
Finally, there are the socio-cultural barriers. Language, nationality, and more. So far, publishing and the creator economy have trudged along as a largely mono-lingual global affair (English), with, of course, huge “regional” market (e.g. China). We believe that is another immensely limiting factor for the creators of today and tomorrow. We can break those barriers, the technology is already there.
How does Artificial Intelligence fit into this? AI is the key to this entire architecture. Imagine putting down a few ideas in words, easily adding illustrations, images, audio narration, and translating said story to as many languages as we like. AI has already opened the doors to do just that. All that is missing is the platform that combines the tools in a friendly way for the mobile-first creator and reader. That is Storya.
Social Networking
In a similar fashion to the last point I made on publishing, social networking has shrunk people’s network (how many pictures of our classmate or neighbor’s morning routine do we really need). We believe AI holds the key to connecting people around amazing stories, slices of life far from our own, some real, some imagined. The latter are my favorite, and I believe new and diverse voices are waiting to share their own imagined futures and distant, magical lands. Big SFF nerd here, guilty as charged!
So, how do we connect distant people through stories? Well, we believe that if they can connect around shared adventures, communities will arise, connected by tools we already have, like live chat translation and more. We cannot connect if we cannot talk to each other, and at Storya we believe the world needs those bridges now more than ever.
Monetization
We believe the creativity and experimentation happening in the blockchain, NFT, and, more broadly, Web3 space are exactly what calcified industries like publishing need. It may not be the sole key to the revolution, but there is certainly enough promise for creators in blockchain-based systems, and the Metaverse that is likely to leverage those, to warrant making a bet. Storya will be going down that path, as outlined in our Web3 whitepaper.
Following the upcoming launch of our first utility-based NFT collection called Storya 2022 Launch Pass, we will begin collaborating with Storya creators directly, followed by the integration of an NFT sales feature in the app itself.
The first project under that umbrella is the 2022 StoryaVerse NFT collection, which will see our top creators feature their best stories in multiple formats and multiple languages, truly a first-of-its-kind anthology. More to come!
As always, feel free to reach out in the comments or to me directly at paolo@storya.app.
Till the next one!
