Cheah on GeekGab!

Yesterday I had the great honour and pleasure to appear on Geek Gab yesterday to discuss Steemit and the Pulp Revolution with Daddy Warpig and John McGlynn. Alas, Internet reception is spotty in my area: there was a lot of static and I got cut out halfway through the interview for a few minutes.

Regardless, here are the main takeaways from the interview, plus some thoughts I didn't have time to articulate:

The Steemit Advantage

Steemit offers three main advantages. First, with the content committed to a decentralised blockchain instead of a centralised server, a Steemit blog is inherently resistant to external attacks and disasters. Second, no external party can alter the blockchain after commits are made, allowing users to bypass censorship laws and agencies. Lastly, Steemit helps users monetise content that they would otherwise post on social media for free.

To add on to the interview, I don't think Steemit can replace a traditional blog anytime soon; it's simply not user-friendly enough to search for older posts or similar posts by the same user. Further, it offers no defense against cyber-squatting. I still maintain a traditional website here, though my first blogging platform of choice is Steemit. Nonetheless, the incentives built into the Steemit platform incentivises everyone to write more, upvote more, comment more and keep improving their writing standard. It's a virtuous cycle that rewards those who invest time and energy into mastering the craft and understanding the system.

Steemit is Self-Regulating

Posts can't be deleted after being committed to the blockchain, and they can't be edited after the payout period. This gives rise to concerns like copyright infringement and (not mentioned in the podcast) harmful content like child pornography and terrorist propaganda.

Fortunately, Steemit is self-regulating. Volunteers and bots like @steemcleaners and @cheetah work tirelessly to identify incidences of copyright infringement, spam and abuse, and flag violators into oblivion. With sufficient voting power, flagging makes posts so obscure they can't be found. Likewise, users who find harmful content on Steemit are also able to flag such posts. To counter flag abuse, other accounts like @seraph will upvote posts to cancel out the effects of unfair flagging.

It doesn't mean all is well in Steemit. Whale wars, flag abuse and disproportionate rewards remain points of contention even today. But it's in everyone's interest to see Steemit grow and prosper, and I'm confident that the Steemit community will develop organic solutions to these issues.

PulpRev is Here to Stay

Steemit offers writers the ability to monetise their stories twice. First by posting them on Steemit, and then by selling them again on Amazon and elsewhere. It's an approach I've used for Invincible, and I plan on utilising it for future stories.

To be clear, you can't predict how much money you'll earn from a post on Steemit. You might get lucky and earn hundreds, even thousands, of Steem tokens. You might make less than a dollar. But the more you work, the luckier you become. Newbies like @jimfear138, @t2tang and @notjohndaker have already enjoyed huge payoffs from their stories, and they are committed to pushing out even more content.

PulpRev is here to stay on Steemit. Everyone who uses the #steempulp tag is part of the Pulp Revolution, and is committed to regularly producing high-energy tales for your enjoyment. In #steempulp you'll find something for everyone: fantasy, horror, science fiction, noir. We'll set the gold standard for all fiction on Steemit.

And on 14 February, we will unleash our first coordinated fiction campaign: SWORDS OF SAINT VALENTINE.

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To learn more about SWORDS OF SAINT VALENTINE, click here.

To read my latest Steemit serial, THE SHANGHAI SONGBIRD, click here.

And for more long-form fiction, check out my Dragon Award nominated novel NO GODS, ONLY DAIMONS.