Introduction
Do you know it is possible for you as a writer (Technical writer, content writer) to turn your article into an NFT ?. As a writer, you stand a chance to benefit from this new development in the blockchain world.
In the realm of cryptocurrencies, NFTs are a novel concept, but they have the potential to assist independent authors. NFTs are unique, cannot be duplicated, and exist only in the digital domain. Instead of going via the traditional publishing system, writers may utilize them to sell books or poetry straight to people. NFTs are an appealing offer for authors who value their creative independence since they allow them to experiment with form, publish, and make money all at the same time.
In this article, we will cover what an NFT really means, how writers can benefit from NFT, platforms for cryptowriters, and how to transform your writing in document format (.txt .pdf) to an NFT on the blockchain using Codex.
I just felt like saying this, this article is actually and NFT 😎
What is NFT
According to Wikipedia: A non-fungible token (NFT) is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded. Types of NFT data units may be associated with digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from most cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, which are fungible.
An NFT records the provenance of an item. It is a one-of-a-kind digital asset, with ownership documented on a blockchain that serves as a transaction ledger. When an NFT is sold, it is recorded on the ledger (blockchain), which keeps track of who owns what.
Here is the graph showing Google Trend on NFT for the past few years.
NFTs is a tiny component of a larger trend that predicts a transition from web2 to web3 in the near future.
So, what does this imply for writers/authors? An NFT is a receipt that validates the purchase of digital items in their most basic form. When a person purchases an NFT of a book, for example, he or she becomes the exclusive and recognized owner of that book. It's a one-of-a-kind, cryptographically generated receipt that can't be duplicated. Despite the fact that a digital asset, like an eBook, is easily replicated, the NFT comes into play by giving verifiable public proof of ownership. Your book will be read by a large number of individuals. They can even purchase duplicates, but only one individual may claim to "own" it.
An author/writer who wants to sell their digital work as an NFT has an integrated royalties structure for secondary sales. This is not yet available on the book market. When you buy a book in the present system, you may swap and sell it several times. The original author will not be compensated in any way. However, with NFTs, writers can get up to 10% of resale revenues.
Sasha Stiles is an example of a world-renowned writer in the Blockchain / Metaverse field. She is a poet and an artist who is interested in the relationship between language and technology. She mixes art, poetry, NFT, and the digital world as a member of TheVERSEverse group, which transforms poems into art and publishes them on the blockchain. A large part of what they do at TheVERSEverse is to dispel myths about the monetary worth of poetry and to assist poets in selling their greatest work in the form of cryptopoetry.
I recently found that you can attach a Word document, a text, or maybe it is saved in PDF format to a digital asset and then store it on the Ethereum blockchain. This is really awesome news for writers who want to get involved in NFT. It opens up a new world of possibilities! I can think of hundreds of ways a writer could utilize NFTs to grow his business and engage his audience.
Here are a few:
- Make a sale of autographed of your copies
- Make a sale of limited-edition copies of your ebooks
- You can sell exclusive arts or characters in your books
- Creating fandom rewards
- Selling unique news and articles.
Websites for Cryptowriters
- BookVolts: By using NFT technology to protect their digital assets, BookVolts allows writers to earn up to 80% of every sale. BookVolts may provide an alternative to the printing process of hardback/paperback editions by developing a personalized and meticulously created digital NFT book with photographs and graphics from a diverse range of really brilliant artists. Helping writers branch out into multimedia storytelling, whether it's through video, memes, audio snippets, author interviews and insights, maps, family trees, or anything else.
These NFT editions can be made (or coined in NFT jargon) in limited quantities as pre-editions to a print/ebook release date, or as the work's only publication.
Creatokia: Bookwire, a German company that supports publishers all over the world with the publishing and distribution of books, ebooks, and audiobooks, created Creatokia. They have already established the norm for digital publishing. They are currently among the first companies to create an NFT platform for books.
Creatokia would offer material from publishers, writers, and creators all across the world, but they also intended to launch their own NFT collection, Creatokia Originals. The first series is inspired by masters of traditional literature from throughout the world. The Eternal Masterpiece series NFT editions offer stunning stained glass artwork that really sheds a light on the creator and their accomplishments. Each NFT also includes unlockables such as audio dramatizations of classic text sections from each book, which are recorded by top-tier speakers such as Simon Callow or Adjoa Andoh and distributed as digital originals. Explore the Eternal Masterpiece collection and get your hands on the NFT of your favorite masterpiece.
Codex
To validate the authenticity of a collectible, Codex allows you to verify its secure provenance on the Codex Viewer. If you have a digital art piece registered on Codex, you may easily sell it on OpenSea Marketplace. In reality, OpenSea automatically indexes all public Codex Records, thus everything uploaded to the Codex Registry is instantly accessible for purchase on OpenSea. I will list all the steps and procedures to get started with Codex.
Procedures
Step 1: To access this platform, you must Sign-up. You can either sign up with a Web3 wallet, which is free or you sign up with an email that attracts a $100 sign-up fee.
Note: Use the web3 wallet (preferably Metamask) if you have blockchain knowledge but if you don't have any blockchain knowledge, please make use of the email option.
Step 2: Navigate to Collections and click on Create Codex Records
Step 3: Codex allows you to create both Blockchain records and Off-chain records (Free). The Blockchain record is permanently logged on the Ethereum blockchain, it comes with full privacy controls and it can private or public, and of course, it costs 2000 $CODX tokens to create. On the other hand, the Off-chain record is free to create, with no privacy control as it is visible to only you and may be upgraded to a full blockchain record at any time.
Click on the Off-chain record and click Next.
Step 4: Fill in the Basic info such as the name, description, and main image of your digital asset.
Click Next.
Step 5: The Details tab gives you the ability to add more details about your digital asset such as creator name, creation date, edition number, total editions, etc. The options are all optional but very important as it makes your piece unique, so make sure to leave anyone you don't which to fill in blank.
Click Next.
Step 6: In the Additional Images & Files tab, which is the most important part of this steps, this is where upload your creative content (article, writing, or art piece). You can include a variety of supporting documents with your title image. This was designed to allow you to submit proof of physical ownership, appraisal paperwork, etc. I added this whole article as a pdf document and attached it.
Step 7: Privacy is the next tab, it allows you to gain more control over your digital asset(writing or art) such as whether you want it public or private, keep additional files private, and grant read-only access. But unfortunately, these privacy settings are only available for Blockchain Records. Off-Chain Records are only visible to their owner until upgraded to Blockchain Records.
When you're done, simply click the Create Codex Record button once again.
And there you have it, your writing is preserved for all time! The record in this article is Off-chain (free), hence it cannot be viewed or sold. However, if you chose to pay for a blockchain record in the future, you will most likely be able to authenticate and safeguard your asset (writing, art). If you opt to make the record public, anybody will be able to discover this piece in the online register, research its history, and most likely make an offer to purchase it.
Note: A Codex Record's data is not directly kept on the blockchain to preserve potentially sensitive information. Instead, only hashes of the data are kept.
Conclusion
The NFT space is really large and there are lots of grounds to cover, this article is barely scratching the surface. So, I will strongly suggest you practice what you learned in this article and also read more on NFTs, videos, and Podcasts about NFT to get more knowledge. We were able to cover what NFT means, how writers can benefit from NFT, some platforms for cryptowriters, and finally how you can transform your article to an NFT on the blockchain using Codex.
Thanks for reading, feel free to drop your comments below.