What is Web3 Publishing? What is an NFT Book?

This article was originally published as my Editorial Notes in Issue 6 of Vagobond Magazine.

What is a book? Does a scroll count? An ebook? An audio book? What about a stone carved tablet like this month’s cover? The Epic of Gilgamesh in Cuneiform – the first book? Does that count? Of course. They all do. What is a book but a story, created and written to be shared through time. Books were the original ledgers and time machines.

We are at an interesting point in time where books are evolving, just as they always have – from stone to vellum to paper to digital. Once again, we have to ask, ‘What is a book?’ Does it include links? Does it have sound? Does it have embedded video? Does it have to be ownable? Sellable? Should books be able to evolve and change over time from interaction with the owners?

Since your reading Vagobond Magazine, you probably know what an NFT is. Just in case – An NFT is a non-fungible-token, a digital item that is given unique digital identifier used to certify authenticity and ownership. As a writer and bibliophile, when I first encountered NFTs, I thought “NFTs are the perfect vehicle for books. NFTs make it possible to collect scarce digital books, for authors to collect royalties from secondary sales, and for story enthusiasts to band together – whether behind a writer or in front of one.”

This month’s Vagobond Magazine pays homage to that newest of creatures in the Biblio-Universe – The NFT Book. We also pay homage to the Web3 communities that have made it a reality. Many of us had the ‘Eureka!’ moment when we saw NFTs – we are the pioneers on this road. Certainly it’s a bumpy road and no one knows where it leads.

In this months Vagobond Mag, Philosopher turned developer & publisher T. Dylan Daniel gives us the lowdown on everything that is happening with PageDao and ReadMe Books.

What happens when stories are nolonger confined to the page? Crayonz explores how evolving character NFTs might change the way we tell stories. Edward Carpenter introduces readers to $LIT and his exploration in Web3 self-publishing Lethargica. New to Vagobond Mag, Sylvie takes a look at whether Web3 publishing inclusivity while Greg R. Fishbone looks at the State of Web3 Publishing, responds to a controversial magazine article, and introduces readers to his innovative and enjoyable NFT project: The Wordlers. New contributor E.R. Donaldson introduces readers to Soltype -because NFT books are on many platforms – not just Ethereum.

All of that plus a look at Jenkins the Valet and the mysterious country of Azerbala which arose from the project, Chapter 5 of my novel Sly Doubt of Uranus, an overview of Nuclear Nerds, Deadhands, Rebels in Disguise, Bookcoin/MetaLibrary, the latest on the Holy Bjble (first NFT holy book) and my updated chip list, acquisitions in August, plus a few quick hits on projects we couldn’t cover in more depth.