Literary NFT Beat
We are on hiatus until the end of summer! Get outside!
(Updated Mondays- Find the latest at https://vagobond.com/literary-nft-beat/)
Compiled by Greg R. Fishbone at Cryptoversal Books and the NFT Bookstore
My app bio at http://greg.app.bio includes a blog of collectible NFT thoughts.
The Lunar Eclipse
Web3 news of the week was dominated by the implosion of the LUNA/TERRA ecosystem and its depressing effect on the crypto space. The news focused on cryptocurrency speculators and their investment losses, overshadowing the devastating blow to the development community, its innovative dApps, and the artists whose works were exposed and distributed through Lunar galleries and marketplaces.
It was a sobering moment for creators, especially those just entering the space and looking around at an array of options on which to build their platforms and release their works. These blockchains are all built with the potential to last forever, but the economic reality we must contend with is that any one of them can implode at any time—although as we’ve seen from LUNA, an eventual crash becomes much more likely for blockchains that rely on an algorithmic stablecoin.
My advice for authors is to diversify, conduct thorough research, and choose their blockchain platforms wisely.
Cool Project #1
InkyNFTs is a curated literary NFT platform. Currently, it provides publicity, promotion opportunities, and community connection, but also has aspirations of providing marketplace services in the future. Keep an eye on this one!
Homepage: https://www.inkynfts.com/
Cool Project #2
KGP NFT collaborates with artists to create limited edition NFTs focusing on contemporary photography and works on paper that address issues of race, identity, equity, gender, sexuality, and class. What makes them a literary NFT project is the connection of Web3 with printed matter in the form of physical photography books.
Homepage: https://www.kgpnft.com
Project Updates
I’m not as prolific in my fiction as I’d like to be. I could make excuses if I wanted to. I’ve suffered some recent life disruptions. I’ve been deeply involved in business planning for Cryptoversal Books and the NFT Bookstore. I’ve been devoting large chunks of writing time to an equity project I’m passionate about. But although progress has been slow, personal creative advancement is being made on numerous fronts.
I’ve finished drafting the first chapter of MEDUSA, a novel I’m writing in collaboration with the Medusa Collection community and Mythoversal Studios, billed as The DaVinci Code meets Circe. I’ve been focusing on developing a mythology and magic system that can serve as a framework for a larger series and modern-day characters that can support their own set of stories. It’s early, but I love the direction this is taking and will have something to share soon.
I’m editing the 100-Words Collection of literary NFTs from the Cryptoversal NFT Author community. We’re working toward a collection of 100 words with literary definitions that span the full range from somewhat humorous to profoundly humorous.
I’ve started a project with a tentative working title of Welcome to East Snarkington. Details forthcoming. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.
Cryptoversal on Facebook
100 Words NFT Spreadsheet
—GRF
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Listings are not an endorsement of books or services.
Lit NFT Organizations:
So many formats, so many blockchains, so many promising experiments…
🆕 Advants (Website | Twitter) – A Web3 incubator for authors that offers Kickstarter-style fundraising through NFTs and fan communities.
Alexandria Labs (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Literary NFT publisher and marketplace. Enabling NFT annotations.
Annie’s Bookshop (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Publisher of generative NFT books in MP4 animation format.
The Atheneum Project (Website | Twitter | Discord) – AI-generated poetry creation tool and literary NFT publisher.
Barewords (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Publisher of NFT poetry in text-on-image format.
BookCoin (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Publisher and marketplace for books “tokenized” into NFT text-on-image format. Token: $BKCN (anticipated Q3 2022, Allow List Open)
BooksGoSocial (Website) – Publisher of centralized NFT books on the Wax blockchain with downloadable content stored in ZIP files on DropBox.
Cosmia (Website | Facebook) – Italian-based women’s literary NFT publisher and DAO on the NEAR blockchain.
Creatokia (Wesbite | Twitter | Discord) – Literary NFT publisher and marketplace from the parent company of book producer and distributor Bookwire. Token: $NFTBS
Crypto Poetry (Wesbite | Twitter | Discord) – Curated community of NFT poets with links to their works.
Cryptoversal Books (Website | Twitter | Facebook | Discord) – Author community and publisher of author-centric, marketplace-portable, carbon-neutral, NFT-first smart-books.
Jenkins the Valet (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Multimedia studio creating content, including literary NFTs, from licensed characters from the BAYC and MAYC collections and from an upcoming collection of original PFPs.
KOTA (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Literary NFT minter, marketplace, and mobile app planned to deploy on a blockchain being developed through the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure project of the EU’s European Blockchain Partnership.
LIT DAO (ICO | Twitter | Discord | Telegram) – A cultural DAO including literary, artistic, musical, and fashion NFTs. Token: $LIT
Medusa Writer’s Studio (Website | Discord) – A community-directed space for holders of the Medusa Collection to direct the creation of an original novel and collection lore.
Mirror (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Literary web publisher and NFT minter and marketplace on the Ethereum blockchain with an integrated crowdsource funding platform. Token: $WRITE
NFTBooks (Website | Twitter | Telegram) – Upcoming literary NFT publisher and marketplace. Token: $NFTBS
NFT Bookstore on Polygon (Website | Twitter | Facebook) – Carbon-negative marketplace for NFT books, poetry, and collectibles.
Nuclear Nerds (Website | Twitter | Discord) – A lore generation project integrated into a generative NFT art collection. Holders respond to prompts about their character to build the story world.
PageDAO (Website | Twitter | Discord) – A DAO for authors innovating the formats and accessibility of NFT books. Minter on Polygon blockchain now open to DAO members. Token: $PAGE
Readl (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Literary NFT minter and marketplace on Moonriver blockchain. Beta marketplace now open. Token: Rumored by End of Year 2022.
Soltype (Website | Twitter | Discord) – Literary NFT minter and marketplace on Solana blockchain. Beta minter and marketplace now open.
sonnet/work (Website | Twitter | Discord) – NFT Poetry platform on Polygon blockchain.
TimeWriter (Website | Twitter | Discord) – A collaborative writing experiment starting at the midpoint of a story that expands forward and backward in matching steps.
Token Literary (Discord) – Focused on helping creators with marketing, logistics, and tokenomics.
The VerseVerse (Website | Twitter | Instagram) – Community of NFT Poets with links to their curated works.
WIP Publishing (Website) – The publishing arm of PageDAO.
Zang (Website | Twitter | Discord) – NFT Poetry minter on Polygon blockchain.
Literary NFT Podcasts and Discussions:
The Creative Penn (Website | Spotify | Apple) – Hosted by Joanna Penn, covering multiple aspects of writing but often including valuable information about NFT publishing.
Creatokia: Blockchain for Publishers (Creatokia: Spotify | Apple) – Hosted by John Ruhrmann, Jens Klingelhöfer, and Videl Bar-Kar of Bookwire.
Crypto Writer Talks (Crypto Writers: Spotify | Apple) – Hosted by members of the Crypto Writers Discord.
Soltype Podcast (Soltype: Youtube) – Hosted by Paco Puylaert, Juan Pablo Briceno, and Donald Frederick of Soltype.
Literary NFT Format Guide:
Animated: The cover or content of the NFT includes animated elements.
Audiobook: The NFT includes voice narration.
Centralized: Content stored and accessed from a hard drive, cloud server, or other single-point system.
Decentralized: Content stored and accessed from a network of hundreds or thousands of nodes, designed as a more durable, secure, and tamper-proof system.
ERC-20: A digital token representing an asset that is fungible, or identical to others of its kind, and which may be used to purchase or unlock content, establish governance rights in an organization, or qualify recipients of airdropped content. ERC-20 tokens that operate as the native currency of a blockchain can also be called coins.
ERC-721: A digital token representing an asset that is non-fungible, or unique, describing a digital file or physical object to which it is linked. ERC-721 tokens are one type of NFT.
ERC-1155: A digital token representing an asset that may be either fungible or non-fungible describing a digital file or physical object to which it is linked. ERC-1155 tokens are considered NFTs even in fungible implementations.
Gated Reader: The NFT can be read by the holder through a token-gated website or marketplace feature.
Generative: The title, content, and/or design of the work includes randomly generated traits within a collection of unique works.
Integrated Reader: The NFT can be openly read in the marketplace.
Interactive: The user’s actions or choices affect the reading experience.
Print on Demand: Holders can have a physical copy shipped to their address.
Text-on-Image: A poem or book excerpt presented in a visual format, often with a complementary background.
Unlockable Content: Holders unlock textual content in the metadata of the NFT.
Unlockable Downloadable: Holders unlock an access code, discount code, or instructions for accessing content from a centralized source.
NFT Textbooks/Guides:
Tim Boucher, NFT Books: Publishing & Promotion Guide (Lost Books: OpenSea) – Unlockable downloadable NFT book on the Polygon blockchain, providing guidance to authors on using blockchain technology to produce and promote their works.
Gary K. Michelson, et al., Copyright Basics (PageDAO: OpenSea) – NFT textbook chapter with integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
Neil Strauss, Survive All Apocalypses (LIT DAO: OpenSea) – NFT survival guide in integrated reader on Ethereum blockchain, notable for assigning copyright interests to a randomly selected holder.
CD Vagobond, Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagobond (OpenSea) Unlockable, downloadable version of the original Rough LIving: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond (2003). Cover art is a hand rendered version of the original cover of Vagobond’s handbook of debauchery and systemic substance abuse. Limited to 1000 copies and distributed for free to Hobos, Punks, Bald Jesus Lovers, NFT artists and aficionados.
NFT Scripture:
1455 Gutenberg Bible (PageDAO/OpenSea) – NFT scripture with integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
1611 KJV Book of Genesis (PageDAO/OpenSea) – NFT scripture with integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
CD Vagobond, Holy Bjble–AB Edition (PageDAO/OpenSea) – NFT scripture with integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
NFT Poetry Books:
Indefatigable, Peace of Mind (PageDAO/OpenSea) – NFT spoken poetry collection with integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
wordstobecrossroad, puff (Soltype) – Genesis NFT poetry collection with integrated reader on Solana blockchain.
NFT Novels:
Dazerine, T. Dylan Daniel, SpartTwain, White Chocolate, The Mask of Ganymede (PageDao/NFT Book Bazaar) – NFT book and audiobook in gated reader with print-on-demand feature on Ethereum blockchain.
Brian Toups, Drifter (OpenSea) – NFT book in integrated reader on Ethereum blockchain.
Vagobond, CD (OpenSea) – A Very Good Novel: Coronavirus. One of the WIP Publishing Genesis NFT books. Among the first readable novels to be published on blockchain. “Evil forces have conspired to wipe out large portions of humanity. Only Gaia and a humble postman named Bob will be able to save the world. A rollicking and sometimes dark look at what might have happened in 2020.”
Vagobond, CD (OpenSea) – Sly Doubt of Uranus, The History of a Lovable Asshole – This is a biographical novel of a generative character from Pixel Vault’s Metahero collection (Metahero #505). Sly Doubt is the most wanted man on the planet of Uranus, this is his story.
Literary NFT Collections:
Edward H. Carpenter, Lethargica is the first offering in the “Books on the Blockchain” Collection (OpenSea) – short fiction in a multi-media bundle – featuring a public-facing “book trailer” video and unlockable PDF, Kindle, and audiobook content on the Ethereum blockchain. 20% of sales go to charity and to buying art from those who hold copies of the books in this collection.
Greg R. Fishbone, “Mad Messages” Collection (OpenSea) – Unlockable content NFT book chapters of Galaxy Games series book The Mad Messenger on Polygon blockchain.
Saami Heyes, “Night Creatures” Collection (Objkt) – Text-on-image NFT poetry on Tezos blockchain.
Saami Heyes, “Saami’s Journal” Collection (Foundation) – Text-on-image NFT poetry on Ethereum blockchain.
Mark Manson, “The Subtle Art…” Collection (BookCoin | OpenSea) – Text-on-image NFT tokenization of NYT bestseller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck on Ethereum blockchain.
OddWritings, “Oddness 2022” Collection (OpenSea) – Text-on-image NFT poetry on Polygon blockchain.
OddWritings, “EmergentPoems” Collection (OpenSea) – Text-on-image NFT poetry on Ethereum blockchain.
Enzo Chul Ortega, “Tales from the Blockchain” Collection (OpenSea) – Unlockable content NFT short stories on Polygon blockchain.
Various, “Barewords” Collection (Barewords/OpenSea) – Text-on-image NFT poetry on Polygon blockchain.
Various, “Genesis” Collection (WIP Publishing/OpenSea) – NFT books in an integrated reader on Ethereum blockchain.
Various, “Genesis v2” Collection (WIP Publishing/OpenSea) – NFT books in an integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
Various, “Limited First NFT Ebook Edition” Collection (Winehouse Publishing: OpenSea) – nearly 100 public domain classics presented as unlockable content links to decentralized ePub files in NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Each book has its own ISBN.
Various, “Readme” Collection (PageDAO/OpenSea) – NFT books in integrated reader on Polygon blockchain.
Literary NFTs (Anticipated):
Neil Struass, Jenkins the Valet (Jenkins the Valet) –Holders may choose to burn or stake the book for rewards. Anticipated April-ish.
Literary NFT Collections (Anticipated):
Bailey Bridgewater, Various Titles (Annie’s Bookshop) – 1,984 unique generative titles of animated MP4 books in the Crime genre. Currently pre-sale.
Mary Esther Farnstrom, Various Titles (Annie’s Bookshop) – 1,984 unique generative titles of animated MP4 books in the Horror genre. Currently pre-sale.
Patrick Garrett, Various Titles (Annie’s Bookshop) – 1,984 unique generative titles of animated MP4 books in the Post-Apocalyptic genre. Currently pre-sale.
Alicia Suastika, Various Titles (Annie’s Bookshop) – 1,984 unique generative titles of animated MP4 books in the Romance genre. Currently pre-sale.
Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity and There Is Never Anything But the Present (BookCoin) – Anticipated Q1 2022.
Shawn Whitney, Various Titles (Annie’s Bookshop) – 1,984 unique generative titles of animated MP4 books in the Sci-Fi genre. Currently in a pre-sale phase.
Lit NFT Projects in Hibernation:
Organizations with no apparent activity in over six months.
Bookchain (Website | Twitter | Facebook) – Literary NFT bookseller offering ERC-20 tokens linked to ebooks.
Publica (Website | Twitter | Facebook) – Early pioneer in blockchain publishing, issuing ERC-20 tokens on a proprietary exchange to unlock content in a proprietary wallet.
Winehouse Publishing (Website | Twitter | Facebook) – Sweden-based traditional-crypto hybrid multilingual publisher of public domain classics on the Ethereum blockchain. Each book has its own ISBN. The collection represents a great investment in work, but no sales or new listings since June 2021.
Bubbling Up:
Organizations with potential to enter the space.
🆕 Bookverse (Website | Twitter) – An app currently in development that promises an NFT book marketplace and integrated reader.