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March 14, 2022

GM Frens,

I hope you are having a happy Monday. I’m off to SXSW in Austin today and I’m incredibly excited about it. Leaving my hardware wallet safely secured and most likely taking a break from minting anything for a few days – but we’ll see. The hot wallet has at least a little sumptin sumptin in it and there may be opportunities.

This trip was largely paid for with airline and reward miles – which is pretty incredible. For those who don’t know, Vagobond started out long ago as a travel blog – and I’m excited to be doing a little traveling again and even more excited to be combining that with NFTs and meeting new friends from this space in cool places. I’ve always wanted to visit Austin and SXSW – so it’s pretty cool.

That giddiness I feel is tempered by sadness and empathy for what continues to happen in Ukraine. I’m well aware of my own privilege to be able to take trips and do these things – in the metaverse and in real life. Even here in Honolulu (more privilege, I acknowledge but chosen and hard won) there is suffering around us all the time as more and more homeless are on the streets every day.

I am incredibly grateful for everything in my life. Most especially, I am grateful for my 10 year old daughter who is also joining me in the NFT space, but not on this particular trip. To give her a jumpstart, I picked one of my favorite projects and onboarded her to their fun and friendly Discord – Non-Fungible Heroes. She asked if she could draw some fan art so I had her pick one of my NFH and then when she drew it, I told her that if she posted it into the NFH Discord and got 25 hears on it, I would give her the original. She went for it and she already had 20 hearts when I last looked. We have previously set up her hardware wallet, taught her how to use it, and I made sure she understands the security of it all. Don’t tell, but I already moved her new NFH into her wallet, I just wanted her to grind and engage in the community a little bit. 🙂  Her NFH fan art is today’s cover.

Just a reminder frens, be grateful for all you have and take a moment to consider and think of those who are suffering today, tomorrow, and seemingly forever in our world. A little empathy and kindness goes a long long way.

I’ll update this week, but the timing may be off or I may skip one or two days. Hopefully will get the chance to meet some of you over the next few days.

~CD Vagobond

 

News

* ALPHA * – The Vagobond Discord is one of the best free alpha servers around. You might see it in this briefing, but you’ll definitely see it in the Alpha channel of our discord first.

Mar 12

 

Literary NFT Beat

(Updated Mondays by Greg R. Fishbone, Publisher of Cryptoversal Books – Find the latest at https://vagobond.com/literary-nft-beat/)

March 14, 2022

 

Listings are not an endorsement of books or services.

Someone Needs to Explain Publica to Me

While researching the weekly update, I came across Publica. Their listing will debut in the “hibernation” section, since they’ve been dormant for longer than six months, but their website and social accounts are still live and could presumably return.

The archaeological record (i.e., the company’s Medium account) tells the tale of a successful ICO in 2017 that seems to have raised over a million dollars from investors. With that war chest and little to no competition in the blockchain publishing space, Publica must have been on top of the world. They weren’t just leaders in the blockchain publishing industry, they WERE the blockchain publishing industry.

Publica deployed their own blockchain and a cryptocurrency, the $BOOK, that was listed for a time on a major exchange. They developed their own crypto-wallet with an integrated ebook reader. They had their own token exchange for book tokens, reader tokens, and publishing rights tokens. When transactions were happening too slowly, they built a side-chain. When they had trouble onboarding readers into cryptocurrency, they built a “fiat layer” that allowed for credit and debit card purchases. In the 2017 to 2019 timeframe, Publica had already solved problems that are still tripping up cryptopublishers in 2022.

So how did Publica go from such dizzying heights to the hibernating shell we see today? From my scan of the record, it looks like they peaked too early, made their site too complicated to use, and offered a product that the market just wasn’t ready for.

Publica used ERC-20 tokens, which are fully fungible. Rather than NFT books, these were FT books. This might prove to be the best format in the long run, but during an NFT boom, FT books proved to be a bust.

Soltype F*CK WAR project upcoming

NFT book publisher Soltype reports that its F*CK WAR project will be available soon to fund-raise for the people of Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/SoltypeNFT/status/1498659199974322180?s=20&t=D-OXgsdPaqUy53eodHIbPw

NFT Bookstore is Coming

On Facebook and in the Discord, Cryptoversal folks are discussing the upcoming launch of the NFT Bookstore. There will be giveaways. There will be collectibles. There will be opportunities for authors to publish and promote their work. There will be an allow list. It’s all very exciting.

—GRF

Lit NFT Organizations:

So many formats, so many blockchains, so many promising experiments…

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

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:

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

🆕 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.

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.

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.

Literary NFT Collections:

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.

 

Vagobond’s New Acquisitions

You can find my NFT buying methodology and more at https://vagobond.com/nft-101/

Literally dozens of new NFTs most of them without cost except gas and gas was exceptionally low this weekend. I did need some liquidity and I ended up selling my ‘Absolutely Do Not Mint’ and my ‘Degen Toonz’ – usually that means they are about to moon – but I was in the green on them and they enabled me to get some amazing things that I feel confident will increase in value.

 

 

My Chip List Top 5’s Today

(Feel free to disagree) – this list will change daily based on my own hype and holdings. To get the latest news on all of these and my more permanent lists go to https://vagobond.com/my-bag-of-nft-chips-blue-red-white/

Blue Chips

  1. BAYC/MAYC
  2. BYO
  3. On Chain Monkeys
  4. Pixel Vault/Punks Comic/Metahero
  5. Huxley

Red Chips

  1. WVRPS
  2. Moons of Mars
  3. Valiant Comics
  4. Peaceful Groupies
  5. Influence Asteroids

White Chips

  1. Non-Fungible Heroes
  2. Danger Islands / Lazer Defi
  3. 2112
  4. Battle Maneki
  5. 10KTF – Gucci

The First NFT/Metaverse Religion- Bald Jesusism 

March Holidays

The March full moon is the ‘Sugar Moon’ on this day (March 17th in Hawaii) we share sweet treats with kids and the people we love and also – take the day off work if you can. Enjoy yourself. March 14th is world Pi Day. On this day we celebrate math and eat pie. Sharing pie with math lovers is a very Bald Jesus thing to do. If you are baking pies, cut the pi symbol in the top of your pie! The big one for March though is Garden Day aka Spring Equinox – Generally around March 21st. Do some gardening, get outside, feel the soil under your bare feet. Review your goals and aspirations for the year. Meditate on happiness. Gather with friends.

https://www.baldjesus.com | Bald Jesus Twitter | Holy Bjble Twitter

https://www.baldjesusdrinkingclub.com – Minting Now!- for Bald Jesus Drinking Club

.05 ETH limited to 777 total

Holy Bjble – AB version – Readable on OS! Only .001 ETH on Polygon so no gas

Bald Jesus is Your Bro! Don’t Be a Dick

 

Useful Info

I periodically move all of this to the NFT 101 page on Vagobond.com https://vagobond.com/nft-101/

 

Watchlist for upcoming projects:

Art Heads

Mefaverse

Evmos Punks

 

Great Projects I’m Not In or Following:

aka projects I missed and am salty about. There are too many – see the whole list at:

https://vagobond.com/nft-101/great-nft-projects-ive-missed/

Missed in March: Cyber Brokers

 

Tokens & Staking

These are the tokens and crypto/defi projects that NFTs have led me to. Bizarre when you think about it. See the full list at here

Cult Dao– https://app.cultdao.io/  | Manifesto

 

These are projects that I wanted to believe in that simply seem like they are dead. I bought into many of these instead of the winning projects above. Take that as a warning. I sincerely hope that they resurrect – but when I put them here, it means that I’ve stopped believing and looking. I hope to someday have a section at the top called ‘Resurrections’ for when projects in the Graveyard manage to rise up again. As time goes on, I have no doubt this will be the biggest section of this newsletter and I will let it keep growing so that those who care to look can understand that the majority of projects fail and investors lose money. Pick wisely, my friends, and good luck!

Newly Buried: See the huge full list at https://vagobond.com/nft-101/nft-project-graveyard/

 

Daily Features – Just click on the image to read the latest

Daily Features – Just click on the image to read the latest!

https://vagobond.com/nft-101/nft-influencer-beat/
https://vagobond.com/nft-101/literary-nft-beat/
https://vagobond.com/nft-101/the-nft-dao-beat-updated-fridays/
https://vagobond.com/nft-101/the-music-nft-beat-updated-wednesdays/
https://vagobond.com/nft-101/the-travel-food-nft-beat-updated-thursdays/
https://vagobond.com/nft-101/the-nft-dao-beat-updated-fridays/

 

 

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