How To Incorporate NFTs Into Your Book Launch
I wrote about NFTs and web3 previously, and want to continue that thought with a practical approach on how to incorporate NFTs into your book launch.
If you aren't yet familiar with web3 or what an NFT is or how it can be used, start with this primer:
Daren Smith
Daren Smith
The Web 2.5 Book Launch
I say web2.5 because the approach I'm going to lay out here is not fully web3 (NFT or crypto), and not fully web2 (cash or card).
This hybrid approach is the best of both worlds, rewarding the earliest fans of your book and giving the most upside to those willing to take a step toward web3.
This also creates a new revenue stream for you as an author, as well as ownership and upside for your current fans.
Here's the breakdown of what this approach looks like:
- Write your book, list it for sale on your website (or Amazon)
- Mint NFTs and incorporate some utility into them so they aren't just .jpgs
- Reward your earliest fans with an NFT drop
- Give people multiple ways to buy your book depending on their preferences
Let's go through it step by step:
Write your book and list it for sale
There are seemingly infinite ways to write and publish your book, and you can get lost in the weeds when it comes to what software to use, how to sell it, what publisher to go with, and more.
That's all for another day, so lets assume you've written a book (yay!) and have a website that you're selling it on.
With this book launch I have chosen to only sell it on my own site initially, mainly because I value the direct connection to my readers over the added potential distribution of a big bookseller like Amazon or Apple.
All of the links to buy my book in every format live on this site, or at craftsmancreativebook.com which simply redirects to a page on this website.
Daren Smith
The links on that site redirect (or will soon redirect) visitors to different store fronts depending on what they want to purchase.
For the digital, paperback, or hardback book, they'll be taken to Shopify, which then pushes the order to LuLu for fulfillment and shipping.
For the community membership, that's handled through this site as well as it's built on Ghost and has membership subscriptions built in.
For the courses, it will take them to craftsmancreative.co (I'm currently still deciding on how to run the live course).
And for the NFTs, those will be embedded right into this site as well which is super exciting. This functionality wasn't available this simply even a few months ago. (Believe me, I checked!)
Mint NFTs and incorporate some utility
NFTs are still in their infancy, and so every day people are finding new ways to add value to them.
The thing that makes them so valuable outside of the utility they provide, is the fact that ownership can be proven, there is scarcity, and there is a record of ownership and transactions, all facilitated by the smart contract used to create them.
What makes them valuable for the creator is that they can earn a percentage of every resale of the NFT, as well as 100% of the initial sale.
I chose to use ThirdWeb to create all of the contracts and create my Token, my NFTs, the airdrops, all without needing to know any code, and without any cost besides gas fees.
I minted everything on Polygon so gas fees were very low and not prohibitive.
Step one was to create a few NFTs that are 1 of 1.
When those are connected to your wallet and you head over to OpenSea, you can see the collection live there, and list them for sale:
https://opensea.io/collection/craftsman-creative-book-nfts
Those 1 of 1 NFTs are unique for two reasons - one because there are literally only 1 of each, but also because of the utility I've added to each one.
I created four unique NFTs just for this launch, and will mint more down the road as the book reaches certain milestones.
But, to keep things simple this time around, I won't be selling them on a marketplace...
Reward your fans with an NFT drop
The last thing I did was create a series of 1,000 NFTs to be given out to the earliest fans of the book.
This is "proof" that people were early to the book, to the community, to all things Craftsman Creative. Whether or not it holds its value is up to me and the community to keep showing up and keep creating value for the people I seek to serve.
The "minting" of these NFTs is simple code that I can embed in my website, so that people can simply visit a site they're already familiar with, connect their wallet, and receive an NFT.
It's a gift, proof that they were early, and that they are the "people I seek to serve".
The way that I'll monetize these NFTs is not directly through a sale, but indirectly:
Buy two copies of my book, get an NFT.
It's a way to increase book sales and to reward those interested in getting an NFT.
(Anyone who's purchased the Early Access pass will automatically get a link to mint their NFT).
Give People Multiple Ways To Buy
As we're ever evolving into a world where web3 becomes normal and standardized, it's important to give people multiple ways to buy from you based on their preferences.
Some people only want to transact in crypto already, so not offering that option is prohibiting them from buying from you.
The same as if you only let people buy with crypto, there may be a large percentage of your audience that isn't ready, holds negative beliefs about crypto and web3, or just doesn't want to buy that way.
So, for this upcoming launch, I'll offer typical, "web2" ways to buy (Shopify, Stripe, cash or card), and web3 ways to buy through NFTs.
Most of my audience is still very much "web2", so I'm not pushing the NFT stuff too hard, or making it difficult to purchase that way.
Ultimately, no matter which way they buy, they'll get the same thing - a book, that I wrote (yay!) - but those that buy the NFT will get extra benefits like ownership and a purchase that's recorded on the blockchain.
It's an exciting time, and already there are platforms and opportunities that anyone - even those, like myself, with no coding experience - can take advantage of.
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