It is obvious that NFTs have been overrun by visual artists who make any type of designs for users to buy. Can writers join this fun, turning their amazing writing pieces into NFTs? Read this article to discover how.

A Background About NFTs

NFT means non-fungible token. It is a token that when created assigns a unique code to the digital file it is associated with. The process of creating this unique token is called minting.

NFTs are created and sold on online platforms called “marketplaces”. There are several NFT marketplaces but the most popular ones are OpenSea, Rarible, Foundation, Mintable, Nifty Gateway, and LarvaLabs. These are just like regular online stores, except they are built on the blockchain.

This blockchain facilitates the creation of tokens via the process of minting. To mint, you need to upload the digital file you want to make an NFT of. Digital files come in several formats but only a few of them are currently supported for minting on NFT marketplaces: JPEG, PNG, GIF, SVG, MP4, WEBM, MP3, WAV, OGG, GLB, GLTF. There’s a limitation for writers though. You cannot mint word documents in DOC, DOCX, PDF, EPUB, or any related format.

In essence, you can directly make NFTs of pictures, videos, audio, or 3D animations but not books, articles, or anything purely in text format. However, despite these restrictions, there are various ways writers can participate in the NFT boom.

How to Turn Your Writing to NFTs

As a writer, no matter the kind of writing you do, as long as you have an audience for it in the real world, you can participate in the extremely lucrative world of NFTs. Here, you will learn how you can become a literary NFT creator.

Since word documents are currently not supported for NFTs, one way around this is making an NFT of a design of the title of your writing and attaching PDF or EPUB of your writing to the NFT as a downloadable file. Whatever you have written, it will most likely have a title. The first thing you need to do is make a visual design of that title. It could be a graphic design, an illustration, a great photograph, or even an animation. It would be beneficial to apply extra efforts to make the title design really attractive, creative, and evoking. However, if you do not want something too artsy, that is fine. All that matters is creating a visual representation of the title of the writing as a picture or an animation.

Now, you will mint the title design (which is now in a picture or video format) on any NFT marketplace of your choice. In the process of minting, there is an option of including "unlockable content" content. This is a downloadable file registered as a property of the NFT and can only be downloaded by the owner of the NFT. This feature presents the perfect opportunity for writers to present their literary NFTs.

If you are a writer with fans whose pockets are as deep as their love for you, you can make an NFT of your writing as described above and auction it to the highest bidder. This could be a full-length book, a single short story, a poem, or any piece of writing. The buyer would be the only person who owns the writing.

If you would rather sell at lower prices to many people, just like artists do with limited editions of their work. You have to create several variations of the designs of the title of your work. You could make color variations or you could significantly alter the design as many times as possible. Then when making NFTs of each title design, include the same downloadable version of your writing as the unlockable item only accessible to the many buyers.

Another way is to make audio versions of the writing. Just like we do in podcasts or audiobooks. You may record the piece of writing and make an NFT of the audio. Musicians already do this and writers can take advantage of it too.

Why Choose to Mint Your Writing?

Making NFTs of your writing allows you to experience a better resell value than you would normally get in the traditional world. Buyers of your NFTs will resell someday and when they do you will immediately receive a royalty which can be up to 10%. This means, if you set a creator fee of 10% and a buyer resells the NFT for 1 $ETH, a creator fee of 0.1 $ETH goes to you.

Further, taking this route will allow you and your readers & fans to engage you in new ways as you can directly interact with them without all the middlemen in the traditional world. It will also give your readers or fans the pride of ownership which is actually one of the reasons NFTs are so popular. Additionally, It will allow you to enter mutually beneficial and transparent ownership agreements with supporters, readers, and even investors.