"Minting," buying, and selling ebook NFTs with book.io
There's been a good bit of interest in the concept of ebooks as NFTs, and it's something I'm very excited about.
AFAIK, I am the third living novelist to mint an NFT ebook, and I feel extremely excited about that. I think we have rounded an important corner in the publishing world, and change is starting to happen at a slightly shocking pace.
What is an NFT, anyway?
I wrote a (lengthy) NFT and crypto primer for those who want more background and detail, but here's my TL;DR version:
NFTs, or digital collectibles, are digital intellectual property that can be owned by individuals. Each one is unique and scarce through the magic of cryptology.
Unlike other digital items, NFTs cannot be copied or pirated.
NFTs are owned by one wallet owner who has the exclusive right to keep, sell, or gift the NFT to another wallet owner.
Like other collectibles such as art, coins, and music, NFTs may increase or decrease in value over time.
NFTs often also act as keys which unlock membership in certain enthusiast communities.
Again, much more detail is available over here if you'd like a deeper understanding of the space.
For the rest of this post, I'm going to show you how to dive in and purchase your first ebook NFT. Not coincidentally, I have a recommendation for which ebook NFT you might purchase :).
(FYI, I have a few extra rare and even a few one-of-a-kind mints for my community. Because minting is random and there's no guarantee you'll get a rare mint, most minters mint a handful of NFTs at once. The maximum mint is 10 NFTs per account, and we're down to fewer than 200 total NFTs remaining out of 1,946 offered, as of this post).
This is the minting page for my ebook NFT over at book.io. We have a few steps to accomplish before we're ready to head over there, so read on.
First we need an account at a crypto exchange.
Buying and selling crypto tokens usually happens on what's called an exchange.
It's similar to the NYSE, but it looks and feels more like a foreign currency exchange. This isn't surprising, since we're going to be trading one currency (dollars) for other currencies, or "tokens."
If you live in the US, you'll need to open an account with a US-regulated exchange. This isn't an official endorsement, but here are some reputable exchanges, and I have accounts with most of them:
1. Coinbase.
2. Binance.us
3. Gemini
4. Kraken
5. KuCoin
Once your account is set up and verified, you'll need to add funds from your bank. This can be done via ACH or wire transfer, depending on the amounts.
We're not talking about moving your nest egg over here just yet. :) It's fine to start with a hundred bucks or two.
The digital currency we'll be using to mint our ebook NFTs is called ADA, and it is the token used by the Cardano project.
So once your exchange account is funded, follow their procedures to purchase $100 or so worth of ADA tokens.
(Note that the prices of these assets fluctuate all the time, just as stock prices and fiat currency exchange rates do).
Next, we'll need a "wallet" to store our tokens and NFTs.
The guys at book.io recommend the Eternl wallet, and my experience with it has been quite positive.
When you get started with Eternl, they'll ask you to install their wallet as a browser extension. I'm using Chrome and it's working fine with no issues.
Once you have the browser extension running, you'll just click "Add Wallet" in the upper left.
They'll walk you through everything from there.
You'll need a pen and paper, believe it or not. This is a crucial step, and it's crucial that you DO NOT make any digital copies of the codes you write on this piece of paper.
It is also crucial not to lose this piece of paper. It is your safety net, in case you accidentally make a mistake somewhere down the line.
This probably sounds mysterious and even a bit cloak-and-dagger, and maybe that's why it appeals so much to me as a thriller writer and fan. :)
Go get your wallet set up here at Eternl.io.
Once your new wallet is established, you'll withdraw your new ADA tokens from your crypto exchange and deposit them into your wallet.
Procedures for this vary by exchange, but it's easy enough in every case I've encountered in cryptoland so far.
Now let's head over to Book.io and open an account with them.
This is the business started by my new friends Josh and Ben, and their company was just acquired by Ingram Spark, which is a very well established name in the publishing business.
This is also the place where we'll come back to read our ebook NFTs. They're working on a mobile app version as well, but for the moment, it's only on their site.
Just click the button and open an account using your email address.
Open your Book.io account
Once you're logged in, click "Mints" in the upper right:
Here's what you'll likely see on the Mints page (at least until The INCIDENT sells out :)
Click "Details," and you'll end up here, where you'll want to click "Mint Now":
Just follow the prompts through a couple of easy steps to prove you're human and to choose how many copies you want to mint, and Book.io will then give you a payment address that looks like this:
Copy the address that book.io gives you, and then return to your crypto wallet to SEND the appropriate amount of ADA to that address.
Note that you'll need to enter your "spending password" to digitally sign the transaction. This is the crypto equivalent of signing a check, like we used to do in the old days :).
Once your payment is received, click on "BOOKSHELF" in your book.io account, and you should see something like this:
Of course, you'll probably wind up with different cover(s) for your book(s) than I did, which is part of the fun!
And CONGRATULATIONS!
You've just joined the party in cryptoland, and I for one am really glad you're here!
And I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that this is the future of digital commerce. Want to know how I know? Because Amazon's lawyers are already harassing Ben and Josh at book.io :). It's a sign that the whales have noticed what we're up to, and they've sent their sharks to intimidate and investigate.
Of course, the big businesses will get on board with NFT publishing eventually. And I'll be rooting them on, because as NFTs become more widely adopted, the value of each of our digital collectibles is likely to increase somewhat dramatically.
Anyway, welcome again to the crypto revolution (don't worry, it's a peaceful one :), and thanks for joining me on this awesome ride!
