In the last months we followed the story of NFTs. We wondered whether it has any effect on the world of book publishing.

What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?

NFTs (or “non-fungible tokens”) are a special kind of cryptoasset. That you can own with a use of crypto wallet. Every digital NFT is unique, they can be used to authenticate ownership of digital assets like artworks, recordings, photos and virtual real estates (just to mention few examples).

Our first thought was whether the technology could be used to publish an ebook as NFT, and the short answer is yes (Reddit), at least from a technological point of view. As marketeers we understand that people have their own comfort zone also for reading. They like their Kindle devices and they won't bother reading a PDF book acquired from the cryptoworld.

Big NFT marketplaces like Opensea are specialized for art. Art has it's walled garden economy. As a normal person, you would have no chance to even meet famous art works. Well, NFT would probably change this and will make art available for everyone.

How NFT works?

People could mint digital artworks into NFTs using a specialized marketplace and tools. This would create the unique digital print of a file, which could be image, animation or video. This NFT will part of a specific Ethereum blockchain. This also means you can obtain this specific NFT using ETH (Ethereum cryptocurrency). For this purpose buyers need to have an Ethereum (wallet like Metamask, Coinbase wallet etc.) connected to the marketplace where the actual NFT is listed. People may bid or buy instantly the NFT at a specific price, depends how it has been listed.

We think that the biggest benefit of NFT technology, that it liberalizes the art industry. It makes much easier to

What were the biggest NFT art purchases?

But these are extreme examples for NFT art purchases. However they show that the liberalization of art has a future, and NFTs could give a good ground for this. 

Our NFT Project: JFA

We teamed up with a talented artist Adam Faniszlo, who is well known graphic designer in the world of book industry. He managed to create hundreds of book covers in the past years, but as a creative artist he had always his own side hustle to create exceptional art. Art that has meaning, art that has message to people.

Adam Faniszlo
adamfaniszlo

Now he wanted to reveal and share some of his exclusive arts with the public, so we helped to make them available on Opensea NFT marketplace. We are excited in the future of NFTs, this made us to try this new technology together. We belive that owning an art shouldn't be the privilege of the few, and NFTs will revolutionize the way we own digital arts.

The Gallery

Here you can find all the arts in the JFA collection. If you click any of the arts it will bring you to Opensea where you can actually purchase the digital art and you can find further information about the pieces. The minimal price indicates the minimum purchase price of the art, which is also the starting price in case of an auction. The reserve price means the instant purchase price, you can buy the art at this rate anytime. The final purchase price doesn't include the transaction (“gas”) fee of the Ethereum blockchain, which should be covered by the buyer.

This Is An Art Title
Minimal price
0.1 ETH
Reserve price
1 ETH
This Is An Art Title
Minimal price
0.1 ETH
Reserve price
1 ETH
This Is An Art Title
Minimal price
0.1 ETH
Reserve price
1 ETH
This Is An Art Title
Minimal price
0.1 ETH
Reserve price
1 ETH

How to buy one of the above NFT art?

There are a lot of wallets and solutions that could be used to purchase an NFT on Opensea.

Using MetaMask

  1. Download the MetaMask browser plugin or download the mobile application from the app store (quick video guide)
  2. Buy Ethereum (ETH) to your MetaMask ETH address (you can use Apple Pay and Card for this purpose), using the mobile MetaMask app or Chrome extension (payment processor: Wyre)
  3. Connect and login with your MetaMask account to Opensea
  4. Initiate the transaction or make a bid if the digital art is on an auction
  5. After the transaction succeed the ownership of the NFT art will be transferred to your wallet
Using Coinbase Wallet
  1. Register an account on Coinbase
  2. Buy Ethereum (ETH) on Coinbase by using your credit card or other payment methods
  3. Download Coinbase Wallet to your mobile (Apple or Android)
  4. Connect your Coinbase Wallet to your main Coinbase account using mobile
  5. On Opensea login with your Coinbase Wallet, this way you can use your wallet's balance to purchase the art
  6. After you successfully initiated the Ethereum transaction the ownership of the NFT art will be transferred to your wallet

Find other alternatives on Opensea official page. 

What can I do with the NFT art?

  • If you are a collector, put out to the wall of your home (there are display frames for this purpose)
  • If you are trading NFTs, you may re-auction or sell the item with the original parameters of NFT, so the ownership would be trackable on Ethereum blockchain
  • Using the artwork in public or for business purposes requires further consent of the artist

What I can't do with my NFT art?

  • You can't reproduce, modify, re-mint or sell otherwise the art without the explicit consent of the artist

Please note based on copyright law buying an NFT doesn't transfer the copyright ownership of the artwork!