Thank you for this clear description of how poets can use NFTs. I’m not sure that I want to use them immediately as I’m still wary of cryptocurrency. But you have given me plenty to think about and a new magazine to explore.
Thanks for being open-minded! It's definitely not for everyone right away, and it might never catch on, but if it does, it will be a great thing -- and even if not, it's going to be how we publish ebooks 5 years from now for sure.
First, wonderful article. I think it articulates your case and the principles of NFT poetry thoroughly. I am going to pick at one line to work out on where we may differ on the enterprise. (I say “may” because I *know* I dont know and cant conceive the future of this). You write:
“ To illustrate this, if you print a copy of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, do you feel that you own that painting? Of course not. Your printed copy has none of the value of the original.”
My point of departure here is that Van Gogh’s original has the brush strokes, his hot breath, the oils from his hands. It is a physical object with an embodied connection. It is like listening to a poet read when we are in the same space. Sure, some folks want it because it is a “collectible” with exchange value and scarcity. But I would want it because I can see layers and layers of Van Gogh (and his paints). The print has “none of the value” because there is no physical connection.
Tim’s two collections do get at part of this - by his opening up the feeling of how a particular poem comes together. But I dont think any of mine do that. I loved creating them, but I am under no illusion that a screen grab or a free download gets the reader any closer to my embodied experience.
ONe more thing. I am reading a collection now (and writing a blurb) of a person who’s been on RC. I can physically “see” her and hear her voice as I read the work. I am not averse to technological enhancement of our experience of poets and readers. I am just skeptical about adding layers of separation from our bodies to the experiencing of a fundamentally embodied art form.
Well, you know I care about the physical connection and the purity of poetry as much as anyone—this is just an enhancement of that, a better way in some respects than selling books in the 21st century. I doesn't mean poetry stops being shared breath.
As for Van Gogh, maybe think of it from a different angle—wouldn't it have been nice to have been able to support Van Gogh directly, at any distance, without middlemen getting in the way? Wouldn't it feel good to know that you chipped in, even a little bit, to encourage his production, and were the patron for a little piece of it, given how much you get out of the art? That's the actual motivating force for collecting. I just wish there were more great poems on there to collect, and if there were, I think we'd all see this take off. Because it's a more meaningful transaction when it's connected right to the author as long as the chain exists.
I was somewhat dissappointed that this post didn’t address the common elephant in the NFT serverroom, the need for paywalls. Most for-pay popular/mass entertainment isn’t freely accessible. While jumping the wall is always possible, the walls are high enough so most just pay.
Getting most users of each piece of media to pay has always been how this is funded.
While some may pay for NFT art, the market has mostly been speculative, and investment based - seemingly.
Usually you don’t pay because you want the collectible. Rather, you want the experience.
Or you want a good file, as with Bandcamp. Or you want the digital equivelent to a hard copy, in your posession.
There’s a creative middle-class gone missing.
Car-boot music records, niche magazines, all the versions of low-run hardcopies.
You bought it because that’s the only way to consume the art, or media.
These created low but reliable income.
And for the social aspect, I suspect someone is building a MySpace but with NFTs, and I hope we get there, but in the interim, I don’t know how NFTs can become something as common as walking past a bookstore. Or how it gets every viewer/listener to chip in. Without that, its a system driven by those with more money, not representative of what all the different groups, rich or poor, value and would pay 3 bucks for.
Thanks for your comment--I do believe we addressed the paywall issue in the paragraph that starts with, “Requiring cryptocurrency in order to create NFTs is one of the most controversial aspects of this topic, so it bears repeating that this amount can be mere pennies on the cheaper “proof of stake” blockchains (more on that later). Just as it costs money to buy the ink to write in the perfect notebook, adding art to a permanent, irrefutable ledger is not completely free.”
Also, while I agree we are quite a ways from NFTs becoming as common as bookstores--but bookstores themselves, full of reasonably-priced books for everyone, were once unfathomable themselves :)
I would add a couple things—there was really so much more we could have added to this article, but we were trying to keep it simple and understandable:
First, digital wallets based on the blockchain are about to become ubiquitous. In the next 5 years, most people will have them on their phones, as big places like Ticketmaster and the California DMV are starting to adopt NFTs.
So it's really just a short matter of time before it's going to be akin to those few years where no one knew what social media was to everyone being on social media. Writers are either going to take advantage or not, but the opportunity will be there.
Second, the whole point of this is to remove paywalls, so art can be shared freely and widely without having to rely on protecting artificial scarcity. It reverse the entire direction of economic incentive, allowing us to lift those financial barriers that are there right now. Only those with more money can afford to patronize the arts—but that's the case right now, with endowments and MFA programs and submission fees. NFTs can decentralize and diversify patronage, fundamentally.
Art can only be shared freely if it exists. The ranks of artist class are closing. The idea of funding public art through wealthy patrons is very upper and upper-middle class, a normal working class person is further than ever from all that.
Books and their market system is fairly democratic, they don’t cost much, and they will be freely shared in libraries.
A writer who has not one single wealthy fan will not live off NFTs. While those who appeal to rich, NFT-owning readers will make a mint.
NFTs are not a business case for art, they are a business case for art collectors, built to serve the needs of money, the more money the better.
The speculative aspect of NFTs also means that unlike, say, a publishing house of yesteryear, the majority of profits *does not* go back into production.
The art business is funny that way, it serves artists even worse and less than publishing served writers.
The wild amounts you see in the art trade is rich people “creating value” within their own economic bubble. And it rarely starts until the artist is dead.
This is not about artificial scarcity. Comics magazines have not been scarse, those and zines are the baseline. For the people. And while self-publishing a book of poetry isn’t free, probably not lucrative, it transforms the work into physical matter, and gives it emotional weight to a possible reader.
I find that an impressive printing has more reaonance than the knowledge that some crypto guy paid a mint for the collection of poetry I am reading.
I am not saying that any of this dismisses the form. I want this to work. But these are the holes, we can plug them or ignore them.
Can't really explain it any more than it's already explained in the article. The artist class is only "closing," if it is, because it's systemically at odds with with the digital age. Virtually no one makes a living off writing already, and it's already speculative, if you understand the actual book industry. NFTs can bring art into better alignment with the current era. And it's not about wealthy patrons, it's the opposite, it democratizes patronage, allowing people to participate with an artist often for less than the price of a book.
Yeah, It may be unfair to expect you have all the answers. Yesterday, I was at a friend’s house. He had a very, um, performative selection of books, placed prominently.
Made me think of this article. And MySpace, as it happens. You’d bang up a list of favorite artists and artworks of different media.
A public facing, paid-for bookshelf wouldn’t be that bad.
this is correct. a common misconception, which i believe is held by the original replyer (mr. palsson), is that there is a "need" for paywalls so that the nft artist gets paid. this is inaccurate. The nft artist only gets paid by those who WANT to support them by purchasing their NFT, or who then resell the NFT to someone else (which then gives the NFT author a royalty on every sale). those who cannot afford to support the artist, or who do not want to support the artist, can enjoy the work for free - this is as designed, and is a key differentiator between the NFT marketplace and that of "most for-pay popular/mass entertainment." In computer programmer terms, this is a "feature," not a "bug."
Thank you for this article! I'm glad we can have a positive conversation about this technology despite the Wild West that is cryptocurrency. People should be skeptical and cautious as there is a lot of toxicity and are a lot of scams in that space but you've shared the true, artistic potential and value buried underneath.
I've been thinking about incorporating NFTs into an upcoming literary journal, giving writers and artists the option to mint and sell their work individually. The key word there being "option" -- I think, with a hybrid approach of NFTs and good ol' PDFs, as long as writers maintain the agency to decide if they want to explore these new markets for themselves, hopefully it then doesn't come across as a scam and deter submissions. Cryptocurrencies have a pretty steep learning curve but I do hope more writers get involved with NFTs if they're interested. (If anyone does, definitely start with Tezos, as mentioned in this piece. They have a wonderful foundation and genuine interest in supporting artists.)
I'm thinking of using NFTs as a means of ebook subscriptions for those overseas. We have print subscribers in 65 countries, and traditional mail has become too expensive, unreliable, and unsustainable. Air-drops and access tokens could solve all of that.
On the personal side, it's just a fun space to play in as an artist, thinking beyond the page.
Thanks for this clear and very comprehensive explanation! I was familiar with the concepts of NFTs as related to digital visual art, but honestly hadn't thought much about them in relation to writing.
Like all new things there will be suspicion and bugs. I can overcome my suspicions and will wait for the brave to work out the bugs. :-) But I am not against new things despite my inherent decrepitude.
It's easy to be the 70 year old and moan about the coming of technology. But the classic film makers of the 30s and 40s complained about the coming of television, and the hand written scroll writers thought the printing press was the tool of the devil. And who knows what majestic holographic wonders will overcome the cell phone at some point. It's better to get with it so long as the work itself is still good.
This response was brought to you by Cognitive Dissonance™. Whenever you feel an emotional response without the ability to articulate an actual sentence, you know Cognitive Dissonance™ is there to protect the fragility of your preexisting worldview. When your ignorant assumptions prove inadequate, you can always rely on Cognitive Dissonance™!
Ha. No doubt, Timothy. I was o'erwhelmed. Thanks for pinpointing my problem. Plus i am old & rickety, wracked with existential dread, barely manage to spill out of bed, gather coffee & half a bagel with peach preserves, prop myself up in my rocker & open the computer to a little story I've been working on for 50 years, and slowly re-enter that mystical realm where imaginary human beings, more real & kinder to me than many actual people, work out their fates in league with my teeming subconscious. And now I need to consider how to NFT them, or myself. Thank you, friend. Peace.
This is exactly why I've been working to support the things I have for the last 20 years—creative writing (and I'd argue poetry especially) is a spiritual practice that keeps us in touch with our own humanity. Humans are makers of meaning through storytelling. As technology takes over our universe, we have to find ways to stay in touch with who we are through all of this rapid change.
Appreciated, Timothy. You and Katie obviously put a lot of work into that piece & may it prove helpful to many. I'm simply overwhelmed by all kinds of stuff these days, and to much of it yikes is my immediate inarticulate response.
Thank you for this clear description of how poets can use NFTs. I’m not sure that I want to use them immediately as I’m still wary of cryptocurrency. But you have given me plenty to think about and a new magazine to explore.
Thanks for being open-minded! It's definitely not for everyone right away, and it might never catch on, but if it does, it will be a great thing -- and even if not, it's going to be how we publish ebooks 5 years from now for sure.
First, wonderful article. I think it articulates your case and the principles of NFT poetry thoroughly. I am going to pick at one line to work out on where we may differ on the enterprise. (I say “may” because I *know* I dont know and cant conceive the future of this). You write:
“ To illustrate this, if you print a copy of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, do you feel that you own that painting? Of course not. Your printed copy has none of the value of the original.”
My point of departure here is that Van Gogh’s original has the brush strokes, his hot breath, the oils from his hands. It is a physical object with an embodied connection. It is like listening to a poet read when we are in the same space. Sure, some folks want it because it is a “collectible” with exchange value and scarcity. But I would want it because I can see layers and layers of Van Gogh (and his paints). The print has “none of the value” because there is no physical connection.
Tim’s two collections do get at part of this - by his opening up the feeling of how a particular poem comes together. But I dont think any of mine do that. I loved creating them, but I am under no illusion that a screen grab or a free download gets the reader any closer to my embodied experience.
ONe more thing. I am reading a collection now (and writing a blurb) of a person who’s been on RC. I can physically “see” her and hear her voice as I read the work. I am not averse to technological enhancement of our experience of poets and readers. I am just skeptical about adding layers of separation from our bodies to the experiencing of a fundamentally embodied art form.
Well, you know I care about the physical connection and the purity of poetry as much as anyone—this is just an enhancement of that, a better way in some respects than selling books in the 21st century. I doesn't mean poetry stops being shared breath.
As for Van Gogh, maybe think of it from a different angle—wouldn't it have been nice to have been able to support Van Gogh directly, at any distance, without middlemen getting in the way? Wouldn't it feel good to know that you chipped in, even a little bit, to encourage his production, and were the patron for a little piece of it, given how much you get out of the art? That's the actual motivating force for collecting. I just wish there were more great poems on there to collect, and if there were, I think we'd all see this take off. Because it's a more meaningful transaction when it's connected right to the author as long as the chain exists.
I was somewhat dissappointed that this post didn’t address the common elephant in the NFT serverroom, the need for paywalls. Most for-pay popular/mass entertainment isn’t freely accessible. While jumping the wall is always possible, the walls are high enough so most just pay.
Getting most users of each piece of media to pay has always been how this is funded.
While some may pay for NFT art, the market has mostly been speculative, and investment based - seemingly.
Usually you don’t pay because you want the collectible. Rather, you want the experience.
Or you want a good file, as with Bandcamp. Or you want the digital equivelent to a hard copy, in your posession.
There’s a creative middle-class gone missing.
Car-boot music records, niche magazines, all the versions of low-run hardcopies.
You bought it because that’s the only way to consume the art, or media.
These created low but reliable income.
And for the social aspect, I suspect someone is building a MySpace but with NFTs, and I hope we get there, but in the interim, I don’t know how NFTs can become something as common as walking past a bookstore. Or how it gets every viewer/listener to chip in. Without that, its a system driven by those with more money, not representative of what all the different groups, rich or poor, value and would pay 3 bucks for.
So... I have a lot of questions.
But your optimism is heartening.
Thanks for your comment--I do believe we addressed the paywall issue in the paragraph that starts with, “Requiring cryptocurrency in order to create NFTs is one of the most controversial aspects of this topic, so it bears repeating that this amount can be mere pennies on the cheaper “proof of stake” blockchains (more on that later). Just as it costs money to buy the ink to write in the perfect notebook, adding art to a permanent, irrefutable ledger is not completely free.”
Also, while I agree we are quite a ways from NFTs becoming as common as bookstores--but bookstores themselves, full of reasonably-priced books for everyone, were once unfathomable themselves :)
I would add a couple things—there was really so much more we could have added to this article, but we were trying to keep it simple and understandable:
First, digital wallets based on the blockchain are about to become ubiquitous. In the next 5 years, most people will have them on their phones, as big places like Ticketmaster and the California DMV are starting to adopt NFTs.
https://business.ticketmaster.com/business-solutions/nft-token-gated-sales/
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/03/24/california-leads-the-way-as-us-federal-state-agencies-consider-blockchains-applications-bank-of-america/
So it's really just a short matter of time before it's going to be akin to those few years where no one knew what social media was to everyone being on social media. Writers are either going to take advantage or not, but the opportunity will be there.
Second, the whole point of this is to remove paywalls, so art can be shared freely and widely without having to rely on protecting artificial scarcity. It reverse the entire direction of economic incentive, allowing us to lift those financial barriers that are there right now. Only those with more money can afford to patronize the arts—but that's the case right now, with endowments and MFA programs and submission fees. NFTs can decentralize and diversify patronage, fundamentally.
Art can only be shared freely if it exists. The ranks of artist class are closing. The idea of funding public art through wealthy patrons is very upper and upper-middle class, a normal working class person is further than ever from all that.
Books and their market system is fairly democratic, they don’t cost much, and they will be freely shared in libraries.
A writer who has not one single wealthy fan will not live off NFTs. While those who appeal to rich, NFT-owning readers will make a mint.
NFTs are not a business case for art, they are a business case for art collectors, built to serve the needs of money, the more money the better.
The speculative aspect of NFTs also means that unlike, say, a publishing house of yesteryear, the majority of profits *does not* go back into production.
The art business is funny that way, it serves artists even worse and less than publishing served writers.
The wild amounts you see in the art trade is rich people “creating value” within their own economic bubble. And it rarely starts until the artist is dead.
This is not about artificial scarcity. Comics magazines have not been scarse, those and zines are the baseline. For the people. And while self-publishing a book of poetry isn’t free, probably not lucrative, it transforms the work into physical matter, and gives it emotional weight to a possible reader.
I find that an impressive printing has more reaonance than the knowledge that some crypto guy paid a mint for the collection of poetry I am reading.
I am not saying that any of this dismisses the form. I want this to work. But these are the holes, we can plug them or ignore them.
Can't really explain it any more than it's already explained in the article. The artist class is only "closing," if it is, because it's systemically at odds with with the digital age. Virtually no one makes a living off writing already, and it's already speculative, if you understand the actual book industry. NFTs can bring art into better alignment with the current era. And it's not about wealthy patrons, it's the opposite, it democratizes patronage, allowing people to participate with an artist often for less than the price of a book.
Yeah, It may be unfair to expect you have all the answers. Yesterday, I was at a friend’s house. He had a very, um, performative selection of books, placed prominently.
Made me think of this article. And MySpace, as it happens. You’d bang up a list of favorite artists and artworks of different media.
A public facing, paid-for bookshelf wouldn’t be that bad.
this is correct. a common misconception, which i believe is held by the original replyer (mr. palsson), is that there is a "need" for paywalls so that the nft artist gets paid. this is inaccurate. The nft artist only gets paid by those who WANT to support them by purchasing their NFT, or who then resell the NFT to someone else (which then gives the NFT author a royalty on every sale). those who cannot afford to support the artist, or who do not want to support the artist, can enjoy the work for free - this is as designed, and is a key differentiator between the NFT marketplace and that of "most for-pay popular/mass entertainment." In computer programmer terms, this is a "feature," not a "bug."
Thank you for this article! I'm glad we can have a positive conversation about this technology despite the Wild West that is cryptocurrency. People should be skeptical and cautious as there is a lot of toxicity and are a lot of scams in that space but you've shared the true, artistic potential and value buried underneath.
I've been thinking about incorporating NFTs into an upcoming literary journal, giving writers and artists the option to mint and sell their work individually. The key word there being "option" -- I think, with a hybrid approach of NFTs and good ol' PDFs, as long as writers maintain the agency to decide if they want to explore these new markets for themselves, hopefully it then doesn't come across as a scam and deter submissions. Cryptocurrencies have a pretty steep learning curve but I do hope more writers get involved with NFTs if they're interested. (If anyone does, definitely start with Tezos, as mentioned in this piece. They have a wonderful foundation and genuine interest in supporting artists.)
I'm thinking of using NFTs as a means of ebook subscriptions for those overseas. We have print subscribers in 65 countries, and traditional mail has become too expensive, unreliable, and unsustainable. Air-drops and access tokens could solve all of that.
On the personal side, it's just a fun space to play in as an artist, thinking beyond the page.
I too am wary of cryptocurrency. But thanks for the explanation of how NTFs are supposed to work.
Thanks for this clear and very comprehensive explanation! I was familiar with the concepts of NFTs as related to digital visual art, but honestly hadn't thought much about them in relation to writing.
Like all new things there will be suspicion and bugs. I can overcome my suspicions and will wait for the brave to work out the bugs. :-) But I am not against new things despite my inherent decrepitude.
Great attitude :)
It's easy to be the 70 year old and moan about the coming of technology. But the classic film makers of the 30s and 40s complained about the coming of television, and the hand written scroll writers thought the printing press was the tool of the devil. And who knows what majestic holographic wonders will overcome the cell phone at some point. It's better to get with it so long as the work itself is still good.
Fantastic information. Thank you
So glad you enjoyed it!
Wow! I almost understand all this now! Great explanation.
Hooray! That’s wonderful to hear!
yikes
This response was brought to you by Cognitive Dissonance™. Whenever you feel an emotional response without the ability to articulate an actual sentence, you know Cognitive Dissonance™ is there to protect the fragility of your preexisting worldview. When your ignorant assumptions prove inadequate, you can always rely on Cognitive Dissonance™!
I wonder if you can mint and monetize Cognitive Dissonance™?
The corporatocracy already has, but they branded it as The News™.
Ha. No doubt, Timothy. I was o'erwhelmed. Thanks for pinpointing my problem. Plus i am old & rickety, wracked with existential dread, barely manage to spill out of bed, gather coffee & half a bagel with peach preserves, prop myself up in my rocker & open the computer to a little story I've been working on for 50 years, and slowly re-enter that mystical realm where imaginary human beings, more real & kinder to me than many actual people, work out their fates in league with my teeming subconscious. And now I need to consider how to NFT them, or myself. Thank you, friend. Peace.
This is exactly why I've been working to support the things I have for the last 20 years—creative writing (and I'd argue poetry especially) is a spiritual practice that keeps us in touch with our own humanity. Humans are makers of meaning through storytelling. As technology takes over our universe, we have to find ways to stay in touch with who we are through all of this rapid change.
Appreciated, Timothy. You and Katie obviously put a lot of work into that piece & may it prove helpful to many. I'm simply overwhelmed by all kinds of stuff these days, and to much of it yikes is my immediate inarticulate response.