The New Face of Cryptoversal
This week: a profile picture you can mint for free, a new Web3 Publishing video, guidance for publishing a Web3 book, and more...
Hello and welcome! I’m Greg R. Fishbone, also known as Cryptoversal, and you’re reading the Mythoversal Cryptoversal Newsletter. You either subscribed or are receiving a forwarded copy from a friend—either way, I’m glad to have you in the Cryptoversal community.
One of my 2023 goals is to release Mytho-Crypto at least weekly, because the sporadic and unpredictable releases of the past weren’t as helpful as they could have been. We’re only two weeks into the year but I’m proud to have newsletters to show for each week. Two down and fifty weeks to go.
If you’ve made resolutions, especially creative ones, let me know how they’re going.
A New Face
As we entered the new year, the Cryptoversal community got a new face. Our first mascot for 2023 is Viva, who takes the baton from former mascot Shutterbug, the Steampunk Faery from the Samhain 2022 storyline of Wordler Village.
Many people in the Web3 space adopt avatars from popular (or obscure) collections of profile images, called PFPs, that are linked to NFT collections. For some, it’s a way to flex their ownership of a rare or highly valued token. Others choose an image with visual traits that resonate with them on a personal level. Still others use the image to indicate membership in the community that surrounds a collection.
Since 2021, I’ve been putting my own spin on profile pics. I tend to use characters based on images I’ve drawn or created with a variety of graphics programs. Viva was generated by an AI using the prompt, “Viva Magenta,” which is Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2023. Of the variations I generated and upscaled, this one was unique in its strikingly hopeful expression and contemplative eyes.
Who is Viva? Where does she come from? What does she want? We’ll find out together as the collective moment she represents unfolds around us.
You can collect your own Viva PFP for free this week. Viva 2023!
A New Video
I’ve tried making videos in the past, but it’s been a challenge. I don’t have the frenetic fast-talking energy that the genre seems to require nor the patience to research and craft the kind of long-form video essays I love to watch. My laptop screen doesn’t function well as a video editing suite, and there’s way too much background noise in my house to record proper vocals.
But text-to-speech and text-to-video-captioning software has advanced to the point where introverts like me don’t need to become on-screen talents in order to get their point across. The so-called “American” accents fail to adequately represent the way people authentically talk here in the Boston area, but the so-called “British” accents are very posh and lend an appropriate gravitas.
With these tools in place, anyone can become a YouTuber now, even an introvert with a noisy house and a wicked Boston accent.
This week’s video is “1000 True Fans for Web3 Publishing,” building on a 2008 essay by Kevin Kelly, founding editor of Wired magazine. Kelly famously posited that 1000 true fans could support the work of any author, artist, or musician. Many videos and books have extended this basic concept in various ways, but none yet has addressed the ways that Web3 tools can help creatives to identify, connect with, and reward their 1000 true fans.
Videos on the Cryptoversal YouTube channel are also available to mint as NFT collectibles. Web3 videos are censorship-resistant, aren’t subject to the whims of an algorithm, don’t rely on a corporate platform, and use an ownership model instead of subscription or advertising support. When you add a Web3 video to your collection, you are directly supporting a creator while gaining a digital asset that can be gifted or resold.
In fact, all the tools described in the video also apply to its Web3 version. In the future, it’s possible that its holders may have bonus content airdropped to them, or they may be able to use their video tokens as keys to a gated space or tickets of entry to a livestreamed event.
Q&A
Q: Hey Greg, I’ve been reading your emails vociferously. I like what you’re doing. I am researching the book NFT platforms to see which one would be most suitable for my next publishing project. What I want to do is publish a nonfiction book as an NFT and give it away as a gift to the first 100 readers. After that, it will be for sale. Can any of the platforms you are aware of make that happen?
A: Congratulations on your book!
There seem to be more platforms for Web3 literature popping up all the time, which provides the double-edged sword of having many options. So far, no single platform has all of the features I’d like to see, and some are better suited to specific purposes than others. You’ll also likely be choosing among different blockchains that have their own pros and cons.
For a book, you’ll want a platform that accepts and displays your ePUB or PDF formatting. I like PageDAO’s beta members-only minter for PDFs, although there is currently no way to gate the content so that only token-holders can read it. Readl accepts ePUBs, will gate them, and I think you’ll be able to list some number of them as free to mint while establishing a price for the rest of your edition.
Upcoming
Big announcements are coming next week.
I’ve accepted a posting as the new Books Editor for Vagobond Magazine, which will give me a platform for promoting and spotlighting the many cool things that Web3 authors are doing.
I’ve advanced the Wordler Village project toward its next phase, which will make it more open and collaborative than ever.
The Web3 Writers Hour has moved to Tuesdays.
And the Year in Books project from the end of 2022 is rolling through 2023. Stay tuned, and let me know what you think.
--Greg R. Fishbone, the Cryptoversal Mythoversalist