NFTs are all the buzz at the moment. Every artist seems to be talking about them. Youâve probably heard about young artists making millions from selling their digital works, or how In just the first three months of 2021, more than $2 billion worth of NFTs were soldâ
But what does it mean for you an artist? Well, creating an NFT of your work enables you to prove digital ownership, create scarcity of your work, and earn money from your work.
If youâre looking to get into creating and selling NFTs, youâve come to the right place. From finding the perfect platform to create and showcase your work, to helping you avoid the most common pitfalls, weâve got you covered. Weâll even share some tips on how to generate marketing buzz around your work!Â
Lets dive in at the start - creating (known as Minting) your first NFT.â
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When you transform your digital work â image, music, video or otherwise â you store it as data on a blockchain, a distributed public ledger. This process is called âmintingâ (we recently covered minting in detail in a previous blog post)
While this may not automatically protect your work under copyright, itâs an excellent way to mark the digital assets youâre creating, and control their supply. By turning your digital art into a scarce object â no longer easily duplicated â it protects the value of your work and ensures you get paid a fair price and recognised as the rightful author.
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Here are the three most common pitfalls you may encounter when youâre starting out in the NFT market:
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âMinting an NFT takes energy, in the form of computing power. âGas feesâ are the payments users of an NFT-platform make to compensate for the cost of the computing power used to process and validate this transaction on the blockchain.Â
Sometimes, platforms claim to offer free minting (no payment of gas fees required) but neglect to highlight this offer is only valid under certain circumstances â like if your artwork is paid for in cryptocurrency instead of USD, or if you only accept offers that match or exceed your asking price.
For example, letâs compare the fee structures of five established NFT-platforms:
For all the above platforms, the gas fee is volatile, and changes depending on how busy the network is. This means you may find yourself âsellingâ an NFT that actually costs you money, as the gas fees you pay turn out to be more than the sale price. Momint is the only platform that removes this volatility.
Its worth taking some time to truly understand the cost implications of every type of transaction on an NFT platform before committing to mint and sell your work there, or may risk losing money.
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For now, you technically donât need to own the copyright to mint something. This can leave unsuspecting artists unprotected, as the NFT-community learned when some unscrupulous characters took âproof of conceptâ a step too far when minting and selling work they didnât create â all while posing as the artist Derek Laufman, on Rarible. There have also been structural flaws in SMART CONTRACTS which have left unprotected NFTs open to reproduction â minting extra editions without the artist being aware of it.    Â
We've detailed some of the primary NFT platforms' approach to security, copyright and authenticity:
While minting may still be in a legal grey area and there may be some technical kinks, your platformâs stance on fraud neednât be. Theyâre going to become a key part of your digital success, so it pays to do due diligence and find someone you know will have your back with a truly ethical approach to profile verification and authorship. Â
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Activity on the blockchain is indelible â the permanence of each transaction is kind of the point. But that means that thereâs no room for error, as once youâve minted a piece, youâve minted it for life.Â
Momint limits the frequency you can mint NFTs. This ensures thereâs active thought behind every single post on the platform. We also allow artists to edit the title and description of each NFT after the fact, which lessens the risk of âminterâs regretâ even further.Â
The best way to avoid making mistakes is to develop a strategy that powers your entry and growth into the NFT market. Know exactly what work youâll be minting, how many editions youâll offer, and the price-point youâll offer them at.
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Letâs switch the focus to how you can boost your chances of success as an NFT artist. Weâve distilled it down to four important tips:
Start following established artists you enjoy, and dive into the NFT community on the social media platform of your choice. This is a quick way to glean tips and tricks that can boost your artistic skill and crypto-savvy. Â
Itâs proven that youâre much more likely to remember something, if you know the story behind it. Through storytelling, youâre also able to develop a deeper connection between yourself and your audience.Â
Think of the nature of NFTs themselves: someone will take pride in their ability to own it forever. Embrace this significance and sentimentality and tell the story of how you came to be a digital creator, and the inspiration behind your work.Â
When someone collects your work, itâs always good to acknowledge them and say thank you. Engage with collectors and creators on Twitter, Discord and other social media platforms to gain exposure within the community.Â
In these ways, you can establish personal connections with those who appreciate your work and network with others in the community.
Get started today â join the conversation on our Discord channel. Itâs a great place to ask questions about NFTs or the Momint platform, leave comments and connect with fellow digital creators.Â
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The NFT industry is only just beginning and, as an early adopter, itâs important to give audiences who arenât familiar with NFTs some context â let them know why youâre creating them. Introducing your friends, family and fellow artists to the NFT space can help sell your work and grow your community faster than you would otherwise expect.
Hereâs an example of a little introduction that we send to some of our creators on Momint to help them frame their work to their existing followers:â
âHi! Iâve just created my first NFT on Momint.
NFT technology gives you the ability to prove who created a piece of work online and records the history of ownership.Â
Content is regularly stolen from creators online, and reposted by other groups without credit or compensation. Using Momint, content is easy to post, collect, and share.
Momint allows users to collect work for free or tip what they can afford and uses a Proof of Stake blockchain which means transactions are 2.4 million times more efficient than ones that use bitcoin.ââ
It really can be that simple! â
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Thatâs all for now  â we hope you found this article helpful! Weâre going to keep on creating short content about NFTs, blockchain technology and digital art. If you have any questions or if you would like to watch/read something related to these topics, then email us at help@momint.so.Â