NFT 101 for Creators: Why, What, How? Mint first NFT? Tips and Cautions.

1. Why?
   1. Why create NFT?
      1. Your Artwork (or anything you mint as NFT) is Exhibited and is on sale to a Global audience. 27×7.
      2. You make money with every resale transaction. That’s right, every time your NFT is resold you get your set percentage of the transaction. This is the Royalty function. This is possible with blockchain technology, It is next to impossible in real-world artworks.
      3. You don’t need to interact with the buyer the Marketplace take care of the transaction: Collection of payment and Delivery of NFT happens at the same time automatically.
      4. You can dictate your own terms. You don’t need to run around from gallery to gallery. You have the power. Everything is Decentralised.
      5. You can earn money for your Jpegs and media file instead of just getting likes on Instagram.
      6. To Crowd fund your business. Raise money for your business in simple words.
      7. To raise funds for a social cause.
      8. NFTs can be used as Access past private events.
      9. You can take advantage of cost difference amongst countries. For the person in the first world, $10 might not mean much, but it is a big deal for someone in an economically backward country. 1 ETH is full years salary for many in such countries.
      10. Caution: Downside: You will have to spend lot of time spent in marketing and creating online presence. You are the creator as well as marketor of your NFTs of course unless you can pay someone for it. In treditional Art market, Artists prifer giving 50% for commission to the gallery for marketing instead of taking all the hassle of sales on themselves.
   2. Why Buy NFT?
      1. Making Money from value appreciation and trading NFTs.
      2. You own a part of the internet.
      3. Investing in an Artist’s piece of history. To support an Artist.
      4. Support a cause or a business.
      5. Access Pass/ tickets for Private events or for special treatment by the Artist/ Organization.
      6. Rights to vote for something or to access a community.
2. For Whom are NFTs suitable?
   1. Traditional artists, musicians, photographers
   2. Collectors, Investors, Traders (detailed blog coming soon)
   3. Digital Artists, Animators, Architects, Fashion designers.
   4. Raising funds for a cause. 10k projects (detailed blog coming soon)
   5. Gamers: Buying skins and upgradable items in the games.
3. What is NFT- Benefits and blockchain.
   1. Non-Fungible Token. Example: Fungible= $1 note can be exchanged for any $1 note, irrespective of the sequence number of the note. Non-fungible = 1 Artwork is not equal to another artwork, TanmayShah28‘s NFT titled 191121 can not be replaced or exchanged with 161121 even though difference in the title is only of One digit. Token= Certificate of Authenticity of a Digital Asset.
   2. NFT is Something that declare the asset to be Orignal and having unique value. Eg: We know that the ‘Mona Lisa’ in Louvre Museum in Paris is the original one and has a unique value $$$$ compared to any other copy $ because they have proof of originality.
   3. The transaction is validated on the blockchain. Implying that the record of the transaction is available publicly. Meaning anyone in the world can see who has sold to whom to establish the provenance/originality. The records themselves are virtually impossible to manipulate as they are stored on hundreds of nodes (PC of the world).
   4. You can trust the system. It is a blockchain. You don’t need to depend on someone.
4. Types of NFTs and its usecases:
   1. Art, Trading cards, Domain names, a piece in the virtual world/ Metaverse, Game/ Sport skins etc.
   2. New applications are being explored such as ownership of Real Estate property. Use NFT wallet as key to open your doors. It is exciting to see what else can come up.
5. FAQs:
   1. Am I bound to sell the physical Artwork along with the NFT?- No, you can decide whether you want sell physical artwork along with it or not.
   2. Can I sell the Digital copy of the artwork that I have already sold physically (or in any other way that is not an NFT)? Yes. Yes in most cases. The previous sales were limited to the earlier deal itself, it does not overlap with the NFT. You should consult a professional from your local jurisdiction if you have further curies.
   3. Do I lose rights to display my artwork on my Instagram or website if I have sold a particular NFT? No. No, you don’t.
6. How to create NFT?
   1. First, you need the Media file ready then you upload it a marketplace.
   2. If you have physical artwork then you need to click a good quality photo of the artwork. You can use computer software to enhance the quality. You can also animate and add music.
   3. Use Digital Tools and software for various types of media. (detailed blog coming soon)
7. Step 1 to get started: Creating a wallet.
   1. Metamask is the most popular but you can use any wallet. (detailed blog coming soon)
   2. Metamask has a Mobile app available. Open Opensea within the Apps browser.
   3. **Never share your seed phrase!** Seed phrase is a 12 letter sequence of words you will receive while you create your wallet. Consider it a scam if anyone is asking you for the seed phrase.
   4. Do not take a screenshot of the Seed phrase. Never mail it as well.
   5. Crypto Wallets do not ask for KYC.
   6. Exchanges and transferring funds in and out of the wallet. Use exchanges if you want to convert crypto to Fiat (your national Currency)
   7. Binance, WazirX and Coinbase are options.
   8. All of these require you to submit KYC and your bank account is connected.
8. Where to keep your crypto and NFTs? You have made sales or have a lot of value in your wallet, what to do?
   1. Cold storage wallet. eg. Ledger– they look like Pendrive. These are the best kind of wallets. You can consider if you hold 500-1000 in balance. Most safe. Note It creates an air gap. It gives you a different address. You need to manually transfer NFTs and Crypto to the wallet’s address from your Hot wallets edress.
   2. Hot wallet: eg. Metamask. (good for transactions, better than exchange and inferior to Cold storage in terms of security)
   3. Exchanges ( good for staking, converting and trading)
9. Gas fee?
   1. The Gas fee is the Cost of energy and cost for running the system.
   2. All transactions require Gas. At least one party has to pay gas. Diffrent platforms have diffrent conditions.In lazy minting like on Opensea, Gas is paid by the buyer, on other platforms seller also has to pay for gas.
   3. Higher transactions of blockchain = higher Gas fee
   4. Gas is calculated in Gwei. 1 Gwei = 0.000000001 ETH.
   5. Use Gas scanner or trackers. You can spot the best time for your transactions if that is a big concern.
10. NFT market places: (Detailed blog coming soon)
    1. Opensea.io Here we will talk about Opensea. It is the oldest. It has lazy minting and also uses Polygon chain (No money is required to start. You can test the water here)
    2. Kalamint in on Tezos blockchain. Use Temple wallet
    3. Foundation in on ETH. Its USP is exclusivity. You will need an invite from someone to join. You have to pay high commission and Gas for listing each NFTs here.
    4. Solsea is on Solona Blockchain. (Article for more on Solana) 
11. Opensea start to end full process. ( I am mentioning key points that you will not find this easily. Consider it as tips.)
    1. Log in to https://opensea.io/
    2. Connect our Metamask or any other wallet.
    3. Create your Opensea Profile.
    4. Create Collection first.
       1. Define your Royalty. You see the Royalty option only in the collection. This stays the same for all NFTs in that collection. 10% is Max and ideal.
       2. Choose the Default Blockchain of the collection.
       3. Make sure to link your Twitter.
       4. Write description and do all the required steps.
    5. Minting aka Creating your NFT:
       1. Enter the Collection, press the Add item tab.
       2. Upload Media file
       3. Enter title and description.
       4. Enter Your website link or any other link to establish authenticity.
       5. Choose Collection. If you have just one it will come by default.
       6. Properties, levels and stats are optional. It’s nice if you can define them. It helps if you have all your NFTs for the collection ready before having to be able to do this.
       7. Unlockable content. This is optional. It is nice if you provide perks to the collectors on the purchase though. You can share an Orignal copy of your media or and share some special access or tickets. Use https://www.pinata.cloud/ for storing and sharing your media file. It is decentralised and safer.
       8. Choosing Editions and Blockchain. This can be only done once. You cannot change it once the NFT is minted. You will have to delete the NFT and create a new one in that case. Note: If you want multiple editions of ETH based NFT you have to add ?enable_supply=true to the end of the URL. Click for more details.
       9. Freezing. Most important step. Not to be ignored. Once you have ensured everything is as you want. You freeze the Metadata before listing it. You can Freeze by pressing the freeze toggle and button at the end of the page. You will require to pay Gas for ETH, not for Polygon. I have a detailed blog on this: Freezing Metadata Blog
       10. Note: You cannot edit the NFT after it’s frozen. You can not edit even when it is not frozen but you don’t own the full supply of the NFT. In other words, you need to own all the editions of the NFTs to make any changes.
    6. Listing NFT/ putting NFT up for sale: There are 3 ways in which you can list your NFTs. All these involve a time frame for listing. that is 6 months by default. You can choose as you want. NOTE: You will have to pay Gas if you are Listing ETH based NFT. This is one-time fee for Opensea. No Gas for Polygon.
       1. Fixed price: You decide on a fixed price NFT and choose your time limit. Note: When on the ETH chain, You can not increase the price ones listed, you only have the option to decrease the price. In Polygon, it is possible to increase. Note: You can increase the price of ETH NFT once the time frame has expired. You are basically relisting ones time period is over.
       2. Reserve for the specific buyer: You can reserve the NFT for a particular buyer. You require their wallet’s receiving address for this. This way of the listing is useful with you want to give special treatment to your collector. Here they will have first dips on the NFT before it goes to the open market.
       3. Timed Auction: This is only possible only with ETH. Polygone is still to come. This has 2 types.
          1. Sell to the Highest bidder. You will need WETH aka Wrapped ETH for this (Note: converting ETH to WETH & v/s requires a Gas fee). You have to set a Starting price and select the time frame. You also have the option to set a reserved price. Your NFT will be automatically sold when a bidder hits the reserved price. Note: Seller has to pay Gas in this type.
          2. Sell with a declining price. This is on regular ETH. You set a start price and an End price. Select the time frame. The Price will decrease proportionately as time passes.
    7. How to transfer or Gift an NFT aka giveaways?: You will need the correct receiving address of the person you want to transfer. Hit the transfer icon. Enter the address. Press send and you are done. Note: You have to pay a Gas fee if you are transferring an NFT on ETH. It’s free(a couple of cents) for the polygon.
    8. How to cancel listing, burn or delete the NFTs?: You have to pay Gas for Delisting ETH NFT, polygon is free. You can delete the NFT only before freezing. Once you have frozen and you want to get rid of it you will have to transfer to this address: It is the Burn address of ETH/Polygon. Graveyard of NFTs. Note: The NFT will still appear in your collection, it is just that nobody can buy or sell it. Hence it is recommended you make all the decisions before freezing. Read the freezing article.
    9. Opensea vocabulary: Floor prise: prise of the cheapest item of your collection for sale. Volume traded: Total transactions in your collection: Your sales (primary) as well as Secondry sales (resale of NFTs by your collectors)
    10. For meaning of symbols and to learn about the search functions check out my blog ‘NFT for collectors’
12. Pricing the NFTs: this is the million-dollar question. It’s totally personal call, here are some thumb rules I can share:
    1. Higher price for lower editions and 1 of 1s.
    2. If you are Minting with ETH and doing an Auction Make sure to include all the Gas fees while quoting the price.
    3. Refer to similar style artworks and Artist who are of similar experience level.
13. Scams caution: Never click on links that someone sends on your DMs. Never answer DMs on Discord. Always use the original link for going to Wallets and Marketplaces. Be careful while buying NFTs directly from Projects personal websites.
14. Website to crosscheck transactions: If you get scammed and want to trace the transaction use these two links. They show details of transactions. Use this event when you want to confirm/verify if your transaction has been completed.
    1. ETH Scan: https://etherscan.io/
    2. Polygon scan: https://polygonscan.com/
15. Marketing your NFT: (Detialed blog coming soon)
    1. Virtual Gallery. Create your own gallery virtually. Important step to present your work. See for reference:  https://oncyber.io/tanmay (Detailed blog coming soon)
    2. Linked tree:One link that leads viewers to all your links. For reference:  https://linktr.ee/tanmayshah28
    3. Twitter: Twitter is the most important place in the NFT world. All Info comes and goes out of this place. See Twitter hygiene,
    4. Talking at Twitter spaces and Clubhouse Rooms: These platforms are for audio conferences. You have be active here. Participate in them and present yourself and your work.
    5. Prepare for your pitch one for 60sec and one for 30min. This comes handy in Virtual as well as Real word.
    6. Twitter tools: Use scheduling to schedule Tweets for the week or the month in advance. Lists: Create list of people you find valuable and engae with them. With Lists you will be able to filter only to ther
    7. When to drop, how to drop: Its a personal call. Usually people who have many art works build a hype and then launch the project, with Drop parties (on Twitter or clubhouse). You can start any time if you are staring with a single or a few NFTs
    8. Build a community: engage with community, promote other artists. Shill: in Shill spaces and Shill Twitter threads.
16. Terms and concepts of NFTs: (link to the Ultimet NFT slang guide)
    1. Shill or Shilling: Is selling, where you present and talk about your work.
    2. PFP: Profile Picture.
    3. Drop: Drop or Dropping refers to launching of collection or project.
    4. Rugged: When you get disconnected from Twitter spaces for reasons you dont know. This is so common that it has got a name for it.
    5. OG: Orignal Gangster: Oldest and most experienced people in the space.
    6. Alpha: Intel or insights.
    7. 1/ 1 artist vs 1 of 1 are collections are non generative collections, you will see most of the treditional artist and designers coming in this catatogy
    8. 10k project:Generative projects with around Ten Thousands. This usually involves a team of developer, artist, marker etc. Most of them have Discord servers.
17. After-sale: How to withdraw funds? Exchanges.
    1. For Polygon sales: Convert the Polygone to ETH using following link. Note: You can not transfer Polygon ETH to   exchanges directly. https://bridge.umbria.network/ (Detialed bog for process and any other method coming soon)
    2. You will have to transfer your ETH from Metamask to Your preferred Crypto Exchanges and then Convert it to your local currency.

Links to my Opensea Art collections. Do consider buying my NFT if this article was valuable and the things that I do are of benefit to you:

TanmayShah28: https://opensea.io/collection/tanmayshah28 (All my Artworks in one place)

Utterly Stupid: https://opensea.io/collection/utterly-stupid (Minimalist pixel art of everything famous)