Best way to advertise non fungible tokens for sale?

March 27, 2021 4:09 PM

I've posted some poems for sale as non fungible tokens on OpenSea. What's the best way to attract the attention of potential buyers?

Notes: this is an experiment.
I will offset the carbon costs.
Yes, I know this is ridiculous.

posted by Mistress to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

I will offset the carbon costs.

Given that these will continue to mount up every time your NFT is re-sold, and by more each time that happens, I'd be curious to learn just how you plan to do that.

My strong recommendation for anybody interested in playing with NFTs is to do so on a platform whose underlying technology is not a proof-of-work blockchain and whose emissions cost is therefore not completely insane by design. The fact of having done so could easily become a point of difference between NFTs you create and those built by the thundering herd on Ethereum, making your NFTs more attractive to buyers with an actual conscience.
posted by flabdablet at 11:10 PM on March 27, 2021 [19 favorites]

My vague understanding is that NFTs can be applied to digital art as a mechanism somewhat akin to an artist creating a one-off physical artwork or signing a limited run of prints. So it's a bit like saying "I have created a limited run of handwritten copies of my poetry, signed by the artist, and listed them for sale on craigslist" - and then "What's the best way to attract the attention of potential buyers?"

If you are not already a renowned and trendy poet / artist, there may be no market of people who are willing to buy your work, regardless of if you have individually signed the pieces or not. So the first problem to solve might be to become a renowned and trendy poet.

If you are somewhat renowned and your poetry is trendy, the best way to advertise your work for sale might be to partner with a business like an art/collectible auction house or gallery that can match you up with a market of potential buyers, and let them tout your work and attempt to drum up demand in return for a cut.

I know almost nothing about marketing, and even less about poetry. Here's a listing of a handwritten poem signed by Seamus Heaney that sold at auction for €4,800. That might be the upper limit for how much a signed poem can sell for, for a published poet who achieved widespread fame & critical success.
posted by are-coral-made at 11:24 PM on March 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I just want to note that from everything I've seen, pretty much all "carbon offset" programs are failures at best and scams at worse.
posted by wooh at 1:15 AM on March 28, 2021 [9 favorites]

Carbon offsetting is greenwashing at its most deceptive. It is functionally not a thing with our current levels of technology, or just straight up scams. Cite, cite, cite, cite...the list really goes on and on. It is largely, in most cases, a scam.

I'm not sure if NFTs have data out on their power consumption yet, but digital currencies have a fucking massive carbon footprint, and NFT's would fall similarly under this requirement to function.

This technology is the radioactive waste of the digital world. This is akin to selling your art pinned to a vat of nuclear waste as an experiment.
posted by furnace.heart at 8:07 AM on March 28, 2021 [12 favorites]

To directly answer your question, I’ve seen most market it on Twitter successfully. There’s a big NFT community there. You may need to build up your Twitter presence though.
posted by pando11 at 8:30 AM on March 28, 2021

digital currencies have a fucking massive carbon footprint

This is true only of those whose underlying ledgers rely on a proof-of-work consensus protocol, as Bitcoin always has and always will, and as Ethereum (which supports most of the extant NFT trading) currently does but will allegedly not do Real Soon Now™.

Stellar relies on Federated Byzantine Agreement, a much newer consensus protocol whose energy consumption is tiny enough never to become problematic. Trading NFTs on Stellar is still essentially lunacy but it isn't climate-ruining lunacy.
posted by flabdablet at 9:14 AM on March 28, 2021 [3 favorites]

Mod note: folks, please wrap-up the carbon offset derail and just answer the question.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:09 PM on March 28, 2021 [4 favorites]