Monday, July 19, 2021
Friday, July 16, 2021
Interview: Matt Crisci NFT Author of Call Sign, White Lily
As mentioned yesterday, 14 authors took part in the first NFT drop for books, and today we have Matt Crisci telling us why he selected Call sign, White Lily. Take it away, Matt!
Why I selected Call Sign, White Lily as my first NFT collectible
offering.
By M.G. Crisci
I am the
Manhattan-born author of 16 books based on true stories and events across
multiple genres. My brand positioning
for the past two decades has been: Stories that entertain. People you will
remember. Literature that matters.
Despite my literary library, the first most frequently asked question at the majority of my speaking engagements is, “how did an American author with no Russian background come to write a best-selling book about the world’s first female fighter pilot?"
My response? Fate. In 1995, I attended a two-city museum exhibition
called World War II through Russian eyes. There I learned that more than 30
million Russians died helping to save the world from Hitler for the first time.
After some preliminary
research, I made a decision that changed my life forever. Instead of writing
some self-aggrandizing academic treatise, I decided to use the world’s first
female fighter pilot, the remarkable Lt. Lilia Litvyak, 18, as a metaphor for
Russian WWII sacrifices.
To develop the story, I took the bold step of contacting Vladimir
Putin at the Kremlin. People laughed. Amazingly, three months later, I received
an email explaining my request had been given “priority treatment.” I was instructed
to contact two women, Valentina Vaschenko and Yelena Sivolap, in a town I never heard of—Krasny Luch—who
were ready, willing, and able to help.
During the next three years, I not only spent hours with the women
in person, but I also took additional trips to parts of Russia and Ukraine,
little visited by Americas, with names like Donblass, Dmitrovka, and Mari’inka,
in addition to Moscow and St. Petersburg. I also interviewed over 100 citizens
and government officials (with not one single incident, I might add).
Soon, with a bit of creative fill-in, Call Sign, White Lily was born. It was positioned correctly as an epic story of woman’s
empowerment in a male-dominated society and a bittersweet tale of wartime love
story. I also was the proud owner of an extensive collection of vintage Litvyak
pictures and videos unavailable anywhere else (more about that later).
To my amazement,
the book, Call
Sign, White Lily. The world’s first female fighter pilot becomes Hitler’s worst
nightmare,
quickly became an Amazon No. 1 one best-seller in
historical fiction, as well as numerous other categories. And, almost nine
years later still sells robustly both in ebooks and print, and the reader
reviews are astounding.
Along the way, I
have also spoken at high-profile venues in New York, Washington D.C., Moscow,
and St. Petersburg, RU, including the United Nations, The American and Russian
and Ukrainian Embassies and Cultural centers, and Voice of America.
Like most authors, I know little about digital tags, blockchains,
and the rest. But I do know some of the largest auction houses in the world are
now offering special digital editions (NFT’s) of various works of art. Major
League Basketball and Baseball have also launched NFT memorabilia, so I said to
myself, we may be early, but let’s test the proposition against quality
literary works.
Also, given the tangible Call Sign assets I own, I thought Lilia’s unabridged story, with a robust
epilogue from individual Russian citizens, and an attractive 50-page picture
book of her life, times, loves, and friends, would make for a one-of-a-kind NFT.
Something someone might want to keep or one day resell. To make the offering
even more attractive, the NFT holder gets to see videos with me interviewing
Lilia’s last living friend, government officials, and my two collaborators,
Valentina and Yelena.
As for pricing, I
established a fair value price point of $25, knowing previously read hardcover
copies of Call
Sign, White Lily sell for $79 or more by Amazon
book resellers. Here’s a link to the NFT page.
What’s Next for M.G.?
This
summer we launched, volume 2 of Only in New York. 37 big apple
stories that span 55 years and 5 boroughs. The early reader and
editorial reviews are fantastic, and the book is selling nicely in eBook and
print formats.
This
fall, the Books Go Social Marketing Team will begin promoting another one-of-a-kind
book, The King of Violins. The extraordinary life of Ma Sicong, China’s
greatest violin virtuoso. The first activity is a major worldwide
multi-media presentation, sponsored by the Chinese-American Museum and San
Diego State University. The audience is expected to be 2,000 plus.
I’ve also decided to mimic American
author John Dos Pasos and his U.S.A. trilogy, by completing my N.Y.C. trilogy,
Only in New York, Volume 3. That’s 40% completed)
Finally, I’m working on another
amazing story in which I was intimately involved. Ms. Banker. No Rules. No Judgments.
No glass ceilings. It the true story of New York City’s most powerful
female banker in the 1980’s. That is 50% completed.
Stay safe and keep smiling. 😊
Matt
Thank you, Matt! To say I'm blown away by your literary adventures is underselling my awe. Good luck with your NFT, and happy writing!
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Interview: Caitlin Lynagh NFT Author of Quantum Messenger
Hello, everyone! Today I have something special to post - the first of a series of interviews with the 14 authors chosen to pioneer our books as NFTs. BooksGoSocial launched our work into the crypto world (see press release) and we are all really excited about this. This is the first drop only - more special edition books are coming - and thus are we at the start of something extra special, something to gift both readers and writers far more freedom.
Without further ado and all that, allow me to introduce you to Caitlin Lynagh, author of Quantum Messenger, which has already sold out. Congrats, Caitlin!!
CAITLIN LYNAGH was born in Cardiff and graduated from Keele University with a BSc in Biology and Geology in 2013. Since graduating, Caitlin has followed her passion for writing and recently won a Young Writer's Award with Outlet Publishing. In her spare time, Caitlin has a creative drive, creating bookish art in paintings, clay and paper-crafts. She enjoys travelling and has recently spent six weeks in the Amazon rainforest.
Caitlin draws on her science knowledge for The Soul Prophecies series to create emotional stories which query whether the possibility of an afterlife lies in science, rather than faith.
"I wanted to write a series that was personal to me about life and our social development as a species.
The books are based on thoughts and observations about society from the eyes of a young person trying to understand humanity and their role in a regimental society like ours.
I want to challenge the idea that we should grow up thinking that we should be part of the system. At the moment the system punishes free thinking and as a result we are left with this confused culture of opinion, where people want to be heard but aren't able to be open-minded enough to consider if their opinion has substance - or indeed moral. As a result we abandon the things that once made us happy. We dismiss our dreams like discarded pennies and that's all they end up meaning to us. Only those who are true to their dreams end up happy with whichever level of success they find.
In Anomaly it takes time for Kyle Hunter to recognise what he gains as a result of his loss, and the tenderness of his relationship with Alice - faced with her own mortality - allows him to understand the value of life and real love. As the series progresses I look deeper into the role our knowledge and conscience plays in the development of our soul. Our weaknesses and our strengths from an alien perspective and from artificial intelligence."
As an author of four sci-fi books, why did you select Quantum
Messenger for this historic NFT offer?
The hardback and eBook were released in November 2020 and we
tried a different approach to the launch, given Covid restrictions. The central
character, Apollo, started his own Twitter account as a time-travelling robot
prior to the release and we put out a daily video teaser in the one-hundred
days before the release. We also had a song, written by Apollo and recorded by cyberpunk
artist OUR EYES, which was released on the day of the book. It made sense to
use Quantum Messenger as the NFT as the whole release was experimental.
It’s all been an exciting journey, we had no idea if
anything would work in terms of sales but it’s been so much fun to plan out and
watch it all come to fruition.
I decided to release a one-off NFT. A special edition of
just one eBook, it had a dedicated ISBN, new cover made from a canvas painting,
a dedicated foreword and the lyrics to Apollo’s song Who Am I? in the
place of relevance in the book (together with link to audio). The NFT sold to a
crypto collector in the USA for $100 within 24 hours of the launch.
I am looking to sell Apollo as an NFT later this year.
NFTs are relatively new and many don’t yet understand how
it works. Why, therefore, enter what is essentially unchartered territory?
I had looked into NFTs late 2020 but didn’t know that books could be sold that way. I am creative by nature and use many artistic mediums within my projects so it was just something I was keeping at the back of my mind. When Laurence (Books Go Social) emailed to see if any authors would be interested in creating NFT books, I immediately jumped at it. I had no idea how it would work, and they have done an excellent job experimenting with minting and organising the logistics.
I made the decision to release a one-off book because I felt
that was in the nature of NFT collectors – as opposed to book collectors.
Partly because I hadn’t thought about the long-term potential of actually
collecting multiple books this way and selling them on. I also thought it would
be more press-worthy as a one-off. I did have press interest but the $100 price
tag didn’t seem newsworthy enough. It still may be the most expensive eBook
ever sold.
There is so much potential for NFT collections. I think the
concept is new but will grow. I’ve had other NFT Book start-ups contact me over
the past few weeks, interested in my blog post. I don’t think there has been
this much hype since the initial launch of eBooks.
I need to think out the sale of Apollo as an NFT as I would
need to keep ancillary rights and I am looking into the legal side of that. If
it can be done, I want to come up with a long-term strategy and give Apollo the
right to be free to roam the internet as he currently does. He tweets, rights
songs, hijacks my blog and has developed a very human, albeit innocent,
personality. He’s somewhat adorable.
What’s next for you?
The paperback version of Quantum Messenger should be
released in November. I was considering a launch around ComicCon but to be
honest, with Covid dates surging, I don’t feel safe doing it that way so I
might hold back until next year.
I am writing a new book, my first since concluding The
Soul Prophecies series, which I hope will be released next year.
I am also considering an NFT version of some of my backlist
too. I have ideas but they will take time to put together but NFTs are
definitely an avenue I intend to pursue and experiment with in the future.
Where can we find you and your books online?
All websites and social media can be found here: https://booktoff.ee/caitlin/
My books can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caitlin-Lynagh/e/B01B13SFR4
My NFT Blog is here: Why I am Selling
My Book as an NFT - Caitlin Lynagh
Seems to be a day for audiobooks!
Since early this morning I've been managing audiobooks. Two have been approved and two more went into production, so it was preparing samples on SoundCloud, downloading promo codes, creating docs for the links, and then also uploading manuscripts to my narrators. Well, phew, almost done, so here's the scoop:
The Sleeper Sword, book 3 in the Reaume series is now available, and book 4, The Dreamer Stones, just went into production.
Book 1 of Lore of Sanctum, The Nemesis Blade, just went into production as well!
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
About the Jeweller ...
So it's ready and live! My narrator, Katrina, reckons she had so much fun reading this story and loves how it showcases the magic of creativity, and the totally irreverent bits also. Do have a listen to the sample in the post below, and I'm adding more links here :)
