The NFT Handbook

What if everything you owned online—your art, your game items, your virtual land—could be verified, traded, and monetized as easily as your favorite collectible in real life? In The NFT Handbook: How to Create, Sell and Buy Non-Fungible Tokens, Matt Fortnow and QuHarrison Terry argue that NFTs represent a seismic shift in how we define ownership, creativity, and value in the digital age. They contend that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are more than a speculative trend—they’re the foundational layer of a new creator economy that dissolves traditional power dynamics between artists, collectors, and intermediaries.

The authors—one a veteran entertainment lawyer and the other a digital strategist—take readers through the journey of understanding NFTs from scratch: what they are, why they matter, how to create and trade them, and what legal and ethical complexities surround their evolution. Fortnow and Terry believe that NFTs allow creators to reclaim control—bypassing galleries, record labels, and brokers—while ensuring that provenance, authenticity, and royalties are hard-coded into digital assets. This new reality, they argue, will permanently transform art, gaming, commerce, and even identity itself.

The Promise of True Digital Ownership

Digital ownership has long been an illusion. A song on iTunes, a Fortnite skin, or even an e-book isn’t really yours—it’s licensed. NFTs flip that equation. They create a mechanism for verifiable, scarce, and tradable ownership within the blockchain—a decentralized system that verifies transactions without centralized gatekeepers. This means you can own a digital artwork or collectible in the same way you own a physical painting—complete with a certificate of authenticity and the ability to resell it freely.

As Fortnow and Terry explain, scarcity is the cornerstone of the collector’s psyche. Whether it’s Beanie Babies in the 1990s or baseball cards in the early 20th century, people collect because rarity breeds value. NFTs tap into that same psychology but apply it to a limitless array of digital forms—from Beeple’s million-dollar digital collages to NBA Top Shot highlight reels.

Demystifying the Jargon

The authors bring clarity to blockchain’s often dense terminology. A blockchain is like a decentralized ledger—each transaction is recorded permanently and publicly, eliminating the need for a centralized authority. Fungible means interchangeable, as in dollars or Bitcoin; non-fungible means unique, like a signed baseball—no two are exactly alike. Most NFTs exist on the Ethereum blockchain, using smart contracts that encode ownership and royalties for creators in perpetuity.

Through step-by-step guidance, Fortnow and Terry show how anyone—from a hobbyist to an established artist—can create, mint, and sell an NFT. They use concrete examples such as the Three Stooges and Rob Gronkowski’s NFT drops to illustrate the process and marketing strategy behind successful collections.

A New Creative Economy

A major argument of the book is that NFTs eliminate the intermediaries who historically exploited creative talent. Like the story of Taylor Swift’s lost music masters, Fortnow and Terry show how traditional systems strip artists of control. NFTs, they argue, reintroduce fairness by embedding royalties into every sale—ensuring that artists collect earnings not just once, but every time their work changes hands.

More profoundly, NFTs allow for community-driven creativity. Fans become stakeholders: early buyers of a musician’s NFT album or a digital painter’s first drop share in future appreciation. Ownership, participation, and fandom merge into one circular economy. As Kendrick Nguyen writes in the book’s foreword, we’re witnessing the disintermediation of the creative world—the same shift that decentralized finance (DeFi) brought to banking.

The Road Ahead

Throughout the book, the authors balance enthusiasm with realism. They acknowledge volatility, scams, and the environmental footprint of proof-of-work systems but remain confident that innovation—such as Ethereum’s move to proof-of-stake—will solve these issues. In their view, today’s NFT scene is where the early internet was in the 1990s: full of hype and chaos, yet poised to define the next few decades of digital culture.

Ultimately, The NFT Handbook isn’t just a manual for making profit—it’s a manifesto for participation in the next digital revolution. If the internet democratized information, NFTs are democratizing value. The book calls on creators, collectors, and technologists alike to learn, experiment, and collaborate to build the foundation of an ownership-based web—a metaverse where creativity and economics coexist. As the authors write, “You’re not late. You’re early.”

Fortnow and Terry begin their exploration with a surprising comparison: Beanie Babies. Before NFTs were a thing, people were obsessed with collecting plush toys distributed in limited quantities. The frenzy around them—rare editions, misprints, and retirements—triggered a speculative bubble that eventually burst. Yet, as the authors argue, the underlying psychology remains vital to understanding why people collect digital objects today.

Why We Collect

Humans are wired to find meaning in ownership. From stamps to sneakers, collecting satisfies multiple desires: investment, status, nostalgia, and connection to others through shared obsession. NFTs amplify these drives in the digital age. Unlike a Beanie Baby, a digital collectible doesn’t gather dust or degrade—it lives eternally on the blockchain, verifiable and transferable.

The authors stress that scarcity is the core driver. NFTs are defined not by their digital format but by being limited and immutable. Even though digital images can be copied, the blockchain ensures that only one address holds the true original. This is akin to owning the authentic Mona Lisa while millions own prints.

The Economics of Value

NFT value follows the same four factors governing traditional collectibles: provenance, historical significance, sentiment, and condition (though in the digital world, ‘condition’ equals the integrity of metadata and smart contracts). Provenance is bulletproof on blockchain—every transaction and owner is publicly recorded. Sentiment—the emotional link between buyer and item—fueled laughably high purchases like Jack Dorsey’s $2.9 million tweet NFT. And historical significance? Imagine owning Beeple’s Everydays, a snapshot of the digital art renaissance itself.

Lessons from the Beanie Baby Crash

By invoking the Beanie Baby collapse, Fortnow and Terry warn readers against pure speculation. Not every NFT will appreciate. Many projects lack utility or community and will fade. However, unlike the plush craze, NFTs solve the key problems of authenticity and verification. Each digital item carries an indelible signature of origin, which can’t be counterfeited or lost in distribution. Thus, while bubbles may burst, the mechanism itself—digital scarcity verified by code—will persist as a valuable innovation.

(In a similar argument, economist Carlota Perez has written that every new technology cycle starts with speculative excess—railways, dot-coms, and now blockchain—before settling into sustainable growth.) NFTs, the authors suggest, are undergoing this same baptism of hype.

Ultimately, scarcity isn’t just an economic principle—it’s a storytelling device. What collectors truly buy into is narrative: “Why this token matters.” Beeple’s 5,000-day creative streak, Gronkowski’s limited NFL championship NFTs, or the first CryptoPunk ever minted—all represent stories encoded in scarcity. NFTs make narrative ownership a digital reality, marrying human psychology with immutable technology.

One of the hardest things for newcomers to grasp about NFTs is why something intangible could hold immense value. Fortnow and Terry unpack this question by examining historical parallels, technological innovation, and emotional drivers. They declare bluntly: owning an NFT is not about owning pixels—it’s about owning proof.

How Blockchain Restores Trust

Trust is the glue of value systems. Traditional art markets have long been plagued by forgeries and dubious provenance—half of circulating artworks may be misattributed. Sports memorabilia has suffered even worse, with fake signatures and counterfeits flooding the market. NFTs use blockchain to encode trust directly into the asset. Each token’s record of creation, sale, and ownership exists publicly and immutably across thousands of computers.

This solves the authenticity crisis that crippled analog art. Buyers no longer rely on fallible experts or middlemen. Instead, the blockchain itself becomes the unforgeable ledger. As the authors note, this is why musicians, athletes, and artists—from Snoop Dogg to Gronkowski—embraced NFTs: they finally have technological provenance.

Scarcity and Permanence

In the NFT realm, scarcity and permanence go hand in hand. A painting can rot, a baseball card can crease, but a digital collectible—if stored properly on-chain—never decays. Each NFT is by definition unique, with a supply cap of one. That hard-coded limit makes it rare forever. The blockchain’s immutability ensures that ownership records can’t be altered, even if platforms go offline. In essence, NFTs turn ephemeral digital media into timeless assets.

The Creator’s Royalty Revolution

Perhaps the most transformative feature, according to Fortnow and Terry, is programmable royalties. Every resale automatically pays a percentage back to the creator. This lifelong revenue stream overturns centuries of imbalance where artists were excluded from secondary markets (think Van Gogh dying penniless while his paintings later fetched millions). In the NFT economy, creators participate indefinitely in their art’s appreciation.

(In music, this echoes Imogen Heap’s early blockchain experiments with song royalties, and in fine art, it parallels the “artist resale rights” laws in Europe—but NFTs finally make such systems global and automatic.)

External Forces of Value

The authors illustrate these forces through Logan Paul’s $5 million Pokémon-inspired NFT drop. Its success combined celebrity hype, pop culture nostalgia, and limited supply—mirroring how brand, story, and emotion amplify basic economics. But markets adjust: when the perks expired, prices fell. This case underscores that NFT value derives not only from technology but from cultural and social energy. Utility, storytelling, and community engagement sustain longevity beyond speculation.

In the end, NFTs hold value because they restore trust, reward creators, and capture meaning within scarcity. They make digital culture tangible. As the authors put it, NFTs aren’t just about files—they’re about faith in code.

To understand NFTs, Fortnow and Terry insist we study their prehistory: the birth of digital art itself. They trace a line from Warhol’s Pop Art to Beeple’s blockchain masterpieces, showing how artists have constantly challenged where art begins and who gets to define it.

From Pop Art to Pixels

Andy Warhol, with his Campbell’s Soup cans and Coke bottles, blurred the line between commerce and creativity. His genius was democratizing art—making everyday consumerism collectible. Warhol even dabbled in computer art using the Amiga 1000, decades ahead of NFTs. His lesson: art is what people pay attention to, not what elites decree.

Digital art extended this ethos into the machine age. Visionaries like Desmond Paul Henry built mechanical drawing machines in the 1950s, turning wartime computers into creative tools. In the 1960s, collectives like Experiments in Art and Technology joined artists with engineers to explore generative systems. As personal computers emerged (MacPaint, Photoshop, Corel Painter), digital creation became mainstream, seeding a new artist class.

Beeple and the NFT Renaissance

Enter Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, who transformed digital art from niche to global spectacle. His Everydays project—creating a new artwork daily for 5,000+ days—merged cyberpunk futurism with cultural satire. When Christie’s sold Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $69 million, it wasn’t just a sale; it was a paradigm shift. A purely digital, blockchain-stored file now stood alongside a Picasso in market stature.

Fortnow and Terry portray Beeple as Warhol’s heir—an artist using contemporary tools to mirror society’s absurdities. His potty-mouthed, meme-laced dystopias critique technology while being shaped by it. NFTs were simply the perfect medium for his message: authenticity verified by the same systems his art questions.

Community as Canvas

Perhaps the biggest evolution is that digital art now belongs as much to communities as to creators. Platforms like OpenSea and Rarible democratized exhibition; collectors shape taste in real time. NFTs reward not only creation but participation—fans become co-owners and curators. This redefines “art history” as a living, interactive ledger instead of a museum archive.

The authors conclude that NFTs didn’t invent digital art—they simply built its missing market infrastructure. Just as photography once faced resistance from painters, crypto art is the latest technological insurgent forcing the question: what makes art valuable? The answer, they suggest, is always the same—consensus.

Where do you buy and sell digital art verified by blockchain? Fortnow and Terry dedicate a major section to the booming ecosystem of NFT marketplaces, explaining how different platforms cater to different audiences—artists, collectors, and brands.

OpenSea and the Open Market

OpenSea is the Amazon of NFTs: massive, decentralized, and accessible to beginners. Users can mint for free, browse millions of items, and transact mostly using Ethereum. The authors guide readers through creating wallets with MetaMask, connecting to OpenSea, and listing art without coding smart contracts. For creators, this lowered barrier is revolutionary—it’s the first time anyone can open a gallery on the global stage within minutes.

Curated vs. Open Entry Platforms

Other platforms—like SuperRare, KnownOrigin, and Nifty Gateway—function more like Sotheby’s: curated, exclusive, and geared toward high-end collectors. Artists must apply and undergo vetting, but the trade-off is prestige and higher prices. Meanwhile, Foundation bridges the gap with social curation, requiring existing members’ invitations. These structures mirror traditional art ecosystems: galleries, indie scenes, and open markets coexisting online.

For corporate and entertainment markets, specialized hubs like VeVe (for 3D collectibles of brands like Batman or Star Trek) and NBA Top Shot (for video highlights on the FLOW chain) bring mainstream audiences into NFTs—often accepting credit cards instead of crypto.

Choosing Your Stage

Fortnow and Terry recommend that newcomers start with OpenSea, learn the mechanics, then experiment with more niche environments. Understanding gas fees, royalty settings, and minting options becomes crucial. They also stress building community visibility—because unlike social media platforms with algorithms, NFT marketplaces rely on your own outreach to attract buyers.

Ultimately, every platform—from the art-heavy SuperRare to the fandom-driven Myth Market—represents a micro-economy with its own culture and etiquette. Learning to navigate these spaces isn’t just technical—it’s cultural capital. As with any creative industry, success comes where technology meets storytelling and community participation.

In one of the book’s most practical sections, Fortnow and Terry transform the mystique of NFT creation into an accessible how-to manual. Their message is clear: if you can use a smartphone, you can mint an NFT.

From Concept to Contract

The process begins with the main content—your digital art, video, music, photograph, or 3D model. You then define its metadata (title, description, edition size, and royalty percentage). Minting is like engraving your signature into blockchain metal; once confirmed, it’s immutable.

Creating a wallet such as MetaMask is the gateway. The authors provide step-by-step instructions—download, back up your 12-word seed phrase securely, and connect it to OpenSea. A MetaMask wallet becomes your digital identity, holding Ethereum for transaction fees (“gas”) and your eventual NFT earnings.

Collections and Curation

NFTs don’t live in isolation. On platforms like OpenSea, you group them into collections—a themed series akin to an exhibition. Successful creators craft cohesive collections with logos, banners, and compelling stories, giving buyers context and trust. For example, Rob Gronkowski’s championship NFT cards aligned around his Super Bowl victories, while The Three Stooges’ NFTs leveraged nostalgia. Presentation drives perception.

Smart Design and Unlockable Content

Fortnow and Terry highlight the allure of unlockable content—bonus material accessible only to NFT owners. This can be anything from secret art files to event tickets or meet-and-greets (Gronk even offered VIP passes to “Gronk Beach”). Perks like these strengthen community engagement and long-term value.

You can also set ongoing royalties—usually 10%—to earn from future resales. This small, simple step embodies the NFT ethos: fair and perpetual creator compensation.

Security and Responsibility

The authors issue clear warnings: guard your wallet’s private key like life itself. The blockchain is unforgiving—lose your access, and your assets are gone forever. Likewise, never trust random DMs or fake websites promising sales boosts. NFT creation is empowering but requires the same discipline as financial stewardship.

By the end, readers learn that minting an NFT isn’t just technical—it’s creative strategy. Every design choice contributes to storytelling, collector confidence, and authenticity. The process, when mastered, opens a new world of digital entrepreneurship where imagination literally becomes currency.

Fortnow and Terry dedicate substantial attention to turning creativity into commerce. Selling NFTs, they insist, isn’t about waiting for fortune—it’s about building community, narrative, and persistence.

Setting the Stage for Sale

Listing an NFT involves pricing strategy and timing. You can set a fixed price, accept offers, or host auctions (English or Dutch). The authors advise experimenting: start high to test value, but remain flexible. Auctions create scarcity-driven urgency, while fixed prices encourage impulse buys. Always account for gas fees and royalties—your hidden costs and future income.

The Myth of Overnight Success

“There are no overnight successes,” they warn. Viral NFT millionaires stand on foundations of storytelling, networking, and relentless promotion. Marketing in this space resembles podcasting: you must cultivate an audience manually without algorithmic help. Share your process publicly—show your work, teach what you learn, and involve collectors in your journey.

Building Communities, Not Campaigns

Community is the true marketing strategy. Talking with collectors, not just selling to them, creates long-term advocates. Artists like Blake Jamieson built success by identifying clear audiences (“I make art for athletes”) and tailoring their drops accordingly. Others like Pplpleasr succeeded by being transparent about experiments and failures, positioning authenticity as value.

The authors emphasize educating potential buyers: many followers still don’t know how to use wallets or purchase NFTs. Help them onboard; make it simple. These early adopters become your core evangelists.

Pricing, Perks, and Free Drops

Market-making involves balancing supply, price, and perks. Limited editions raise exclusivity; physical perks broaden demand. Even free NFTs can seed loyalty—Beeple released hundreds under Creative Commons before his breakthrough. DJ Skee’s timed card sales and A$AP Rocky’s NFT-plus-experience strategy exemplify hybrid models of art and engagement.

In the end, successful NFT sellers think like founders, not flippers. They build ecosystems where ownership feels like membership. The real profit isn’t a one-time sale—it’s a growing network of collectors who believe in you.

With Fortnow’s legal background, it’s no surprise that the book devotes an entire chapter to navigating intellectual property, securities law, and taxation. In the Wild West of blockchain, ignorance isn’t bliss—it’s expensive.

Copyrights and Trademarks

Owning an NFT doesn’t grant copyright to its media. Buyers acquire the token, not the image’s reproduction rights. Creators retain intellectual property unless they explicitly transfer it in writing. The authors cite examples like artists minting copyrighted photos without authorization—risks that can result in removal or lawsuits.

Similarly, using brands or celebrity likenesses requires caution. While parody and commentary are protected under fair use, NFTs made with recognizable trademarks—like an In-N-Out Burger logo—can invite challenges if consumers think they’re endorsed by that brand. Fortnow introduces the “transformative use” test from the famous Three Stooges case: is your art a new expression, or merely copying identity for profit?

Publicity and Privacy Rights

The line between art and exploitation is thin. Using real people’s likenesses, even deceased celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, falls under “publicity rights.” Depending on where a person lived when they died, their estate may still own those rights. Fortnow illustrates this with media products that legally reuse Monroe’s image because her estate misdeclared domicile decades ago—proof that details matter.

Are NFTs Securities?

Most NFTs aren’t securities, but fractionalized or investment-based ones might be. The authors apply the SEC’s Howey Test: if profits come primarily from others’ work within a common enterprise, it may qualify as a security. Fractional NFT projects dividing ownership of expensive art could therefore face regulation. Awareness and compliance will be crucial for legitimacy as financial markets embrace blockchain.

Taxes and Responsibility

NFTs are taxable events. Sales count as income, and resale profits attract capital gains tax—potentially at collectible rates (around 28% in the U.S.). Even using crypto to buy NFTs can trigger taxable appreciation gain. The authors urge readers: treat NFTs like any other financial asset, keep detailed records, and consult professionals.

Their overarching point is moral as well as legal: the NFT revolution must develop ethics that protect creators, buyers, and the credibility of digital ownership. “Decentralization,” they write, “doesn’t mean deregulation—it means shared responsibility.”

In its final chapters, The NFT Handbook looks beyond art and collectibles to envision NFTs as the infrastructure of the next internet—an integrated metaverse where physical and digital economies fuse. It’s a bold, thrilling conclusion to a practical primer.

The Rise of Digital Worlds

The authors define the metaverse as a collective virtual world blending gaming, VR, and social interaction. Its precursors already exist: Fortnite’s concerts, Minecraft’s economies, and VR platforms like AltspaceVR. As users spend increasing time in these spaces, digital identities and possessions—your avatar, outfit, or land—gain tangible emotional and financial value. NFTs, the authors argue, are the passports enabling ownership across all these universes.

Projects like Decentraland and The Sandbox already tokenize virtual real estate. Just like physical land deeds, these NFTs confer location, rights, and market value. The concept of a “virtual landlord” is no longer a joke—it’s a profit model.

Tokenizing the Physical World

NFT technology will also transform how we own and trade real-world assets. By representing physical items—cars, houses, or even intellectual property—as blockchain tokens, fractional ownership becomes possible. Instead of needing millions to buy a vintage Mercedes, you could buy one of a million NFTs each representing a fractional share. Wealth, once locked in elite markets, becomes accessible to all.

(This democratization echoes crowdfunding and DeFi movements, as seen in platforms like Republic—whose CEO, Kendrick Nguyen, praised NFTs in the book’s foreword as a new investment revolution.)

Digital Wallets and the Future of Interaction

Your digital wallet will soon function as identity, bank, and communication channel. The authors imagine marketing campaigns deployed as NFT “gifts” sent directly to wallets—like a Taco Bell NFT coupon that grants holders perks. As gas fees shrink with proof-of-stake systems, blockchain advertising could rival email. Wallets also simplify payments across apps and borders, replacing banks with peer-to-peer trust.

A New Internet of Value

Fortnow and Terry close with optimism: the NFT revolution isn’t just about art—it’s about sovereignty. Just as Web 1.0 democratized information and Web 2.0 created social networks, Web 3.0—powered by NFTs—will decentralize ownership. The metaverse is the stage; NFTs are its tickets, inventory, and architecture. The challenge, they remind us, is ensuring that this new digital economy remains inclusive, sustainable, and ethical as it scales.

Their final message is both a celebration and a call to action: “The future of NFTs is unwritten. Write it.”