Today represents the end of the first chapter in my quest to write my first book. I began thinking about writing this book in October 2021. It took me until April 2022 to actually research the logistics of self-publishing a book and begin the process of writing. Today I placed an order for 1 copy of the book I spent nearly 5 months working on. It will be a huge high when it arrives in 5 to 7 business days and I hold the thing in my hands. Up to now it has just been another electronic document like so many others I have worked on in the past. But this is different. This is physical, and it will exist in the world, and it will have my (real) name on it.
The process of writing this book was not easy for me. I had to carve out time to work on it while still working my day job and spending time with my family. I found it very difficult to balance the demand of finishing the book with my every day life. Even when I wasn’t in front of my computer, it was always on my mind. I struggled with the format, the content, the length, the font, the cover, and a hundred other little things. It was the first thing I thought about when I woke up, and the last thing I thought about before I went to sleep. There were times that I wanted to quit. There was just too much to be done, and it was difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Did I mention what I wrote yet? It is called “The Rarest Sets”, and it is a book about the first community driven art project on the blockchain. It may seem silly to most people, but this project is the reason why there are NFT’s today. The project is called Rare Pepes and it was built on the CounterParty platform which runs on top of the most secure blockchain in history – Bitcoin. The project ran from 2016 to 2018 and contains 1,774 unique pieces of art created by artists from all around the world.
I am not the first to create a book of Rare Pepes. That was Eleanora Brizi and Louis Parker. They wrote “The Rarest Book” in 2018. They only printed 300 copies and each came with a CounterParty token which serves a proof of ownership. The difference between their book and mine is the presentation of the cards. The Rarest Book presented them in order based on series number. Mine presents them in themed sets such as politics, art, television, sports, etc. I give full credit to Eleanora and Louis for providing the template and inspiration for me to create my own book.
My next task will be to proof read the hard copy when it arrives and then decide on the quantity to produce and the means of distribution. Stay tuned for more information. You can also visit therarestsets.com for up-to-date information.