How to Use the Zora NFT Marketplace: Complete Guide to Creating, Minting, and Monetizing

Why choose Zora?

There are many reasons to choose the Zora NFT Marketplace. First, Zora places a strong emphasis on creator rights, with its royalty mechanism being on-chain and paid instantly. Second, it has a high degree of modularity and developer-friendliness: you can issue Media Coins to build an economic model for your content. Furthermore, with the Zora Network (Layer-2), transaction and minting costs are lower, making it more suitable for frequent operations. Lastly, its open protocol allows project teams to freely build custom markets or social applications.

Register and connect wallet

To start using Zora, you first need to:

• Have an Ethereum wallet (such as MetaMask)
• Connect the wallet to the Zora platform (zora.co)

After connecting, you can access features such as minting, creating content tokens, and listing NFTs.

Create NFT: minting process

The basic steps to minting NFT on Zora:

• Enter the “Create” interface and upload your media (images, videos, music, etc.).
• Set minting parameters: You can choose “Free Mint” or “Paid Mint”. Zora charges a certain fee for minting (the current standard is 0.000777 ETH).
• Set the royalty percentage (Royalty), Zora supports on-chain instant royalty payments.
• Submit and pay Gas (your Gas fees may be lower through Layer-2 networks).
• After the minting is complete, your NFT is on the chain and can be resold or kept.

The issuance and use of Media Coin

One of the features of Zora is that you can issue your own content token (Media Coin) based on ERC-20.

• With the Coins SDK, you can create tokens in just a few minutes.
• You can set the token supply, vesting rules, reward structure, etc.
• Tokens can provide liquidity on Uniswap (V3/V4), allowing users to buy and sell your content tokens while generating revenue for you.
• Content tokens can also serve as a tool for fan engagement: fans holding tokens can participate in voting, exclusive content access, and more.

On-chain transactions and secondary market management

Zora supports secondary trading on its platform. You can:

• List the NFT on the Zora protocol marketplace for sale at a fixed price.
• Provide liquidity for your NFT using its integration with Uniswap pools (ERC-1155 extension), making it easier to buy and sell.
• Manage your royalty settings to ensure you automatically receive earnings upon resale.

Practical strategies to increase exposure and income for works

Here are some practical tips to help you increase your creative earnings on Zora:

• Participate in the ZORA community airdrop event: If you are an early creator or an active user, you may be eligible for the airdrop.
• Build the Media Coin community: establish a fan base by issuing your own token and turning supporters into long-term holders.
• Participation in Protocol Rewards: Developers and creators can earn additional income through the protocol rewards program.
• Promote through social channels: Share Zora’s minting/trading links on your social media (Twitter, Discord, etc.) to attract fans to participate.
• Optimize Gas costs: Choose to mint on the Zora Network (L2) to save on fees.

Risk warning and precautions

• Token Volatility Risk: ZORA token is a meme-type utility, and its price may fluctuate significantly.
• Liquidity risk: If you put the NFT into the Uniswap pool, the price may fluctuate due to changes in liquidity.
• Security: When connecting with a wallet, pay attention to safety and ensure you are using official contracts.
• Tax considerations: Based on the tax regulations of your country/region, you may need to report NFT transactions or content token income.