#SHILLzine issues

It all started...

Back in 2021 @Pixeltoy bounced around the NFT space from Harmony One to Near and then Ethereum. Things were great. Fees were low. Until...the boom in 2021 caused gas prices to skyrocket. Ridiculously!

Caught a thread on Twitter about the #Solana scene. Things were starting to brew. Even back then #Solana was fast and the fees were unbelievable. We managed to jump on a few early mints including Frakt, SMB Gen1 and DeGods before everything on Solana went nuts. We even had 2 SMB Gen2 until our wallet was drained in 2022 by a malevolent dev from Sniping Demons!

During this time it was clear that PFP projects had all the limelight. If you were a budding artist trying to be seen, not even a giveaway could have drawn attention to your work. Pixeltoy started by making mock magazine covers to highlight pieces of work that could be found on Holaplex. (yep, the site used to take 5mins to load and another 5mins to transact!)

These were posted on Twitter drawing attention to pieces available. The artists gained some traction. The response to the tweets was positive.

In September of 2021 @ghost_fried suggested that Pixeltoy and SaintEclectic get together and make a Sol NFT zine.

SaintEclectic wasn't up for it. I thought, why the heck not?

And so #SHILLzine was born in October 2021.

In the beginning, we were pushing out 2 issues per week. Pixeltoy was putting in around 40hrs per week in spare time and weekends. Views started growing. Looked for a hosting site - Yumpu, which helped with tracking views over time. Paid for monthly hosting.

#SHILLzine was always free. Always promoting NFT artists that were listing pieces across the marketplaces. Always exclusively #Solana.

#SHILLzine was noticed. And if #SHILLzine was noticed, then the artists within the pages were getting noticed. Pixeltoy figured that even if an artist gains 5 new sets of eyes on their work each week, that would be 5 they would not have received otherwise.

Promo Saint Mary.mp4

In 2022 we had to slow down and focussed on a weekly magazine only.

Holaplex approached #Shillzine to broker a project in early 2022. We had 2 meetings to discuss ideas & were ready to forge ahead and then...silence from the Holaplex team.

Later, a new opportunity brought itself forward with $Grape protocol asking us to jump on-board. We did, for 2 months. Their expectations were...well, we never really found out. It was a case of, make your magazine but brand it $Grape and create content to benefit $Grape and we'll pay you $20 in $Grape token per week.

Then came along #DAMzine. An initiative by @LowbrowNative and @CultureHacker. Inspired by what #SHILLzine had achieved they started a monthly magazine driven by the community, for the community. It has been running for over 12 months now and is always welcome in the pages of #SHILLzine. In fact, #SHILLzine ran a week-long promo for #DAMzine for their #Mary special!

Shortly after this experience I happened across a Twitter space being run by @A2KDeFi from Exchange Art. Thought I'd chime in and mention #SHILLzine to promote the NFT pieces that you could catch each week. To my surprise A2KDeFi was fully aware of #SHILLzine and said that it should be a pay to access resource. He even stated that 0.25Sol would be a fair price!

#SHILLzine never charged a cent for access. It was always free. Helping to promote the #Solana space. Simple.

In late 2022 @ParticlesNFT approached #SHILLzine to carry on the legacy of its own publication. @Lancer_Q is so passionate about the #Solana landscape. The meeting was fantastic with great ideas bouncing around. I left the ball in their court to consider the possibilities. That's probably around the time that @Lancer_Q began winding ParticlesNFT down.

This brings us to 2023. With over 128 #SHILLzine issues under our belt. Thousands of views per week (we peaked at 10 000 views for 2 weeks in early 2023 thanks to GhostkidDAO). We finally landed a partnership that was mutual. Enter @SolCityRadio with @XO12XX (Neverland) the powerhouse! This partnership was simple and mutual. #SHILLzine included and promoted SolcityRadio and SolcityRadio did the same for #SHILLzine. Until SolcityRadio landed a DriP opportunity.

Whew!

But then, in April 2023 a cryptic message on Twitter was posted by A2KDeFi.

Who knows where this will go? It has almost been 2 years of consistent publishing for the wider community. Much longer than 99% of the projects in the space!

Whatever the direction, #SHILLzine has ALWAYS continued the grind. Regardless of the promises.

With 120 FREE #SHILLzine magazines to enjoy I am sure that you will support the vision as we venture onwards.

Access to new issues from #120 are now gated with a private link via Helio.

A $2.50usd fee to access the magazine and show your support is appreciated and helps pay for hosting the magazine.

Choose to view the magazine weekly or monthly. It doesn't matter. What matters is that the community helps support #SHILLzine.

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