How to Write a Whitepaper for Your Web3 Project or NFT Collection
As a freelance writer in the web3 space, I’ve written dozens of whitepapers for a variety of web3 projects. Whether you’re building a blockchain game or creating an NFT collection, you need a great whitepaper to convince your community to take a chance on your art, your DAO, your metaverse project — whatever you’re putting out into the world.
If you’re writing a whitepaper or looking to hire a freelance writer to write it for you, this post is for you! I’ll break down all the basics of whitepaper writing, and how to position your web3 project. That way, you’ll rally your true community to invest in and support what you’re building.
And, if you want some help, you can always hire me to write, ghostwrite, or edit your whitepaper for you!
Let’s go:
What is a Whitepaper?
A whitepaper is an informational document that provides an in-depth analysis of a project and its purpose. When I first began my journey into the web3 world, I realized how vital this document is. It can really make or break the success of a web3 project or NFT collection, especially in today’s bear market. Communities are smart, and they’re more skeptical than ever of new projects.
Whitepapers build trust, but they also need to be readable (you can’t just TL:DR a giant wall of text, that won’t fly for your whitepaper.)
But the best whitepapers go beyond just being readable, and they inspire communities to join your project. Remember, your community is your best marketing tool!
How Great Whitepapers Inspire Web3 Communities and Build Brands
A successful whitepaper = a successful project.
A good whitepaper doesn’t just explain a project. This document should inspire a revolution. Web3 technology is so new, and it’s imperative to make people feel like they’re on the cutting edge of something special — because they are!
A winning whitepaper allows readers to assess the prospects and benefits of your blockchain solution and your tokenomics strategy and decide whether or not to become a stakeholder. A successful whitepaper will accomplish the following:
Encourage your community to invest (either financially or with their time and attention!)
Inspire engineers and other project contributors to come on board
Describe a roadmap for how the project will unfold (leaving room for a project’s evolution and community involvement)
Your whitepaper sets the tone for how your community can get involved, become investors, and engage with you moving forward.
What’s the Difference Between a Whitepaper vs. a Litepaper?
Both whitepapers and litepapers are similar in that they explain a project and its main objective in a compelling fashion. However, there are some differences between the two.
Litepapers are often shorter than typical whitepapers and (sometimes!) contain a bit more creativity and humor. Litepapers are more consumer-friendly, and are great if you’re looking to get the broadest audience to buy-in to what you’re building. If you’re building an entertainment-based web3 project such as a blockchain game, metaverse, or other creative endeavor, litepapers are a great way to capture your creative audience’s attention without getting too far into the weeds.
One of the projects I worked on was the Neopets Metaverse whitepaper. I helped rewrite the document to make it more story-focused and to highlight the aspects of nostalgia audiences would feel if they’ve played the browser game from the early 2000’s. Fun fact: I actually found out about Neopets Meta from when I was at NFT NYC, and my own obsession with the game led to me writing a love letter to the team which got me the job helping them with their whitepaper!
Here are some things this litepaper does well:
Story-based language and tone that’s consistent with the world
Easy-to-read overview
NFTs and tokenomics described in a clear way
Detailed roadmap and milestones
Another good example of a litepaper is the Polkadot litepaper. Much like the Neopets Metaverse litepaper, this document is easy on the eyes. Although it is 17 pages long, the text itself is short, concise, and brings readers on a journey –– from the project’s introduction to the conclusion.
The Polkadot litepaper contains much of the same elements as the the Neopets Metaverse litepaper:
Introduction
Table of contents
Overview
Tokenomics
Development team introduction/partnerships
Contact/conclusion
While a litepaper is often the “lite” version of a full whitepaper, a standard whitepaper is an in-depth report of a project meant to persuade and inspire readers across a more comprehensive document.
The sections of a whitepaper are fairly similar to a litepaper:
Introduction
Outline/table of contents
Challenge/problem description
Explanation of how the project will solve the problem
Tokenomics description
Investor funds strategy
Team introduction
Gameplan
Here is the Ethereum whitepaper. You’ll notice it is much lengthier than a litepaper and gets more technical, especially as it’s focused on a different audience (developers and token holders rather than being just a standalone consumer product.)
The Axie Infinity whitepaper is a great example of a full-length whitepaper that isn’t a wall of text, but still gets deep into the details of the game and how it works.
If you’re unsure of whether you should be writing a whitepaper or a litepaper, consider the audience you’re writing for. If your web3 project is focused on appealing to developers and highly technical crypto native communities, a whitepaper will give them the detail and thoroughness they’re craving. If your project is consumer-focused and meant to appeal to a broad market of people who may not understand crypto or are turned off by super technical projects, then consider writing a litepaper instead.
How to Write a Whitepaper for Your Web3 Project
When I sit down to write a whitepaper for a web3 project, I start by understanding the target audience and the core purpose of this whitepaper. Every whitepaper should be approached like a persuasive document: you’re looking to convince others to take a chance on your web3 project, after all.
So if you’re about to write your project’s whitepaper, here are 4 concepts to consider:
1. Storytelling Basics
Our brains operate differently when we’re engaging with a story, which is why storytelling elements should be present in every document you create for your audience.
When done correctly, good storytelling structure pulls a reader in and keeps them engaged.
In its simplest form, a story uses the following formula:
Exposition
Conflict
Resolution
Much like a narrative story, a successful whitepaper follows a similar structure:
Introduction
Problem
Project’s proposed solution
In order to tell a compelling story in a whitepaper for your web3 project or NFT collection, think about this basic storytelling formula. Present the introduction, explain the conflict or what’s at stake, and clearly outline the project’s solution.
The real trick, however, is to make sure your reader — and your community! — feel like they are the heroes of this story, not you and your project. Your web3 project exists to help the heroes — your community — vanquish a great evil (centralized banks, government overreach, or whatever pain point you’re focusing on.) Your project and the language you use should empower your audience (the real hero) to change the world.
2. Establish the Mission
A successful whitepaper for your web3 project or NFT collection establishes a clear mission.
That mission could be to spread amazing art to the world, help a good cause, or to enrich your community with shared resources through their return-on-investment (ROI).
Your mission should be presented in a way that’s inspiring and clear. If you confuse, you lose, so don’t get fancy here. Make sure you can condense your project’s core mission in a few sentences or less.
The tone of your mission (and the whitepaper as a whole) should also be confident and assured. Remember, the goal is to get potential investors and stakeholders on board. If you’re not confident, why should they be?
In the Polkadot litepaper, they clearly establish an efficient explanation on page 4:
“Polkadot is a next-generation blockchain protocol that unites an entire network of purpose-built blockchains, allowing them to operate seamlessly together at scale.”
Once you establish a clear mission statement, carry it with you throughout the entire writing process of your whitepaper.
3. Build a Foundation, Allow for Growth
Stay true to the whitepaper formula: project introduction, problem, and solution.
A whitepaper is like a blueprint for a house. Everything you’re building starts with a solid foundation. Similar to a house, if the foundation is rocky, the project will crumble.
Anytime I write –– whether that’s a script, whitepaper, blog, or story –– I create an outline. The more you solidify the outline, the easier it will be during the writing process. Whitepapers require a table of contents, and this is a great place to start when building that foundation.
That doesn’t mean the entire blueprint can’t evolve. In fact, the project should create room in the whitepaper for the evolution of the project. However, those bare bones need to be concise, in place, and solid before building upon the base. If your community has a say in how your DAO or NFT collection will be governed or what direction it will grow in, then you should share some of those frameworks and systems in the whitepaper.
Some whitepapers lay out “seasons” a project will go through. Similar to seasons of a TV show, different seasons come with different evolutions of your project. For example, a project could say in “season one” milestones will be focused around community growth and rewarding contributors with specific perks. In season two, maybe there’s a content play or a development of a community-driven art project. If you choose this approach, make sure to have room in your whitepaper to allow for the seasons to change and evolve as the project does.
As you’re outlining and creating your table of contents, make sure you’re staying specific, concise, and speaking in a way that makes your ideal audience want to listen.
4. Getting Tokenomical
Tokenomics describes how a project’s token will be used, its value, how it’s created, how it’s distributed. Tokenomics also lays out things like the control of supply and demand, incentive mechanisms, and token burn schedules.
A thorough tokenomics breakdown is imperative to a web3 project’s success. Potential investors and stakeholders need to feel confident in a project’s tokenomics before getting involved.
Here’s the information you need to include in the tokenomics section of your whitepaper:
Token supply
Token utility
Token distribution
Token burns
Incentive mechanisms
The tokenomics section of any whitepaper is a meaty part of the process, and this is where it can be easy for readers to get lost or confused.
You don’t need to get fancy with storytelling in this section. Instead, be clear, use tables and charts as necessary, and introduce any information about the tokens associated with your project.
Put Your Web3 Project’s “Why” in the Spotlight
Ask yourself, “why this project and why now?”
Your answer to this should be the solution to the pain points of your ideal audience.
After you finish the first draft of your whitepaper, make sure you’ve answered “why this project?” and “why now?” in your whitepaper. These answers are persuasive magic, and need to be your calling card.
After all, if you don’t know your “why?” then why should anyone care?
This is the heart of mastering the skill of persuasive writing, and it will serve you well as you approach the rest of your messaging for all of your other materials for your web3 project, from the whitepaper to your web copy and beyond.
Hire Me to Write Your Web3 Whitepaper
If you’re interested in hiring me to write a whitepaper for your web3 project or NFT collection, let’s work together!
Tell me about you and your project below and I’ll get back to you with more information about my availability, process, and rates.