THE TENTACLE BOOK CLUB - BOOK EVENTS IN THE METAVERSE - THE STARTER

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

RENAUD VISCHI

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

renaud.vischi@gmail.com

Additional applicants

Association SQUEEZE (french non profit organisation).

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

Yes

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

Our project is closely linked to the tools created by metaverse builders on Cardano and to the development of the metaverses themselves.

Delays being the norm in this field of production, these were anticipated as opportunities to better explore our project proposals by involving our network and growing a community.

No date has been set for the actual delivery of our event space in a metaverse and associated extensions. On the other hand, everyone will be able to observe the progress of the project at their leisure through different data.

At that moment, we chose to develop the Tentacle Book Club on CORNUCOPIAS metaverse. But, in order to mitigate the risks, we also own lands and closely follow two other metaverse projects under construction on Cardano : PAVIA and EIKONIKOS.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source

[METADATA] Category of proposal

Events

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Preliminary remark

Even if the Tentacle Book Club is ultimately intended to be an international space compatible with all languages, it's important to note that our already established networks are linked to the world of French-speaking books. The French language is spoken by approximately 300 million people worldwide.

CONTEXT

Tales, stories, poetry, reports, investigations, correspondence... have crossed the centuries and the different media produced by technical progress. The Tentacle Book Club keeps walking on this road by proposing to transport the books and the events around the books and the authors in the metaverse.

Today, the book ecosystem is mainly focused on physical world with broadcasting and distribution relays in the web2 (including some events in the form of podcasts) and remains unaware of the future possibilities related to web3.

APPROACH

To bring the book ecosystem to Cardano, we favor a practical and direct approach.

We won't attempt to raise awareness by manuals or guides showing potential benefits of Cardano and its available tools, but we will claim to offer turnkey communication and distribution opportunities of increasing the visibility for authors and books through the proposal of spaces and events in the metaverse. The books world is primarily a world of exposure ; as we are working in it since more than 10 years we know this as a clear fact : authors and books are always looking for visibility. Conclusion : The Tentacle Book Club should first present itself as an amplifier of visibility.

Simple image summarizing our approach : 1/ shake the chocolate. 2/ distribute the map leading to the chocolate factory.

RESOURCES

1/ Design of 4 main spaces dedicated to books in the metaverse :

• The stage : this is a space for all kind of live-shows around words and books
• The gallery : space for hybrid art proposal between text and other expression forms
• The lab : place for lores in progress, workshops, private meetings and experimentations
• The shops : books, merch and all text related products. Franchise, partner shops and rental options will be available in this area.

2/ Production design of virtual events to animate these spaces

• Live-performances : poetry-reading / slam-spoken words / conferences-public meetings / festivals / open stages
• Celebrations : literary prize ceremonies / book release parties / exhibition openings
• Games : writing contests / book raffles / treasure hunts
• Education : workshops / reading-writing classes / training session
• Space rental : private events / professional meetings

3/ Creation and sale of a first batch of 1000 early bird NFTs

NFTs are both a powerful communication medium to increase the visibility of the Tentacle Book Club and bring out a community around it, a practical gateway to get neophytes on board the blockchain and a source of funding to strengthen the sustainability of our project.

Focused on utility, these early bird NFTs will regulate access to events powered by the Tentacle Book Club and provide benefits and discounts in our marketplace.

4/ Assistance provide for newcomers to onboard in the Cardano ecosystem

• Discord community help channels
• Specific user/beginner guidelines

ADAPTATION / EVALUATION

• The progress of the project is associated with its permanent publicity addressed to our book ecosystem network whose feedback will be immediately taken into account.
• Community building starts as soon as the Tentacle Book Club will start to take shape. Interactions with the community will help produce the project best suited to the expectations and needs of the participants.
• A qualitative and quantitative evaluation will be carried out at the end of the 6-month period covered by the Catalyst fund.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

Here are some expected key benefits The Tentacle Book Club should bring to Cardano :

• Onboard new users far removed from blockchain, tech spaces, cryptocurrencies, and web3-related tools. The Tentacle Book Club is a building block for the adoption of Cardano by a non-tech audience. We will not promote blockchain directly, we will promote Cardano through a field of practical utility. We will offer writing and reading enthusiasts exciting new spaces for happenings, meetings and discovering related to their chosen field, and these spaces will be powered by Cardano.

• The Tentacle Book Club target population should be a relevant test group to assess and adapt the receiving capabilities of Cardano and related web3 tools for non-tech users. This point is obviously crucial in terms of adoption.

• When blockchain protocols remain controversial, the Tentacle Book Club associates Cardano with the world of books, a world linked to positive values of education, knowledge and culture even within the most conservative and refractory to progress circles.

• The Tentacle Book Club targets an artistic and cultural world wich has a strong communication and message dissemination capacity to populations far staying from the blockchain. We are not talking about web3 influencers but about relays in the general population, non tech-savvy.

• We run the Tentacle Book Club as a pilot project. This duly evaluated and documented experience should constitute a useful source of information or even a model that can be reproduced in whole or in part by other project founders in Cardano-powered metaverses.

At this stage of the action it seems too risky to throw figures in the air and define quantified impacts. The evaluation data that will be collected during the development of our project will then help to define realistic quantitative targets.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

Coming from social science research and given the nascent aspect of the project, we will favor a qualitative ethno-sociological approach, mainly the clinical observation of the reactions aroused by the construction of the Tentacle Book Club.

• From our discussions with potential partners in the book fields
• From our discussions with technical partners working on the Cardano blockchain
• From community debates on social networks, mainly on Twitter and Discord.

We are also thinking about a system for collecting anonymized socio-demographic data in order to better characterize the population interested in our project in the way to direct our future actions accordingly.

Of course, we will consider data related to the sale of our first batch of 1000 NFTs and the behavior of volumes and prices in the secondary market as a substantial and objective indicator of the success of the project.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

We will produce an evaluation report that can be downloaded directly from our website and will be shared on our social networks.

This report will be organized in 4 parts :

• Context : summary of the environment, the problem to be solved and the proposed solution.
• Actions : summaries of actions taken, their qualitative/quantitative effects and perceived consequences
• Communication : quantitative assessment of communication operations addressed to target populations
• Perspectives : the various adaptation options, plans and proposed directions to keep growing the project successfully, including its financial aspect.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

As the lead, driving force and referent of the project, I benefit from an experience of more than 25 years in terms of project management in the field of social science research, communication and event communication, publishing and production of cultural and literary events.

SQUEEZE, our legal structure carrying the project was officially created in 2004 under the legal and controlled regime of "association loi 1901" in France.

For 20 years, SQUEEZE has been successfully developing innovative cultural projects, the last 15 years mainly in web2 publishing and production of IRL literary events, and has already finalized, depending on projects, financial partnerships with cultural institutions of French State, private sponsors and patrons. Each year SQUEEZE is legally required to provide an income statement and a detailed balance sheet concerning its activities.

Around SQUEEZE, our network of skills includes dozens of collaborators in book publishing spaces as well as in the broader world of art and culture, supplemented by solid relays in graphic/art design and web development, themselves even integrated into vast networks of web2/web3 skills.

We allow ourselves to think that innovative literary projects are our specialty.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

1/ Integration of newcomers from the book fields to the Cardano blockchain...

Active for many years in literary publishing and IRL events producing, SQUEEZE has amassed many contacts in the books, arts and culture realms. We are connected to approximately 10k strictly organic contacts of individuals or organizations on our social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, mail-lists) who follow the publications and projects proposed by SQUEEZE. We also manage a press list related to the book world of more than 300 contacts (print press, web press, influencers, radio, television). In the first feedback we have had on the matter, our regular contact base is generally foreign to the world of crypto and blockchain, even reluctant because of the technological barrier and the financial aspects related to speculation, but is of course interested in our literary projects. Our goal is to get these people and/or organizations to discover and realize the potential and relevance of web3 tools in writing creation, live streaming and book distribution. It will therefore be a question of directing and adapting our communication with our networks in a qualitative and repeated manner over the entire period covered by the Catalyst fund (6 months) and beyond. The implementation of a Discord and a Twitter account directly associated with the Tentacle Book Club will also be added to promote meetings between these newcomers and the Cardano community also interested in the project.

2/ ...by building book spaces and events in the metaverse...

Our approach is not to carry out an operation to promote Cardano, web3 or the blockchain but to build a project in a cross-cutting area clearly identifiable by people not receptive to web3 by using some resources and tools powered by the Cardano ecosystem, simply because these resources and tools are the most useful in a practical sense to build said project. Building a place of life around the book in the metaverse is therefore a central objective of our action. It is a question of moving forward in constant interaction with our community to define the architecture, the operating standards and the financing of the Tentacle Book Club in the metaverse, taking into account the possibilities offered by the web3 and Cardano ecosystem in particular. A precise 3D visual plan of our space in the metaverse, a detailed operating protocol on the opportunities offered by this space (events, trade, communication, etc.) and a provisional budget for the next 24 months must be the result of this interaction.

3/ ... which can run on a sustainable economic model

The funding requested here as part of Catalyst aims to ensure the launch on solid foundations of the Tentacle Book Club and to allow the establishment of a sustainable economic model for its operation and long-term development in the metaverse.

The TENTACLE BOOK CLUB – THE STARTER is a pilot project.

From our point of view and given the field in which we operate, we have not defined a quantitative threshold that would require pre-requisites limiting experimentation.

On the other hand, constant and sustained attention will be paid to the reactions aroused by our actions, both in terms of opinions collected on our social networks and of observable behaviors (commitment, registrations, participations, etc.).

This qualitative evaluation will :

• help us to produce guidelines adapted to the skills of our new users on the blockchain
• allow us to define relevant pre-requisites for setting up quantitative measurement tools afterwards.
• above all be the subject of an evaluation report available in free access and containing useful information for the launch of similar projects by other teams.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

To accomplish all that we have planned from this starter proposal, we expect the whole process to take several years. The request for funds presented here corresponds to what is necessary to launch the project, therefore it only rewards the first 6 months, that is the start-up phase.

30 days - Milestone 1

• Activities : setting up Discord, Twitter, Instagram and all community networks related to the project, setting up the dedicated team and moderation systems. Realization of the communication strategy, creation/validation of the press kit. Collection of feedbacks and first qualitative data
• Delivery : detailed communication plan, operational community tools

150 days - Milestone 2

• Activities : Execution of the communication plan, production of visuals and animated teasers. Search for in-kind or financial partnerships. Design of spaces and design production of future events. Definition of attributes, mint and release of NFT early birds passes. Collection of feedback and qualitative data.
• Deliveries : 1000 early bird pass NFTs launched + Spatial map of the Tentacle Book Club + precise charter governing the production of our future events in the metaverse

180 days - Milestone 3

• Activities : Ongoing communication and community work. NFTs data collection. Organization of the data collected since the project starts, analysis, thinking on the results and definition of the lines of work for the next 12 months.
• Delivery : Publication of the evaluation report containing feasible options and perspectives for the coming months

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

30 days - Milestone 1

• Deliverables : Living official social networks dedicated to the Tentacle Book Club. Press kit finalized and ready to send. Complete working document presenting our finalized communication plan.
• Intended outcomes : Setting up a solid communication base, raising awareness of our networks about the construction of a space dedicated to books in the metaverse on Cardano. Methodical organization of our communication actions for the coming months.
• Measurement : Qualitative collection of the first feedbacks on the Tentacle Book Club official social networks, as well as the feedbacks concerning the communication about the Tentacle Book Club on the social networks already established and linked to the literary activities of SQUEEZE.

150 days - Milestone 2

• Deliverables : Visual promotion and animated teasers, spatial map of the Tentacle Book Club, precise charter governing the production of our future events in the metaverse, step report about collaboration and partnerships with other entities, pass NFTs realization and early bird launch.
• Intended outcomes : The key point at this stage of project development is the promotional aspect, i.e. the communication and dissemination of the project to our networks outside the Cardano ecosystem but also inside the ecosystem. Our main intention here is to build the foundations of a strong community around the Tentacle Book Club.
• Measurement : The level of demand during the mint early bird phase will constitute the most neutral and objective quantitative data validating or sanctioning our communication efforts and ruling on the interest and perceived quality of our project.

180 days - Milestone 3

• Deliverables : A comprehensive evaluation report of the 6-month inception phase of the project.
• Intended outcomes : Adapt the development strategy of the Tentacle Book Club to the realistic situation of the project as we analyze it from the qualitative and quantitative data collected during its first 6 months of life.
• Measurement : Qualitative appreciation and feedback from our community on the findings of the report.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

............................................................ESTIMATED BUDGET

ADMINISTRATION / MANAGEMENT ...................16 600

• Project lead / coordination...........................10 000
• Evaluation (collect/analysis/report)..............5 000
• Association SQUEEZE management fees ....1 600

COMMUNICATION / MARKETING .................... .26 700

• Web design / graphic design........................ 8 300
• Press / PR ........................................................6 700
• Community management...............................11 700

NFTs ...................................................................26 700

• Creation advance payment (design, IP)......16 700
• Tech / mint fees.............................................10 000

.............................................................. TOTAL 70 000 ADA

Remarks

• This provisional budget has been evaluated on the basis of $1 = 0.3 ADA (total budget in $ = $21,000)
• 40% of the total budget is allocated to communication/marketing. This significant number corresponds to the fact that we consider it imperative and essential to bring together the largest possible community around the Tentacle Book Club. Generally speaking, spaces without frequentation cannot survive. By the way, this 40% of the total budget proportion corresponds to a current weight of the marketing balance in the field of IRL event production.
• Additional funds equivalent to 100% of the forecast budget are blocked by SQUEEZE in a bank account to compensate any unforeseen overruns or expenses and thus guarantee the delivery of the project. This relief fund was constituted by donations from private patrons under the regulatory conditions of French tax law in matters of patronage.
• Our NFTs public mint price will be set according to the ADA fluctuations. From this point of view, the NFTs mint price is intended to be another adjustment variable allowing us to better secure our overall forecast budget given the strong variations in the change rates of crypto-currencies.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

All of our budgeted prices are typical of projects and operations carried out by SQUEEZE for many years, i.e. they correspond to cheap price levels, or very cheap compared to commercial activity sectors. Working in the field of art and culture, we are experienced in project management on a limited budget on the one hand, on the other hand our structure is officially recognized as a non-profit general interest organization by the french tax administration, which allows us to benefit from a certain number of aids and legal flexibilities to mitigate the cost of our work.

1/ Resources mobilized within the association : part of the work is carried out on a voluntary basis and/or distributed over various activities of SQUEEZE.

Example :

6 months SQUEEZE lead project/coordinator (manager job) = 10,000 ADA = 3,000 euros = 500 euros/month.

The monthly working time that will be provided on the project = 75 hours per month minimum.

→Average monthly cost over 75 hours for a manager in France = 2,300 euros = 1,380 euros net income (total - employer charges/social security contributions) = 18.19 euros net income per hour.

→Monthly 75 hours Squeeze manager = 500 euros = 300 euros net income = 4 euros net income per hour.

The SQUEEZE team works for passion rather than money, we consider ourselves lucky to have the freedom to choose our missions while ensuring a sufficient level of remuneration for our chosen lifestyle.

2/ Freelance and/or external services : we have in most cases built up a long-standing network that agrees to negotiate friendly rates to correspond to our budgetary limits. We also have the possibility of exchanging, in a legal manner as a non profit organization, part of the cost of a product or a service in sponsorship in kind.

Finally and from a different point of view, the budget requested here corresponds to a launch budget. Thus the value invested can be considered as a long-term profit generator for the entire Cardano ecosystem since the positioning of the Tentacle Book Club will onboard new users/new opinion leaders with a profile totally foreign to the blockchain.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept