Getting Started

The one thing you need

Basil Press is wallet-first. A wallet is how you pay, how you get paid, and how your books stay yours. You do not need to create an account, hand over an email, or fill out a profile. Connect a wallet, sign one message, and you are in. Email sign-in and account linking are optional conveniences.

Everything settles in USDC, a digital dollar, on the Base network. Prices are shown in plain dollars. USDC is how the dollars move.

The recommended setup

1. Create a fresh smart wallet used just for Basil Press. Coinbase Wallet creates one by default. Smart wallets matter because Basil Press can cover their network fees. You do not need ETH with that setup.
2. Add USDC to it on the Base network, and only as much as you plan to use. A few dollars covers several books; publishing costs a $0.99 fee shown at publish time.
3. Connect the wallet on Basil Press and approve the sign-in message. That's the whole setup.

Best practice: dedicate a new wallet to Basil Press and keep only what you need in it. Do not connect a wallet that holds significant funds. Not because Basil Press does anything with it. Because that is good hygiene everywhere on the open web.

Readers

1. Browse the Shelf and open any book.
2. Buy with USDC. With a smart wallet, the network fee is covered by Basil Press.
3. Read in the browser or download your copy. Books are DRM-free; your copy is yours.

Authors

1. Connect your wallet and sign in. This wallet becomes your author identity and receives your sales directly.
2. Open Publish and fill in title, author name, blurb, description, genre, language, tags, and price.
3. Add a cover, then upload or paste your manuscript.
4. Pay the $0.99 publish fee and approve the confirmations your wallet shows. Your book is then permanently stored, recorded, and listed for sale.

Text, Markdown, and DOCX are typeset into an ebook. EPUB files are used as-is. PDFs are kept as fixed-layout PDF editions with a cover and publication page added.

Wallets, the Network & Safety

Smart wallets vs. regular wallets

A smart wallet, which Coinbase Wallet creates by default, supports sponsored transactions. Basil Press can pay the network fee when you buy or publish. You do not need ETH, and the confirmation window will say Sponsored by Basil Press.

A regular key wallet, like Trust Wallet or MetaMask, works on Basil Press too. It cannot accept sponsored fees. That is a wallet limitation, not a Basil Press setting. A regular wallet pays its own network fee, usually around a cent per action, so it needs a small amount of ETH on Base. A dollar's worth lasts a long time. If it has no ETH, Basil Press will say so plainly.

The network matters: Base

Basil Press runs on the Base network, and the USDC it accepts is native Base USDC. Three things follow from that:

• Your wallet must be set to the Base network when you connect and confirm.
• When moving USDC from an exchange or another wallet, explicitly choose Base as the network. USDC on Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, or anywhere else is not spendable here until it is moved to Base.
• The older bridged token "USDbC" is not the same as native USDC. If your balance is USDbC, swap it to USDC in your wallet first. The buy screen will point this out if it spots it.

Send carefully. A transfer made on the wrong network can be permanently lost, and neither Basil Press nor anyone else can recover it. When in doubt, send a tiny test amount first.

Creating and funding a wallet

Wallets are independent products with their own apps, guides, and terms. Basil Press does not make them, so follow their official documentation. Good starting points: Coinbase Wallet for a smart wallet, base.org to learn about the network, and circle.com/usdc to learn about USDC.

Safety practices

• Use a fresh wallet dedicated to Basil Press, funded with only what you need.
• Authors: sales arrive in your wallet instantly. That is the point. Do not let a large balance accumulate in a browser wallet. Move earnings regularly to wherever you normally keep money.
• Your recovery phrase is yours alone. Basil Press will never ask for it, in any form, ever. Neither will anyone legitimate.
• Check the address bar: the real site is basilpress.com.
• Approvals you confirm in your wallet are final. Read the confirmation window before approving. Once on the network, no one, including Basil Press, can reverse it.

How To

Sign in

1. Click sign in and choose Connect wallet.
2. Approve the connection and sign the Basil Press message. Signing is free. It is an identity check, not a transaction.

That's a complete sign-in. Email sign-in also exists and can be linked to the same account, but it is never required.

Buy a book

1. Open a book from the Shelf and choose USDC.
2. With a smart wallet: one confirmation window opens, marked Sponsored by Basil Press. No network fee for you.
3. With a regular wallet: two confirmations (an approval, then the purchase), each with a network fee of about a cent paid in your wallet's ETH.
4. Open Library to read or download your copy.

Confirmation windows: the fine print worth knowing

• Allow pop-ups for basilpress.com. Payment confirmations open in a pop-up window. If your browser blocks it, you will see a small "Popup was blocked. Retry" widget and have to click again. In Chrome: Settings, Privacy and security, Site settings, Pop-ups and redirects, Add basilpress.com. This carries into private windows too.
• The fee quote inside the confirmation window refreshes every 20 seconds or so. That's normal. Take the time you need, then confirm.
• "Transaction preview unavailable" in the Coinbase window means it cannot draw a picture of this kind of action. The details it does show, amount, network, and sponsor, are accurate.

Read or download

1. Open Library.
2. Read opens the in-browser reader; Download saves the file. EPUB books open in the paginated reader; PDF books open as PDF editions.

Publish a book

1. Sign in with the wallet that should own the book and receive its sales.
2. Open Publish and fill out the book's details and price (a minimum price applies, shown in the form).
3. Add a cover if your manuscript needs one, then upload or paste the manuscript.
4. Click publish. You will confirm the $0.99 publish fee, then the permanent record, then the listing. Your wallet prompts for each. With a smart wallet, the network fees are covered by Basil Press.

For reflowable ebooks, upload text, Markdown, DOCX, or EPUB. For fixed layout, upload a PDF. Choose whether page 1 is already your cover, or provide a separate cover image.

Publishing may pause if network fees spike unusually high; permanence isn't time-critical, so try again a little later.

If publishing gets interrupted

Publishing is resumable. If a window closes, a confirmation fails, or your connection drops partway through: sign in with the same wallet, reselect the same manuscript, and click publish again. Basil Press finds your publish-in-progress and continues where it stopped. A fee you already paid is detected and never charged twice. Completed steps are skipped.

Link an email (optional)

1. Sign in, open Account, and choose Add email.
2. Open the confirmation link from your inbox.

Linking lets your library and author dashboard appear whichever way you sign in. One account can hold an email and several wallets. None of this is required. The wallet alone is enough.

FAQ

What is Basil Press?

A digital book platform where authors publish permanent, DRM-free editions and readers buy them directly. The sale pays the author's wallet the moment it happens.

Do I need an account?

No. Your wallet is your account. Connect it, sign one free message, and you can buy, read, download, and publish. Email sign-in and account linking are optional conveniences.

What does "permanent" mean, and what should I know before publishing?

Published books are written to permanent public storage with a public record of publication. That permanence is the product, and it cuts both ways: a published book cannot be deleted or silently edited. Corrections are published as new versions on the same record. Proofread before you publish, and only publish work you hold the rights to.

How do authors get paid?

USDC sales pay the wallet that authored the book directly, at the moment of purchase, with Basil Press keeping a small platform share. There is no payout schedule and no balance held by Basil Press. The money is yours, in your wallet, immediately.

What does publishing cost?

A $0.99 publish fee, shown before you confirm. It covers permanent storage and the publication record. With a smart wallet there is nothing else to pay; a regular wallet also pays its own network fees of a few cents.

Why do smart wallets buy fee-free but my regular wallet needs ETH?

Basil Press sponsors network fees, but the wallet itself has to support sponsorship. Smart wallets support it. Regular key wallets like Trust Wallet or MetaMask do not yet, so the network collects its fee, about a cent, from the wallet's own ETH. As wallets add sponsorship support, they get the fee-free experience here automatically.

Can I pay by credit card?

No. The current version is USDC on Base. Card payments are not part of the live product, and they will only return if a provider fits the direct-author-payment model.

A book is missing from my library.

Your library follows your sign-in. Sign in with the wallet that bought the book, and it will be there. If you use several wallets or an email too, link them to one account so your whole library shows up either way.

Are purchases refundable?

All sales are final. That is what lets authors get paid instantly and keep what they earn. If something genuinely went wrong on Basil Press's side, reach out and we will do our best to make it right.

What should I expect from support?

Basil Press is small, young, and independent. Support is limited and best-effort. A few things follow from how it is built: Basil Press never holds your funds or your keys; transactions you approve settle on a public network no one can reverse; and your wallet, its recovery phrase, and anything you send from it are under your control alone. That is why the best practices above matter. A dedicated wallet, funded with just what you need, keeps mishaps small. Use Basil Press with the same judgment you would bring to any young platform.

Contact

Use this for broken purchases, publishing issues, missing library items, or launch feedback. Include the wallet address, book title, and transaction hash if you have them. Do not send recovery phrases, private keys, or passwords.