NFT art by Mad Dog Jones, sold by Sotheby's.

If you want to make money with NFT's, there's two paths: you as the buyer (speculator), and you as the creator (artist).

Maybe the easiest way to make money is as an artist, if - if! - you have a large community of followers who are crypto savvy.

If you don't have any followers, you might want to stop there, as the space is crowded enough already that NFT's posted without explanation aren't likely go anywhere.

As an artist, if you are reasonably sure of selling your NFT, this is the way, if your following justifies it.

Be aware of hidden fees. On Ethereum, to mint a collection, it's often above $50, minimum (minting is basically the same as creating on the blockchain itself).

So if you only plan to mint one piece of art, and you were only planning to sell it for about $25, it doesn't make sense to mint it on Ethereum.

Many artists have complained about being burned by this, so give it some thought.

If you're not an artist - if want to buy and resell NFT's for profit - there's some things you should keep in mind.

First, think about your time horizon. Is it a couple weeks? A few months? Years?

There's no clear answer here. There have definitely been projects that have soared high and then crashed low afterwards, without yet having matched their previous highs (example: the Mekaverse). There's also people who have sold very pricey projects too early.

Keep in mind that it's hard to time the market.

Second, there's different kinds of NFT's, with different paths to profit. Consider the kind of play you want to make.

One type of NFT is what you might call the 'art' NFT.

For this type of NFT, the value is all in the art that is delivered to you upon purchase of the NFT. You are expecting to profit because the value of the work will appreciate, as will that artist's work in relation to their peers (see the illustration at top of page).

Another type of NFT is what you might call the 'product' NFT.

The NFT here is really one small piece of a product offering to be built. It isn't complete, in the senes that the rest of the product will need to be released to realize its value.

Until then, the NFT's value proposition is incomplete - you need those other pieces to really get the full value of your purchase.

Unlike the 'art' NFT, you are depending on good execution here: even if your NFT looks great, it won't be worth much if the product doesn't materialize.

Art from Star Atlas, which is selling NFTs as part of an eventual game.

In between those is what I'll call the 'community' NFT.

This is an NFT that has art, but also has a community aspect, where the community aspect is often as or more important than the art, to realize the value of your purchase.

A famous, controversial example.

In my opinion this is closer to the product NFT, especially because there's often a roadmap that will need to be completed to fully manifest the value of the NFT.

So consider which type of project speaks to you the most, or appeals to you the most on a project by project basis, and make your choice.

No one has a crystal ball, but we do know the NFT interest has been growing and following an upward trend. It's not a bad time to start learning, and spending. It's not crazy to think the learning now could pay off later.

So do your homework, find projects you like, and who knows: you could end up very happy with your choice.