NIP-PS

NIP-PS: Magazines, Magazine Issues & Ebooks

draft optional

This document defines three new addressable event kinds for sharing digital publications—magazines (with recurring issues) and ebooks—on Nostr.

Motivation

There is no standard way to publish or discover digital periodicals (magazines, journals, newsletters) or ebooks on Nostr. This NIP defines a minimal, relay-friendly schema that:

• Groups magazine issues under a single addressable magazine identity.
• Lets readers follow a magazine by its pubkey + kind + d coordinate.
• Supports arbitrary issue identifiers (e.g. 2024-01, Vol.3 No.12, Spring Edition).
• Works for ebooks distributed as PDF or EPUB files.
• Is compatible with Blossom file hosting.

Kind Definitions

Kind 34609 — Magazine (Publication)

An addressable event that represents a magazine or periodical publication. It is the parent record that groups individual issues together. Publishers create one Magazine event per title.

Tags

Content

Empty string or an extended description / about text in Markdown.

Example

{
  "kind": 34609,
  "content": "The world's leading Bitcoin magazine, covering protocol, culture, and economy.",
  "tags": [
    ["d", "bitcoin-magazine"],
    ["title", "Bitcoin Magazine"],
    ["image", "https://blossom.example.com/logo.webp"],
    ["summary", "Bitcoin protocol, culture, and economy."],
    ["t", "bitcoin"],
    ["t", "finance"],
    ["l", "en"],
    ["url", "https://bitcoinmagazine.com"],
    ["alt", "Magazine: Bitcoin Magazine"]
  ]
}

Kind 39731 — Magazine Issue

An addressable event representing a single issue of a magazine. Each issue references its parent magazine via an a tag.

Tags

Content

Empty string or editorial notes / table of contents in Markdown.

Example

{
  "kind": 39731,
  "content": "This month: The Lightning Network turns 5, plus 20 pages on Nostr.",
  "tags": [
    ["d", "2024-05"],
    ["title", "Bitcoin Magazine — May 2024"],
    ["issue", "May 2024"],
    ["a", "34609:ab12cd...:bitcoin-magazine"],
    ["image", "https://blossom.example.com/cover-2024-05.webp"],
    ["url", "https://blossom.example.com/btcmag-2024-05.pdf"],
    ["m", "application/pdf"],
    ["size", "14285714"],
    ["x", "deadbeef..."],
    ["summary", "Lightning Network 5th anniversary special issue."],
    ["published_at", "1714521600"],
    ["t", "bitcoin"],
    ["alt", "Magazine Issue: Bitcoin Magazine — May 2024, Issue May 2024"]
  ]
}

Kind 33953 — Ebook

An addressable event representing a standalone ebook (PDF or EPUB).

Tags

Content

Empty string or a full book description / blurb in Markdown.

Example

{
  "kind": 33953,
  "content": "A look at the history of money and an argument for Bitcoin as the superior form of money.",
  "tags": [
    ["d", "the-bitcoin-standard"],
    ["title", "The Bitcoin Standard"],
    ["image", "https://blossom.example.com/bitcoin-standard-cover.webp"],
    ["url", "https://blossom.example.com/bitcoin-standard.epub"],
    ["m", "application/epub+zip"],
    ["author", "Saifedean Ammous"],
    ["summary", "The decentralized alternative to central banking."],
    ["published_at", "1525132800"],
    ["t", "bitcoin"],
    ["t", "economics"],
    ["l", "en"],
    ["isbn", "978-1119473862"],
    ["alt", "Ebook: The Bitcoin Standard"]
  ]
}

Cross-Linking

Magazine issues reference their parent magazine via the a tag using the NIP-01 addressable coordinate format:

34609:<publisher-pubkey>:<magazine-d-tag>

Clients can query all issues of a magazine with:

{ "kinds": [39731], "#a": ["34609:<pubkey>:<d>"] }

And they can query all ebooks by a topic with:

{ "kinds": [33953], "#t": ["bitcoin"] }

File Hosting

All files (PDFs, EPUBs, cover images, logos) SHOULD be uploaded to Blossom servers and referenced by their canonical Blossom URL. The x tag (SHA-256) SHOULD be provided for integrity verification.

Cover images SHOULD be in image/webp or image/jpeg format, at a 2:3 aspect ratio (portrait), at least 400px wide.

If no cover image is provided by the publisher, clients SHOULD render the first page of the PDF as a cover image and upload it to Blossom before publishing the issue/ebook event.

Querying Summary