Barnes & Noble to open 'PubIt!' self-publishing portal this summer
By Darren Murph 
posted May 19th 2010 10:50AM
posted May 19th 2010 10:50AM
[Thanks, Victor]
Barnes & Noble Announces PubIt!(TM), An Easy-to-Use Digital Publishing and Distribution Platform for Independent and Self-Publishers
PubIt! Enables Independent Publishers and Self-Published Authors Access to Sell eBooks and Content to Millions of Readers on Barnes & Noble's Online and Digital Platforms
NEW YORK, May 19, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Barnes & Noble, Inc. the world's largest bookseller, is extending its deep and longstanding tradition of supporting authors and publishers with PubIt! by Barnes & Noble, an easy and lucrative way for independent publishers and self-publishing writers to distribute their works digitally through Barnes & Noble.com and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore. The easy-to-use publishing and distribution platform offers qualified independent publishers and authors of self-published works expanded distribution, visibility and protection that only Barnes & Noble can offer.
The announcement marks Barnes & Noble's latest move to continue to build one of the world's largest digital catalogs, spanning eBooks, journals, periodicals and other types of reading material. PubIt! titles will be distributed through BN.COM and Barnes & Noble's eBookstore, which currently offers more than one million digital titles to millions of dedicated customers in-store and online.
Independent publishers and writers will appreciate PubIt!'s simple and competitive royalty model and compensation process, the details of which will be available in the coming weeks. Content owners' intellectual property will be well-protected with Barnes & Noble's best-in-class digital rights management technology and offered in the industry standard ePub format that allows publishers' works to be enjoyed by millions of Barnes & Noble customers on hundreds of the most popular computing, mobile and eBook reading devices.
"As a company that has achieved much of its success by building mutually beneficial relationships with publishers and authors, Barnes & Noble's new PubIt! service represents an exciting evolution and significant opportunity in the digital content arena," said Theresa Horner, director, Digital Products, Barnes & Noble. "Barnes & Noble is uniquely positioned to support writers and publishers and bring their exciting digital works to the broadest audience of readers anywhere."
Whether online or on-the-go, Barnes & Noble customers will have access to PubIt! titles with the opportunity to browse, sample, buy and download the digital content in seconds to their devices with free BN reader software. Using Barnes & Noble's breakthrough Read In Store(TM) technology, NOOK(TM) customers can also browse the complete contents of PubIt! titles while in Barnes & Noble stores.
PubIt! is a convenient one-stop-shop, allowing publishers to get their content in front of consumers for purchase and reading on the most widely adopted mobile devices and software platforms. By following simple steps to upload their content in an industry standard format for electronic titles, content creators can reach consumers on hundreds of devices including: NOOK by Barnes & Noble, PC, Mac(R), iPad(TM), iPhone(R), BlackBerry(R) and others. For more information on free BN eReader software and apps, please visit www.bn.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp.
More information on PubIt!, which will be available this summer, and the benefits of joining Barnes & Noble's expansive and trusted digital content catalog can be found at www.bn.com/pubit.
I really like the Treo 750 in the press release shot, very classy.
@deanm
I believe that's a "Palm Pro".. Wait, is there a difference? haha
I'm totally gonna pronounce this "pube it."
Treo Pro
Does anyone else get jumped by a Nook sales rep. whenever they go to Barnes & Noble? I think the device is "okay", but I'm starting to hate it now.
@LiQuiDFuSioN
I carried a Kindle in once just to see what happened. Surprisingly nothing did, they left me alone. I thought I'd be bombarded with reasons why the nook was better.
@LiQuiDFuSioN Yea, just yesterday. The funny thing was, I was cutting through B&N on my way to the Apple Store. I was exchanging an iPad (It had about 1/4 of the glass of the screen that had lines in the glass). The rep jumped me to show of their Nook device, so naturally there were about 6 older women there. I told her I wasn't interested and held up my iPad and opened the iBook app with Enders Game loaded.
Everyone basically ignored her to oogle the iPad. 4 of the the 6 followed me out to the Apple store! Got a good laugh at that.
@DigitalMenace Damn it! Everyone has this cool story about how they dissed the reps while I don't. :(
I just *had* to be curious with a little Engadget in me and see how the device worked. Btw, it comes with free 3G service. Thought that was pretty neat on its own.
@LiQuiDFuSioN
I used the 3G on my Nook for the first time the other day. I was at a bar's outside deck, reading and having a drink, when I saw the 3G connection for the first time. Used it to download 2 free books. Worked flawlessly.
@DigitalMenace I own both the nook and the iPad and I STRONGLY prefer the Nook to the iPad for book reading.
after today.. its like the ipads just wedged in trying to look like it belongs
..the day is apple yet again
I can't possibly be the only person that was constantly stopping himself from reading 'pubic'.
@josah
yes... yes you were
@josah
You're not alone, kind sir.
I read "Pube-It"
So, do you pronounce that "Pew-bit", like "pew-bick", as in 'pubic'? Because that's how it looks, and it looks awful.
@whySoSerious ... Close. It's actually "Pewb -- it", as in toss a bunch of pubic hairs on it.
@whySoSerious Yep, same here. You'd think they could've run this past a linguist to make sure it wasn't ridiculously comic.
@whySoSerious It could be a secret campaign against the Scientoligists and a rally of support for ol' brave Agent Pubeit - that crazy guy who ran into a CoS building covered in pubes.
I call a conspiracy upon B&N.
Can't pronounce this. Use a normal name , B&N!
Bad idea, market will be filled with horrible books which will displace some of the better ones. Imagine if i wrote a book about my struggles with getting laid, no publisher would approve my book, but if i can publish it myself it will compete with a work of some young, undiscovered writer who is the next Dostoevsky.
There's a reason world has publishing companies, they have an army of editors who read manuscripts and only approve the best ones. With this system any fool will be able to put his book for sale so costumer will have millions of choices.
We saw it before in 1980's with Atari and PC games, everyone was publishing games back then and soon bad games simply started eating into the shelve space available so good games simply did not sell enough to make a profit. This is why you need Sony's approval to publish a PS 3 game, because they will not approve anything that is a bad game.
who is coming up with these names? first "nookie", then "pubic". wow.
What's with all the genital hygiene names for book reader tablets?
I have a hair that this will not take off... a PubIt hair.
Darren's kvetch count +1
Other notable B&N products on the horzion.
1. Individually wrapped cleaing pads for fingerprints on screen and bezel = Rimwype.
2. plastic stand for handsfree reading = nookstand
3. malware downloaded inside PubIt package = crabs, i.e I got crabs from that Pubit download.
They didn't really think the name through, did they?
@saposmak
or maybe they did....
Jobs band porn, B&N? Whew Knews!!!
@tikigawd
typo: I meant "bans"
All we need now is something named Dik or Suk
Looks like they'll be putting DRM on that as well. Which is unfortunate in the unlikely chance that I want to buy a book from someone self publishing through Barnes and Noble.
@hated one
uhhh... what?
-1
If you have ever looked into publishing a book, you know just how STUPID of an idea this is... Book publishing is so vastly different from music or indie movie publishing it isn't funny. If you self publish, you will essentially be blacklisted from all other publishers.
I am very close friends with several authors, including not less than 5 who have been published. The legal issues revolving around character rights, previously published works, book marketing, and more are ridiculous. Its also a highly competitive market space. More importantly, if you're self published, a real company that picks you up can't announce you as a "new" author, and they may be required to list your previous works in the front of the book they publish.
If you NEVER intend to seek an honest publishing contract, this might be OK for you, if you're careful and don't get sued for writing something too similar to someone else's work, but if you have any aspirations as an author, DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE, or anything like it. I have 2 author friends who thought otherwise and are now incapable of getting anything published. Most companies won't even review their submissions. They've been relegated to magazine, comic, and game content and have given up on their dreams of fantasy novels. They were told outright their work was good enough, well beyond good enough, but since they were "already published without a contract" that they could not be picked up.
If you think yourself an author, actually call some publishers, or send a letter of inquiry, and ask them specifically if publishing through such a service would impact your ability to get signed...
@zelannii
disclaimer: i am not associated with any form of publishing firm, in any way. These comments were my own. I noted after posting i sounded like i might be an insider speaking against the competition, so i wanted to confirm otherwise.
@zelannii
Yeah, I also agree that self-publishing is a totally different animal and can't be compared to, say, indie-filmmaking or indie music.
Since the barrier to entry for writing is so low, traditional publishers are there more to weed out most of the really awful, amateur stuff, that is barely readable.
Barnes and Noble still hasn't released their damned iPad app so now they are using iBooks in the promotional photos.... AUGH!!!
Pube-It? Whatever happened to focus group testing, people?...dang!
Every time I hear "PubIt" I hear "pupet." And to too many wannabe writers, this type of self-publishing system will just string them along, thinking they'll be the next great American novelist.