It's easy to self publish through Barnes & Noble's PubIt!
Just we showed with our How To: ePublish Through Kindle Direct article, the modern self-publishing portals are no more complicated than setting up a Gmail account. There are a couple of small tricks, but we’re going to walk through it all step by step right here and now. So, if you’ve got a book you’ve been working but, for some reason you haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet, I hope this article shows you how easy it is to get your work out into the market.
Now, how about we get started? First, you need to register for an account. Head over to The PubIt! Website and follow these directions:
1. Create an account.
a. Enter valid email address
b. First and last name
c. Provide a strong password
d. Pick a security question
e. Provide the answer to that security question.
2. Provide Contact Information
a. First & Last Name
b. Street Mailing Address
c. City, State, Zip Code, Country
d. Phone # and/or Fax#
3. Say if you want a publisher listed when you sell your books (you can make up your own) and a website for that publisher.
4. PubIt! will confirm the mailing address.
5. Agree to the Terms and Conditions (you must scroll down to make that option clickable).
6. Enter Your Bank Account Information (so they can send you your earnings).
a. Bank Name, Routing Number, Account Number
b. Name of the Account. Company name on the account (if applicable)
7. Enter your Tax Information.
a. Select type of taxpayer (Individual, Corporation or Other)
b. Tax ID, can be SSN or EIN (your SSN if you select Individual)
c. Tax Address (if different than mailing address, otherwise select “Use My Mailing Address”)
8. Enter your Credit Card Information
a. Billing Address
b. Card Type (Visa, MC, AMEX, Discover, Diners Club, JB)
c. Card Number Number, Card holder’s Name, and Expiration Date
9. Confirm the information you’ve just given.
10. Good to Go!
Now that you’re registered with the PubIt! Service, it’s time to load up a book! You will need:
- Your book (Preferably in ePub format but PubIt! also accepts .doc, .docx, rtf, html, and .txt formats)
- Your book cover in .jpg file format (sized between 750px and 2000px each side)
- Your book description and author bio (best to write these ahead of time, they’ll require a lot of thought).
Here are the steps to get your book into the B&N Digital Store:
To get started you need to get to the right page on PubIt!’s website. In your Dashboard (where you arrive as soon as you log in), click the “Add a Title” Box.
1. The Add Title Screen shows the six steps to digitally publish your book through PubIt!. The first step is to fill out the Product Listing information. Here’s what you need to do:
a. Enter your book’s Title
b. Enter your list price (how much you want people to pay to buy your book). Not sure how to price it? There’s a royalty calculator function right there.
c. Enter the Publication date (when you want your book to go on sale).
d. Enter the Publisher (default is what you filled in during step 3 above).
e. Enter the Contributors (that’s you as Author) and any others who you want to credit (up to 5).
2. Next, upload your eBook. Use the browse button to find your ebook file on your computer. When you’ve selected it, click “Upload & Preview”. Remember, make sure its the right type of file and that it’s pre-formatted to your satisfaction. While PubIt! has a formatting option, it, like Kindle’s, can be difficult. Best to have your book already formatted and ready to go.
Preview it in the Nook emulator to make sure it all transferred correctly and, when you’re satisfied, move to the next step.
3. Upload your cover image. Just like the last step, use the browse function to find the right file on your computer, then click “Upload”. PubIt! recommends your file be in JPG format, no larger than 2MB and between 750-2000 pixels per side.
4. Enter some basic Metadata by answering the following questions:
a. Do you have an eBook specific ISBN? (you don’t need one for Nook)
b. Is this Nook Book part of a series? (If stand alone, say no. If part of a series, even the first in a planned series, say yes.)
c. Is this Nook Book available in print?
d. Is this title Public Domain? This is asking if your book is no longer protected by copyright. Most likely the answer for any new book is “No” it is not in the Public Domain.
e. What Age Group is this Nook Book most suited for? There’s a drop down menu so you can pick the most appropriate.
f. What language is your Nook Book written in? There’s a drop down menu for you to pick your language.
g. Where do you have the rights to make your Nook Book available for marketing, distribution, and sale? If you hold the copyright, you hold worldwide rights, so go ahead and check that. If you don’t have complete control of the copyright (you negotiated with some other publisher for foreign distribution, for example), then you’re going to have to verify this with the other parties.
h. Do you want DRM encryption for your Nook Book? That’s up to you, many people discuss the pros and cons of each.
5. Enter your Promotional and Informational Stuff. There’s a lot here, and all of it is very important. This information is what people will see when they look your book up in B&N’s Nook catalog.
a. Subject Categories. You can select a maximum of 5.
b. Keywords. You get a maximum of 100 characters, with keywords separated by commas.
c. Description. Talk about your book in 5000 characters!
d. Author Bio. Talk about yourself in 2500 characters!
e. Editorial Review. Already got a review of your book from someone who is not you? You’ve got 500 characters to put it here (5 review maximum).
This is truly where you sell your book. Give all of these elements a lot of thought. I’m not going to go over every strategy in detail, but if you’re looking for more on how to write these descriptions, I highly recommend reading Robin Sullivan’s articles on the topic: Picking the Right Categories, Book Titles, and Author Bios.
6. Put your book up for sale! Click “Save”, then check the box to confirm your information and click “Put On Sale”.
Congratulations! You are now a published author!
