As those of you who follow me on Facebook have seen, I recently received an invitation from Barnes & Noble to publish on their Nook format. For some reason, they appear to be doing an ‘invitation’ only situation where they’re only allowing people who have previously expressed interest to sign up for their ‘PubIt’ service.

I found this to be rather ironic as a reader of mine had previously requested I put the book out for Nook, which I did… via Smashwords.com.

While I’m pleased to see that B&N has finally decided to jump into the deep end with indie publishing (please, do NOT call it ‘vanity press’ because that is a completely different animal), I do feel like they’re missing some great opportunities.

The first problem is regarding the ability to associate print with ebook editions. The paperback edition of Akhet has been available on BN.com for about six months now and I have reviews for it that it would be nice to have show up on the Epub edition as well. With that in mind, I emailed the customer support division, asking if they could make that happen.

Here is the email I sent:

I’ve made my novel ‘Akhet’ available through PubIt and would like to

have the ebook associated with the paperback version on the website.

Please let me know what I need to do to make that happen.

Thank you.

H.L. Reasby

And here is the email I received back:

Dear Valued Customer,

  Thank you for your interest in PubIt!

  Currently, we are allowing access by invitation only.  If you want to

know about of all of the fabulous features we are offering, please take

a moment to review our FAQs by pasting this URL in your browser:

  http://pubit.barnesandnoble.com/pubit_app/bn?t=pi_reg_home

  On this page you can:

  ? Navigate to the link Learn More About PubIt! (our FAQs)

  ? Review our Terms & Conditions by clicking on the link in the lower

left corner.

  ? Want to join us?  Sign up under Invite Me to PubIt! and we?ll get

an invitation out to you.

  We are gratified that you are interested and hope you will decide to

join us in this exciting venture!

Sincerely,

Barnes & Noble

Sincerely,

Rachel

Customer Service Representative

Barnes & Noble

http://www.bn.com/

Unfortunately, as you can see, Rachel clearly did not take the time to read my email and ascertain what I was actually inquiring about, but sent out a robo-reply. After receiving such wonderful customer service from Amazon and Createspace when it comes to my publishing experience (the Createspace customer service rep even went so far as to give me her direct email and extension if I needed further help), this really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Perhaps the problem is that I’ve seen no indication that they have a PubIt-specific support group; at least, if they do, their contact information isn’t listed anyplace logical on the website that I’ve seen.

The second issue that I can see with the PubIt service is the royalty they’re offering. Depending on the price you set for your book, you’ll receive either 40% or 65% of the proceeds. Compared to the 70% option that Amazon is offering, and the whopping 80% that I receive of each Epub copy through Smashwords, this just seems really chintzy. Yes, I know it’s only 5-15% and that it only comes out to a few cents per copy, but really, this is my book that I’ve worked my ass off to finish and publish and I feel that I deserve those few cents!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love Barnes & Noble. I spent almost 6 years working in one of their retail outlets and I still consider it to be one of my favorite jobs ever. However, they’re one of the largest retailers in the world and I know that they’re struggling right now. The best way to rise to the occasion on this, in my opinion, is to really go above and beyond with the Ebooks. Right now, it feels like they’re doing it as a token effort that they don’t really have any belief or interest in.

Yes, my Ebook will appear on BN.com now, but without the positive reviews garnered by the paperback edition of the same novel. I’m not sure that it’s truly worth it when I know that potential readers who have a Nook can always go to Smashwords and pick up a copy for the same price as BN.com or Amazon.

I really don’t think I’m asking for too much here, to have the two editions linked as they are on Amazon. Reviews can really make or break your ability to sell a book and I really don’t feel it’s fair to ask someone who’s already posted a review to go back and do it again on another edition.

I don’t know. I’ll have to mull it over. In the meantime, if you do have a Nook and would like to give ‘Akhet’ a read, please check it out; and if you like it, please leave a review!