# Big News from PubIt! ? Anyone know what it is?



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

Just got this email:

Dear PubIt! Publisher,

We've got some exciting news on the horizon, and as an integral part of our self-publishing community, we want you to be the first to know! Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement on our next chapter in self-publishing.

We appreciate your partnership and look forward to an even stronger relationship in the future.

Sincerely,
The PubIt! Team


----------



## Judi Coltman (Aug 23, 2010)

Just got mine, too!  Hmmmmm


----------



## SandraMiller (May 10, 2011)

I just came to check the same thing


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

Just got mine.

The big news is Pubit and Nook got bought out by Amazon.  

Hey, it's April Fools.  

Then again, that could potentially happen.


----------



## EdShull (Mar 1, 2013)

Got mine too. Why not just tell us what it is? I hope it's worth the hype.


----------



## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

Yeah, seems a little weird to send an email and not actually say anything. Maybe they're testing their mail list for bounce backs.


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

Got mine also. I was thinking the same thing - Don't email me to tell me you are going to have news. Email me the news.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

lol Yeah, I got the announcement that they'll be making a big announcement.

WHY WON'T THEY JUST TELL US ZOMG!


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

I got it, too, except  mine went into more detail. It explained that I'm now the owner of Barnes & Noble and my new employees are expecting immediate results.

And I was planning to sit on the couch and watch TV tonight. Stupid, Barnes & Noble and their announcements!


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

"News from PubIt!" Or actually, we have news but we won't be sharing it yet... 

I made more money from PubIt last month than I have since the end of 2011. Please, please, please do not do anything to screw this up, B&N... *crosses fingers*


----------



## 54706 (Dec 19, 2011)

Well, it kind of IS news that they have news, right?  I mean, usually they have nothing.


----------



## Ernie Lindsey (Jul 6, 2010)

Not _exactly _on topic, but I got the same email, and it immediately reminded me of a technical writing job I once had -- we would have hour-long meetings about the next meeting we were going to have. True story.


----------



## Accord64 (Mar 12, 2012)

April fools prank, maybe? 

Got mine too, and wondered that.


----------



## Raquel Lyon (Mar 3, 2012)

Reminds me of my mother, who likes to end our phone conversations with, "Oh, and I've got something to tell you, but I'll tell you later."
I usually end up screaming at her, "TELL ME NOW!"
I swear she does it on purpose, just to drive me mad.


----------



## Susan Kaye Quinn (Aug 8, 2011)

Amazon buys Goodreads!
PubiT has BIG NEWS... but they won't tell you what it is.

*headdesk*


----------



## Onedayatatime (Oct 14, 2012)

I hope it is something really really good or I'm going to be very disappointed!


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

EdShull said:


> Got mine too. Why not just tell us what it is? I hope it's worth the hype.


This is why. We're all here talking about it. 

I received the email and came on over here to see if anyone had any news. Their little cryptic email worked, buzz building.


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm guessing that they're in some partnership with some group that will allow them to create hard copy books, much as Createspace is doing right now. Unless they already have that, and I've just never noticed it.


----------



## Onedayatatime (Oct 14, 2012)

I bet that they are going to start a vanity press! LOL


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

The email is working. Word of mouth is blazing through this thread. They are diabolical.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

I wonder if it has anything to do with sales in the UK. I noticed I only had one sale in the UK in all of March till yesterday, then suddenly I've had three sales there in two days. Coincidence? Probably, but you never know.

I'd guess it's a CreateSpace kind of thing, too, but I could certainly be wrong.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

sarbonn said:


> I'm guessing that they're in some partnership with some group that will allow them to create hard copy books, much as Createspace is doing right now. Unless they already have that, and I've just never noticed it.


Ughh...

I would prefer something like publicity/advertising for indies that doesn't just select the super-huge names. Our biggest need is advertising/exposure at an affordable cost.

If they do a print publishing arm, it would be about right: years after Amazon is already established in that department. And it will probably be just another white label of Lightning Source.


----------



## Isabelking (Jan 16, 2012)

Argggh! Why do they have to leave us in suspense like this I'm going to be obsessively checking my email until I find out. 

I make decent money from B&N - I really hope the news isn't bad!


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

Isabelking said:


> Argggh! Why do they have to leave us in suspense like this I'm going to be obsessively checking my email until I find out.
> 
> I make decent money from B&N - I really hope the news isn't bad!


Well, they said the news was "exciting" and while death and gloom can be exciting, I don't think that's what they were going for. At least I hope not.


----------



## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Kwalker said:


> Don't email me to tell me you are going to have news. Email me the news.


My thoughts exactly.


----------



## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

It's like somebody saying, "Guess what? Guess what?"


----------



## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

I hate not knowing. Why don't we know? I NEED TO KNOOOOOOW!!!!


----------



## Duane Gundrum (Apr 5, 2011)

Like someone said, if they're thinking wisely, they'll come up with something to increase publicity for independents. But I doubt they will. B&N has never really been all that forward thinking. It's why so many of us think it will be another attempt at capturing steam Amazon has already captured.


----------



## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

DDark said:


> If Amazon has their own publishing houses (Montlake, etc), my guess is B&N is going the same route in order to stay competitive. The email is geared toward indies, so think about what indies want. We know they're not going to increase royalties.


I agree its obviously something we would want from them, that maybe Amazon does and does well. I can't use Pubit, can you go free on there? Maybe they are going to start a select program or something like that. Go with them exclusively for 3 months and get mega promo.


----------



## SunHi Mistwalker (Feb 28, 2012)

Hmmm, I kind of get the feeling that their "news" will be something like, "For only $99.99 you too can sell millions of books if you buy (insert over-hyped package that has the stink of vanity press on it)." But hopefully I'm wrong.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

> If Amazon has their own publishing houses (Montlake, etc), my guess is B&N is going the same route in order to stay competitive.


The thing is that it says "the next chapter in SELF-publishing" (emphasis mine). Adding its own imprints wouldn't be self-publishing.



> The email is geared toward indies, so think about what indies want. We know they're not going to increase royalties.


This doesn't mean it's actually something indies want. Something about the "guess what! guess what!" (tm N. Gemini Sasson) feel of the email makes me nervous. I'm worried they've paired up with a "publisher" that will try to extract money from us-- ie, a vanity press. We know B&N isn't happy with the PubIt earnings and has been looking for someone to buy it. It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to make some more money by offering us covers, editing, and what-have-you at low, low prices!

But that's just idle speculation. Which is all we have until B&N quits teasing us and gives us facts, unfortunately.


----------



## Nicole Ciacchella (May 21, 2012)

Read it and immediately clicked over to here to see what everyone else thinks. I'd like it to be some sort of promotional tools. I could definitely use more exposure for my books.


----------



## SunHi Mistwalker (Feb 28, 2012)

MegHarris said:


> *It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to make some more money by offering us covers, editing, and what-have-you at low, low prices!*
> 
> But that's just idle speculation. Which is all we have until B&N quits teasing us and gives us facts, unfortunately.


I must've posted at the same time as you, because I was thinking the exact same thing. The exciting news is probably exciting for them, in that they plan to extract some money out of us. But I hope I'm wrong.


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

I'll bet Amazon bought them.  

Or maybe Hugh Howey.


----------



## jnfr (Mar 26, 2011)

I wonder if they're going to dump the Nook entirely. Not exactly a money-maker for them.


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

MegHarris said:


> I made more money from PubIt last month than I have since the end of 2011. Please, please, please do not do anything to screw this up, B&N... *crosses fingers*


I'm right there with you. I made more money in March from Pubit! than I ever have, so I'm hoping they aren't going to mess anything up too much.


----------



## Alondo (Aug 30, 2011)

Maybe they're going to pay all of our royalties into the Bank of Cyprus?


----------



## Susan Kaye Quinn (Aug 8, 2011)

sarbonn said:


> I'm guessing that they're in some partnership with some group that will allow them to create hard copy books, much as Createspace is doing right now. Unless they already have that, and I've just never noticed it.


This is Lightning Source, right?


----------



## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

Barnes & Noble bought Amazon?


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

Martitalbott said:


> Barnes & Noble bought Amazon?


Ha!


----------



## Fictionista (Sep 14, 2012)

I received a little while ago too. Hmm...


----------



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

From the PubIt! dashboard:

Our NOOK editorial director will talk about the future of self-publishing on a panel at the Writer's Digest Conference on April 5. The conference runs April 5-7, at the Sheraton New York Hotel (NYC).


----------



## Monique (Jul 31, 2010)

Why can't they just say what they have to say?


----------



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

Monique said:


> Why can't they just say what they have to say?


Niiiiiice.


----------



## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Monique said:


> Why can't they just say what they have to say?


Because they want to get us all worked into a tizzy so we spread the word and the news goes viral, whatever it is.


----------



## Hildred (Sep 9, 2012)

Victoria Champion said:


> From the PubIt! dashboard:
> 
> Our NOOK editorial director will talk about the future of self-publishing on a panel at the Writer's Digest Conference on April 5. The conference runs April 5-7, at the Sheraton New York Hotel (NYC).


Yeah, that's been there a few days now. At this point I'm calling April Fool's.


----------



## OliviaF (Feb 3, 2013)

And I also just received my email and popped over here to see if anyone was clued in.



Victoria Champion said:


> From the PubIt! dashboard:
> 
> Our NOOK editorial director will talk about the future of self-publishing on a panel at the Writer's Digest Conference on April 5. The conference runs April 5-7, at the Sheraton New York Hotel (NYC).


I just noticed that yesterday as well.



Carry Lada said:


> I'll bet Amazon bought them.
> 
> Or maybe Hugh Howey.


Ha! Now the later _would_ be good news!


----------



## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

Denise Templey said:


> Going international?


That was my first thought/hope as well. But then, that's not really big news, that's just catching up.


----------



## Christopher Smith (Aug 3, 2010)

The B&N lending library, with borroweds paid to us?


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

N. Gemini Sasson said:


> It's like somebody saying, "Guess what? Guess what?"


Now I have the urge to hit reply and say "Chicken butt". So... thanks.

Also, to whoever posted about Bank of Cyprus? Do you know how it feels to sneeze and burst out laughing at the same time? Thanks to you, I do now.


----------



## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

My first thought was that Amazon bought them too, shades of the Goodreads vague email.

Maybe they'll give indies a stock share in Pubit and we'll not ever have to write again


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

They're buying Smashwords.


----------



## OliviaF (Feb 3, 2013)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> They're buying Smashwords.


Well, that's a different idea lol


----------



## Adam Pepper (May 28, 2011)

Dalya said:


> I hate not knowing. Why don't we know? I NEED TO KNOOOOOOW!!!!


You of all people should know, the excitement is in the anticipation, not the money shot.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

I don't think whatever they are announcing will be B&N shaking.  They will not abandon the model they feel is true (even though the ship is sinking).  I think the Amazon-mimicking would be the best guess.  I feel that this can't be bad, but will not really shatter our perceptions of the status quo.  It might bump them farther ahead of Kobo...maybe.  

One other thought is that perhaps they are teaming with Apple.  Both could use a shot in the arm in terms of publishing.  Plus, Barnes could get into the apps market with a partnership like that, opening up millions of potential dollars of shared revenue.  Just a thought.  

A partnership with another distributor would not be out of the ordinary, really.  Sony, Kobo, Google Play, etc. Perhaps B & N will partner more thoroughly with Lulu or Book Baby, so that authors that already publish through PubIt! can push their books to the other stores with a simple click of the button.

I agree with the sentiment here.  A better book discovery algorithm, ability to buy short-term exposure at reasonable prices, a better "also-bought" or "you may also like" algorithm, or even access to a massive e-mailing list would be better than anything else we believe they might dream up. We simply need more exposure.  

We don't need cover help (though some do, even traditional publisher do), we don't need over-priced editing services, and although we could use some help in marketing, we don't need high-dollar banner ads, television promos, expensive book trailer production, or Kirkus reviews.  We can handle those things ourselves, without the mark-ups, thank you very much.  What we need from B & N that we cannot necessarily get for ourselves, by ourselves, is exposure to their 80 million+ customer base.  Give us that in enough quantities for enough time and we will do the rest.


----------



## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

Robert A Michael said:


> I agree with the sentiment here. A better book discovery algorithm, ability to buy short-term exposure at reasonable prices, a better "also-bought" or "you may also like" algorithm, or even access to a massive e-mailing list would be better than anything else we believe they might dream up. We simply need more exposure.


yep.


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

80% Royalty Rate


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Robert A Michael said:


> One other thought is that perhaps they are teaming with Apple. Both could use a shot in the arm in terms of publishing.


I shudder at what this would look like. Or feel like.

But I doubt it. After all, B&N and Microsoft have an arrangement already: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410582,00.asp


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> I shudder at what this would look like. Or feel like.
> 
> But I doubt it. After all, B&N and Microsoft have an arrangement already: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410582,00.asp


MS B&N++


----------



## glc3 (Jun 24, 2009)

Could be a merger with Kobo?


----------



## Elizabeth Ann West (Jul 11, 2011)

The news is....

The Barnes and Noble Pubit Team has discovered they can send a mass email, and the next one is they're going to tell us that we're going to get regular updates from the Pubit Team as they try valiantly to argue they should get a chair at the adult table at the next Barnes & Noble corporate picnic.


----------



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

Elizabeth Ann West said:


> The news is....
> 
> The Barnes and Noble Pubit Team has discovered they can send a mass email, and the next one is they're going to tell us that we're going to get regular updates from the Pubit Team as they try valiantly to argue they should get a chair at the adult table at the next Barnes & Noble corporate picnic.


Lol, there are so many things they need to fix before they start branching out into projects that will get them in over their heads. Like not hijacking my formatting for instance, or having customer service reps that don't take begging and pleading to contact, or a dashboard that works! Or letting us delete books, or not screwing up our accounts if we update our tax info. Oh My Gosh I could go on...


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

- Going international.

They already have gone to the UK. Please, don't worry about expanding into non-English markets right now. Worry about helping us help you capture more of the market share you are losing.

- Print

I said it earlier up the thread, but don't worry about that right now. Unless you plan on stocking those paper books in your stores and actually giving indies real incentive to use it, it will lose out to CreateSpace.

- Being sold to someone else

This is a possibility. For me to get excited about it, it must be a stronger company. Google has Play, Apple has iTunes, Amazon has KDP. Are there any big US companies that don't already own their own digital book distribution channel who also know how to sell books?


I know I may sound cynical, but I'm hoping for the best. I've seen consistent growth at B&N each and every month I've been with them. For the last two months, it made up half of my income from books. I don't want to see that stop. But, BLOW ME AWAY, B&N. DO SOMETHING AWESOME FOR ONCE! DO IT! YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE POWAHHH!!!!


----------



## ilamont (Jul 14, 2012)

I wonder about the phrase "next chapter" in the email from Pubit. That's the kind of thing companies say when they're dropping a product line, or doing a major repositioning.


----------



## Hugh Howey (Feb 11, 2012)

I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU THEY HAVE NEWS COMING!!! WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN TELL US THE NEWS

STUPID PEOPLE.


----------



## Selina Fenech (Jul 20, 2011)

BrianKittrell said:


> - Going international.
> 
> They already have gone to the UK. Please, don't worry about expanding into non-English markets right now. Worry about helping us help you capture more of the market share you are losing.


I should have clarified. I actually meant allowing international, non US authors to use pubit directly. Something they (as far as I know?) still don't do. Those in the US forget how restrictive a lot of these services are to those who AREN'T in the US. Pubit, Audible/ACX, even Kickstarter, require you to be a US resident with US bank account. That's an awful lot of authors they are missing out on, or forcing through services like Smashwords and D2D.

Opening Pubit up to international authors would be something I'd be interested in.


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

Hugh Howey said:


> I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU THEY HAVE NEWS COMING!!! WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN TELL US THE NEWS
> 
> STUPID PEOPLE.


/hand


----------



## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

Adam Pepper said:


> You of all people should know, the excitement is in the anticipation, not the money shot.


I'm bad at keeping secrets. My characters always blurt stuff out and reveal everything way too soon. I'm trying to curb that and be more like JJ Abrams, only with actual secrets and not just the promise of them with no payoff.

If Pubit Is JJ-Abrams-ing us, I'll hold it against them so bad.


----------



## OliviaF (Feb 3, 2013)

Hugh Howey said:


> I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU THEY HAVE NEWS COMING!!! WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN TELL US THE NEWS
> 
> STUPID PEOPLE.


Annnd right there. I am the most curious person I know.

I go crazy if someone says they want to talk to me "later" no matter how insignificant!


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

Hugh Howey said:


> I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU THEY HAVE NEWS COMING!!! WHY NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN TELL US THE NEWS
> 
> STUPID PEOPLE.


Silly humans, I mean people.


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

BrianKittrell said:


> I said it earlier up the thread, but don't worry about that right now. Unless you plan on stocking those paper books in your stores ...


I don't think it will ever happen, but I do think this would be awesome, and could potentially be a game changer for many indies (though not for the publishing industry overall).



> - Being sold to someone else


This was my first thought, and consider it a strong possibility, second only to Pubit playing catch-up to KDP on something that will probably not be very useful.


----------



## Adam Pepper (May 28, 2011)

Someone tell Hugh it's not Wednesday.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

BrianKittrell said:


> - Going international.
> 
> They already have gone to the UK. Please, don't worry about expanding into non-English markets right now. Worry about helping us help you capture more of the market share you are losing.
> ...
> I know I may sound cynical, but I'm hoping for the best. I've seen consistent growth at B&N each and every month I've been with them. For the last two months, it made up half of my income from books. I don't want to see that stop. But, BLOW ME AWAY, B&N. DO SOMETHING AWESOME FOR ONCE! DO IT! YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE POWAHHH!!!!


I agree. They do have unlimited power. They should use it.

Seriously, though, I am praying that they are ready to embrace the indie community with gusto. Certainly they can see what has been happening recently. With just the exposure that Book Bub has garnered indies lately, self-pubbed authors are moving up the lists. Book Bub has enormous reach and penetration in the market. Imagine, though, what B & N could do if they would just get their act straight.

I can think of four ways right off the top of my head that they could implement to market ebooks better. Not all of them are mimicking the Zon, either. For example, B & N has always had a rewards program that gives members discounts. It is not different from the Amazon Prime or any other membership program anywhere in the world. But, are they effectively mining that resource? At their fingertips they have the key to a small percentage of their market. It just so happens that it is the best segment of their customer base: people who appreciate discounts, who purchase enough books to justify the cost of membership, who are loyal to the brand, and who typically buy new releases. B&N can track trends, develop customer profiles, conduct surveys, deepen customer loyalty through give-aways, contests, prizes, and exclusive author content.

What if B&N identified a thousand mystery fans among their B&N membership subscribers and offered them a free webinar or exclusive author interview? Or, what if B&N emailed invitations to all the fans of a particular indie erotic romance author in Chicago, or New Orleans, Miami or Philadelphia, to attend an exclusive, first-come, first-serve formal banquet hosted by B&N and attended by said author? Putting our collective heads together, I am sure we can come up with literally hundreds of public relations/advertising/marketing ideas in which we would be willing to participate, invest in, or coordinate. The only problem is, they have the information. They know their customers and we don't.

B&N, if you are listening, help us indie authors connect with our potential audience, your customers. We can help you grow your NOOK business by creating more demand, more excitement to your customers to read something NEW. If you can do that better than the next distributor, I am sure that you can get a large portion of us to cough up $ or at least negotiate a smaller cut of the action.


----------



## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

It's comic sans. We're going to be able to set our book fonts to comic sans.

B.


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

B. Justin Shier said:


> It's comic sans. We're going to be able to set our book fonts to comic sans.
> 
> B.


I like it.


----------



## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

> If Pubit Is JJ-Abrams-ing us, I'll hold it against them so bad.


Too funny. Diet Dr. Pepper stings coming of the nose, btw.


----------



## KealanPatrick (Sep 5, 2010)

Clearly they're increasing the size of the Nook so that it doubles as a surfboard, to appeal to that all-important surfing market.


----------



## Diane Patterson (Jun 17, 2012)

Dalya said:


> If Pubit Is JJ-Abrams-ing us, I'll hold it against them so bad.


NOT PENNY'S PUB-IT


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2013)

Maybe they're finally spinning off Nook from the rest of B&N.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Joe Vasicek said:


> Maybe they're finally spinning off Nook from the rest of B&N.


Or changing the name of their publishing platform to something I won't always want to rhyme with "cubit."


----------



## DRMarvello (Dec 3, 2011)

The "big news" email was about as useless as their remittance notices used to be. They would tell you that you got paid, but they wouldn't tell you how much, and you couldn't look it up online for a few days. If B&N think frustration = buzz, I totally understand why they are in trouble.

On a positive note, I noticed that this month the remittance notice actually included the amount you earned. Yay! I'm sure I'm not the only author who complained about that, and they actually listened. Oops. Maybe that was the big news and I just gave it away!


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

I think it's safe to say that after four pages of wild speculation, anything they might announce will be painfully anticlimactic.

What if Walmart bought them out?


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Looks like this article cracked it! Wow, they say it's from an anonymous leaked memo...

Forbes


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

MegSilver said:


> What if Walmart bought them out?


Right On!


----------



## SunHi Mistwalker (Feb 28, 2012)

Alan Petersen said:


> Looks like this article cracked it! Wow, they say it's from an anonymous leaked memo...
> 
> Forbes


Ha! You made me click!


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

SunHi Mistwalker said:


> Ha! You made me click!


I thought it was going to be a RickRoll.


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

Carry Lada said:


> I thought it was going to be a RickRoll.


I didn't like that song in the 80's, so I'm not that mean.


----------



## S.A. Mulraney (May 20, 2011)

Amazon has Select and free to lure authors away from B&N et al. What's the _one_ thing that B&N could use as leverage against the 'Zon? Their brick and mortar stores. I know it's a stretch, but if you're already down and it's the fourth quarter, it's go big or go home. If we're talking about them doing something that makes a difference in the eyes of indie authors, something that would really change how people viewed Pubit, you have to think big. And if they aren't thinking of a game changer, then they've already lost. Give my book an opportunity to be on the shelf at my local B&N. That would get my attention.


----------



## Susan Kaye Quinn (Aug 8, 2011)

Dalya said:


> I'm bad at keeping secrets. My characters always blurt stuff out and reveal everything way too soon. I'm trying to curb that and be more like JJ Abrams, only with actual secrets and not just the promise of them with no payoff.
> 
> If Pubit Is JJ-Abrams-ing us, I'll hold it against them so bad.


They are SO NOT going to pay this off. C'mon, this is B&N we're talking about. If it was Amazon, they'd be all BAM, there it is peeps. We'd be trying to figure out what happened after it already changed everything.


----------



## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

Okay, here's my guess.

B&N is selling the Nook business to Microsoft or at least a chunk of it.

Where do I put my money for the pool?


----------



## RM Prioleau (Mar 18, 2011)

Joe_Nobody said:


> Okay, here's my guess.
> 
> B&N is selling the Nook business to Microsoft or at least a chunk of it.
> 
> Where do I put my money for the pool?


I did hear about Microsoft and B&N talking some negotiations. Ugh... if Microsoft gets their hands on it, that'll be the end....


----------



## SBJones (Jun 13, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> I did hear about Microsoft and B&N talking some negotiations. Ugh... if Microsoft gets their hands on it, that'll be the end....


The Nookbox 360. Now you can read your books on the tv, unlock avatars and earn achievement points. Be the first of your friends to finish a book and brag about it.


----------



## zzzzzzz (Dec 6, 2011)

Maybe keywords will actually do something.


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

SBJones said:


> The Nookbox 360. Now you can read your books on the tv, unlock avatars and earn achievement points. Be the first of your friends to finish a book and brag about it.


I would totally buy one for the achievements.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

They're coming out with a new e-reader: a smaller version of the Nook, called the Cranny.


----------



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

swolf said:


> They're coming out with a new e-reader: a smaller version of the Nook, called the Cranny.


I actually laughed so hard it came out like a snort.


----------



## John Twipnook (Jan 10, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> I did hear about Microsoft and B&N talking some negotiations. Ugh... if Microsoft gets their hands on it, that'll be the end....


It was a smoke screen for Nook's purchase by Lucasfilm. The announcement will say that Jar Jar Binks "will do for the Nook what Jeeves did for AskJeeves.com."


----------



## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Rlyon said:


> Reminds me of my mother, who likes to end our phone conversations with, "Oh, and I've got something to tell you, but I'll tell you later."
> I usually end up screaming at her, "TELL ME NOW!"
> I swear she does it on purpose, just to drive me mad.


My mother does this same thing only via text message, and the even worse: "I have a problem. No, I can't tell you what it is."


----------



## Cheryl Douglas (Dec 7, 2011)

Denise Templey said:


> Going international?


That would be my guess. I'm hoping Canadians can finally go direct.


----------



## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

RM Prioleau said:


> I did hear about Microsoft and B&N talking some negotiations. Ugh... if Microsoft gets their hands on it, that'll be the end....


Microsoft already made a huge investment in Nook last year. They also made an investment in Dell, probably to keep them propped up.


----------



## KristenDaRay (Aug 4, 2012)

Yup, got mine too. Can't wait to see what it is.


----------



## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

What I find bizare is that under Prvacy Policy link, at the bottom of the message,it says in really small fonts: 
"This email is an advertisement from Barnes & Noble, Inc., 76 Ninth Avenue New York, NY 10011.  Attn: Marketing Preferences."

Huh!?


----------



## A.A (Mar 30, 2012)

swolf said:


> They're coming out with a new e-reader: a smaller version of the Nook, called the Cranny.


Ha!

My books were just published at B&N today. I actually didn't know what Pubit was or why I should care until I read this thread. (Published via to D2D to Nook. As an Aussie, I don't think I can publish direct to B&N.) Will be waiting to see what the news is and what it will do to my so far non-existent sales at B&N


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm a little worried that *if* they were going to go international, would they send this type of email to all those thousands of people who don't care two hoots about this--namely the ones who are already on PubIt?


----------



## Pnjw (Apr 24, 2011)

I'd be down with a per-order button. However, if it's anything tech related, then I'm somewhat terrified. There last "upgrade" is still a mess.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

John Twipnook said:


> It was a smoke screen for Nook's purchase by Lucasfilm. The announcement will say that Jar Jar Binks "will do for the Nook what Jeeves did for AskJeeves.com."


Not Jar Jar, Chewie. Just think of the marketing potential! "Get a Nookie for your Wookie."

Or maybe not.


----------



## benji smith (Aug 21, 2012)

Here's what I think B&N should do:

http://benjismith.net/2013/04/02/a-couple-o-big-crazy-ideas-to-save-barnes-noble/

I don't have much hope for what they'll _actually_ announce, but my suggestions are: (1) author-branded book clubs, and (2) shelf-space for indies.


----------



## Sebastiene (Dec 15, 2011)

*magnifying glass to email*

They say, "We... look forward to an even stronger relationship."

What would make our relationship stronger? (Flowers? Candy?) Based on this choice of words, it would have to be something that would pull us farther in: exclusivity, print, or distribution.

Or am I just being too optimistic?


----------



## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

I haven't even bothered putting my books on PubIt! yet because I've heard too many horror stories about how messed up they are. I'm at a loss to guess what possible news could be better than merely aligning their Anatidae.


----------



## Christopher Hunter (Apr 11, 2011)

The nerve...how they gonna release news that they will soon have news?


----------



## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

swolf said:


> They're coming out with a new e-reader: a smaller version of the Nook, called the Cranny.


Cleaver - made me chuckle.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Maybe they're going to allow us to change our tax information without having to unpublish all of our books, create a new account, and then republish all of our books under the new account, thereby losing all of our also-boughts and causing our sales to go into the crapper.

Yeah, that'd be an 'even stronger relationship.'  But hey, that's asking too much from B&N.


----------



## elsaxx (Mar 9, 2012)

Clearly they're desperate for ideas...they'll scan this thread and then announce the big changes next week (once we've all told them what they should do).

Very clever, B&N!


----------



## Chris A. Jackson (Jun 14, 2011)

> "Get a Nookie for your Wookie."


Love it!


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

swolf said:


> They're coming out with a new e-reader: a smaller version of the Nook, called the Cranny.


----------



## NathanWrann (May 5, 2011)

DDark said:


> We've got some exciting news on the horizon, and as an integral part of our self-publishing community, we want you to be the first to know! *Stay tuned *for an upcoming announcement on our next chapter in self-publishing.


Stay tuned to what?


----------



## Weirdling (Jun 25, 2011)

I had an email too, but I think that folder must have lost its index.  I'll have to see if it downloaded on a different computer :-(  

It would be great if it did start its own publishing branch, and that if it did so, it would look for best sellers or ones it felt would do good and would stock them in its brick and mortar stores.

Jodi


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2013)

The news is that...

I just bought Barnes and Noble.  

Yeah, got a good deal on it, too. Been stashing money for a rainy day, and it rained Sunday, so I thought "What the heck? Lemme buy something."

I'm gonna turn the whole thing into franchises. Anyone who wants to take over a store in your neighborhood, let me know. Totally work out a deal for you.


----------



## Courtney Milan (Feb 27, 2011)

What I would like it to be:

An announcement that they're putting Espresso machines in their stores, and that self-publishers will be able to get their books in physical stores--with the added benefit that if you're selling extremely well as a PubIt book, they'll have stores print copies of the books for the front of the store "PubIt bestsellers".

(Girl can dream, right?)

What it will probably be: 

An announcement that they've sold the entire Nook business to someone.


----------



## NathanWrann (May 5, 2011)

Courtney Milan said:


> What I would like it to be:
> 
> An announcement that they're putting *Espresso* machines in their stores, and that self-publishers will be able to get their books in physical stores--with the added benefit that if you're selling extremely well as a PubIt book, they'll have stores print copies of the books for the front of the store "PubIt bestsellers".
> 
> ...


On a side note: dumbest name ever for an on demand book printing machine. Especially since many bookstores already have coffee shops attached with real espresso machines.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

There are so very many things B&N could be doing, it's hard to even guess at what this announcement might mean. I just hope it's new initiatives aimed at helping authors sell books.


----------



## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I'm going to place my bets on a partnership with an overpriced vanity press option for print.


----------



## NathanWrann (May 5, 2011)

Not sure if it's been mentioned but I'm going to guess that they will create the option to go "free" and use the (potential) gap that amazon has opened by alienating the associates with their removal of referral revenue. 

In a nutshell: B&N allows free and then uses the power of the bargain ebook sites to promote for them, thus building their market share.


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

Does B&N have a kick-back program like Associates?


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

MegSilver said:


> Does B&N have a kick-back program like Associates?


Linkshare (which, ironically, is run by Rakuten, which owns Kobo), but they don't (usually) give commissions on ebooks.


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2013)

MegSilver said:


> Does B&N have a kick-back program like Associates?


Linkshare sucks soooooo bad. It's just too cumbersome to use. What would be exciting is if they announced they were setting up their own affiliate program that was easy to use like Amazon. THAT would be exciting!


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Linkshare sucks soooooo bad. It's just too cumbersome to use. What would be exciting is if they announced they were setting up their own affiliate program that was easy to use like Amazon. THAT would be exciting!


Was just about to post this same exact thing. You have to login to Linkshare, get the product link, feed it into their system, get it to generate a link, and put it over wherever you were going to put it. With Amazon, you can add (I think) ?tag=(affiliate ID) to everything you want to affiliate. Much simpler and you can streamline it with plugins/scripts on your own website, too.

I looked for a Linkshare plugin for Wordpress, but I couldn't find one when I did. They may not have an API or it may be so convoluted as to deter anyone from using it.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Bards and Sages (Julie) said:


> Linkshare sucks soooooo bad. It's just too cumbersome to use. What would be exciting is if they announced they were setting up their own affiliate program that was easy to use like Amazon. THAT would be exciting!


Agreed. Their links are a garbled gmish, are a mile long and are difficult to create (not like Ammy's, if you know their "formula"), and are subject to being inactive because companies like Kobo sometimes screw around with things on their site. In the six months I've been an affiliate, I think I've had one click actually convert to a purchase, which seems _waaaaay _too low.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

BrianKittrell said:


> With Amazon, you can add (I think) ?tag=(affiliate ID) to everything you want to affiliate. Much simpler...


Heck, even Coker figured this out.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Heck, even Coker figured this out.


LOL True. It's not difficult, though. The URL parsing feature of affiliate code is one line. Maybe Linkshare is terrified of the possibility of something cutting the affiliate code off a URL.


----------



## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

NathanWrann said:


> Not sure if it's been mentioned but I'm going to guess that they will create the option to go "free" and use the (potential) gap that amazon has opened by alienating the associates with their removal of referral revenue.
> 
> In a nutshell: B&N allows free and then uses the power of the bargain ebook sites to promote for them, thus building their market share.


This sounds like a good guess. I hope it's true. Seems like it would be less expensive than a lot of the initiatives they might wish they could do (ie, "just" a software change.)


----------



## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

When these things happen...notices of "something big" on the horizon...we all think it's going to have something to do with us, our needs, our desires. And it never is! Because what is "big news" to them is a meh-moment to us, and we are barely on their radar.

I'll bet it's something corporate, such as "Nook has just been wholly purchased by Microsoft and they're setting up their own store, integrated with Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface!"

Or it'll be so underwhelming, our jaws will drop in wonder, like, "Introducing our totally revamped Nook page on Facebook!"


----------



## Carry Lada (Oct 30, 2012)

Ryne Douglas Pearson said:


> I'm hoping it's an announcement that they are going to answer the e-mails I sent them three months ago. And six months ago. And nine months ago.


----------



## wildwitchof (Sep 2, 2010)

Ryne Douglas Pearson said:


> I'm hoping it's an announcement that they are going to answer the e-mails I sent them three months ago. And six months ago. And nine months ago.


I remember a big announcement two years or so ago like this and it turned out they'd redesigned the PubIt sign-in page. There wasn't anything actually different, just the icons were moved around.

Maybe they'll have our login and password stick for more than a few hours so we don't have to relog in all the time. I'LL TAKE IT.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Ryne Douglas Pearson said:


> I'm hoping it's an announcement that they are going to answer the e-mails I sent them three months ago. And six months ago. And nine months ago.














Gretchen Galway said:


> Maybe they'll have our login and password stick for more than a few hours so we don't have to relog in all the time. I'LL TAKE IT.


Yes!!


----------



## P.C. (Peter) Anders (Feb 6, 2013)

I'd settle for not having "Pubit book! Shop more Pubit Books" badge of shame. Let each book rise or sink on its merits, not on its badge.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Gretchen Galway said:


> Maybe they'll have our login and password stick for more than a few hours so we don't have to relog in all the time. I'LL TAKE IT.


I tried to send them a B&N link to a book about how to use cookies on a webpage to store user logon credentials, but I guess using twenty-year-old technology is too advanced for them.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

swolf said:


> I tried to send them a B&N link to a book about how to use cookies on a webpage to store user logon credentials, but I guess using twenty-year-old technology is too advanced for them.


Or turning the session expiry time way up and refreshing it when the user visits the page. But, yeah, cookies may work better considering how many users they probably have. Anything to optimize the system.


----------



## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Since most decisions B&N makes in the last five years seem to hurt their business more than help it, I predict that the latest announcement of change is a day late, a dollar short, and behind the curve ball of whatever they intended the latest change to do.


----------



## Alan Petersen (May 20, 2011)

BrianKittrell said:


> LOL True. It's not difficult, though. The URL parsing feature of affiliate code is one line. Maybe Linkshare is terrified of the possibility of something cutting the affiliate code off a URL.


Linkshare is a middleman. They have hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies who outsource their affiliate programs to them, so it would be very difficult for them to allow that since you need to identify which merchant's link it's for and you need to apply for each affiliate program within Linkshare. That's why it's a big hot mess in there. Same for all the big affiliate program middle companies like Commission Junction.

B&N is so big that should take it in-house like Amazon does. eBay use to be with Commission Junction but they brought it in-house a few years ago. Now it's much easier to create affiliate links and campaigns without having to jump through middleman hoops.

But the big news is supposed to be for self publishers, so I doubt it has anything to do with their affiliate program.


----------



## Janet Michelson (Jun 20, 2012)

LisaGraceBooks said:


> Since most decisions B&N makes in the last five years seem to hurt their business more than help it, I predict that the latest announcement of change is a day late, a dollar short, and behind the curve ball of whatever they intended the latest change to do.


Lisa, you are an optimist. I predict it will be at least two days late, three dollars short, and the location of the curve ball would require a combustible engine to reach.


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2013)

I'm not going to lie, having the option to set a book permanently free via Pubit! would be nice.


----------



## summerdaniels71 (Jul 23, 2011)

Joe Vasicek said:


> I'm not going to lie, having the option to set a book permanently free via Pubit! would be nice.


Not sure I understand the big advantage this would provide - as it seems fairly straight-forward to make free on Smashwords and have them distribute it to B&N ... true?

My guess is that they are going to announce 80% royalties for authors exclusive to them. Something along those lines.

They have a LOT of ground to make up - I would imagine this announcement is going to have to be something fairly bold.


----------



## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Janet Michelson said:


> Lisa, you are an optimist. I predict it will be at least two days late, three dollars short, and the location of the curve ball would require a combustible engine to reach.


Yes, I try to look at the bright side of things.  You're probably right.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

Alan Petersen said:


> Linkshare is a middleman. They have hundreds (maybe thousands) of companies who outsource their affiliate programs to them, so it would be very difficult for them to allow that since you need to identify which merchant's link it's for and you need to apply for each affiliate program within Linkshare. That's why it's a big hot mess in there. Same for all the big affiliate program middle companies like Commission Junction.
> 
> B&N is so big that should take it in-house like Amazon does. eBay use to be with Commission Junction but they brought it in-house a few years ago. Now it's much easier to create affiliate links and campaigns without having to jump through middleman hoops.
> 
> But the big news is supposed to be for self publishers, so I doubt it has anything to do with their affiliate program.


You can streamline all of that. There's a service (http://www.viglink.com) which, by use of a Wordpress plugin, will add affiliate codes to your links automatically regardless of the retailer, format the link into a monetized link with affiliate code, track the clicks, and pay you. The only requirements are that the retailer is in the program and you properly install the plugin.

One signup form, one link processor, and it has a dashboard for several other features.

It is probably a case of programmeritis, where the programmers were given free reign to design a program that they would want to use instead of something that users would want to use. Once the back end is established, it's a PITA to change features, add on, and shift things around because they're dealing with millions of records at that point.


----------



## SBJones (Jun 13, 2011)

summerdaniels71 said:


> Not sure I understand the big advantage this would provide - as it seems fairly straight-forward to make free on Smashwords and have them distribute it to B&N ... true?
> 
> My guess is that they are going to announce 80% royalties for authors exclusive to them. Something along those lines.
> 
> They have a LOT of ground to make up - I would imagine this announcement is going to have to be something fairly bold.


Generally speaking, B&N doesn't have the market share or web presence to offer anything to writers for exclusivity. There are a few erotic/romance exceptions but overall it won't do them any good. They need to give authors a reason to not go exclusive with Amazon, not a reason to be exclusive with B&N. What does Amazon offer for exclusive? 5 free days and some borrow pie. They should simply offer 40% and 75% royalty, and 10 free days a quarter to EVERYONE. No affiliate program to mess up all the promo sites. Sounds like an easy win to me.


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

I sent a response to the e-mail. Guess I'll wait and see if I get anything in return, though I'm not holding my breath considering it's BN.


----------



## Kent Kelly (Feb 12, 2011)

Maybe they upgraded the hamster wheels powering their e-book website to full-on, high-grade gerbil rotation devices.


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

A writer on another loop mentioned that she thinks she knows what the big news is because she was in the beta test for something from PubIt recently and she says if she's right, then we're all going to be very disappointed by this supposed "exciting news" ... because it's just not all that exciting.

She and the others in the beta told them they thought it wasn't all that great, but they didn't listen. She says she has serious concerns about their ability to have any clue what self-published authors really want.


----------



## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

Maybe they're going to hire someone to monitor the B&N book reviews, so that they're not used by high-schoolers to carry on conversations with each other during class.

Or am I dreaming too big here?


----------



## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

Amanda Brice said:


> A writer on another loop mentioned that she thinks she knows what the big news is because she was in the beta test for something from PubIt recently and she says if she's right, then we're all going to be very disappointed by this supposed "exciting news" ... because it's just not all that exciting.
> 
> She and the others in the beta told them they thought it wasn't all that great, but they didn't listen. She says she has serious concerns about their ability to have any clue what self-published authors really want.


You know, at this point, I don't even care what it is anymore. I don't need to be sold on B&N. I'd rather they expend their resources on pleasing readers instead.

/sigh


----------



## Lisa Grace (Jul 3, 2011)

Amanda Brice said:


> A writer on another loop mentioned that she thinks she knows what the big news is because she was in the beta test for something from PubIt recently and she says if she's right, then we're all going to be very disappointed by this supposed "exciting news" ... because it's just not all that exciting.
> 
> She and the others in the beta told them they thought it wasn't all that great, but they didn't listen. She says she has serious concerns about their ability to have any clue what self-published authors really want.


Thank you for confirming what I've been thinking.


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2013)

summerdaniels71 said:


> Not sure I understand the big advantage this would provide - as it seems fairly straight-forward to make free on Smashwords and have them distribute it to B&N ... true?


Yes, but last I checked, B&N only pulls the short description from Smashwords, not the long one. Also, you have to deal with all the meatgrinder woes.


----------



## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

NathanWrann said:


> On a side note: dumbest name ever for an on demand book printing machine. Especially since many bookstores already have coffee shops attached with real espresso machines.


The actual name of the instant book printing machine is *Expresso* with an "x."


----------



## NathanWrann (May 5, 2011)

Vera Nazarian said:


> The actual name of the instant book printing machine is *Expresso* with an "x."


Even worse.


----------



## Vera Nazarian (Jul 1, 2011)

Gretchen Galway said:


> Maybe they'll have our login and password stick for more than a few hours so we don't have to relog in all the time. I'LL TAKE IT.


YES!!


----------



## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

Gretchen Galway said:


> Maybe they'll have our login and password stick for more than a few hours so we don't have to relog in all the time. I'LL TAKE IT.


On the computer where my husband likes to run our anti-virus anti-spybot scans, then I'm constantly having to re-login. On my computer I work (where I probably shouldn't be checking my sales stats, but whatever) I haven't had to relogin in days...


----------



## Griffin Hayes (Sep 20, 2011)

Could Amazon be buying B&N?

Someone might have already linked this Forbes article, but I came across it just now and wondered if this could be what all the news is about.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenrosenbaum/2013/03/11/amazon-preparing-bid-for-barnes-and-noble/


----------



## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Griffin Hayes said:


> Could Amazon be buying B&N?
> 
> Someone might have already linked this Forbes article, but I came across it just now and wondered if this could be what all the news is about.
> 
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenrosenbaum/2013/03/11/amazon-preparing-bid-for-barnes-and-noble/


This doesn't seem at all practical to me. Amazon doesn't NEED storefront anything. Their customer service is superior enough that they can just have people return products that didn't meet expectation. That includes an Amazon wine store.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Alain Gomez said:


> This doesn't seem at all practical to me. Amazon doesn't NEED storefront anything. Their customer service is superior enough that they can just have people return products that didn't meet expectation. That includes an Amazon wine store.


Some of the points made sense to me, but if Amazon wanted to get physical books into bookstores _and _have a storefront for their Kindles, then it would be just as cheap to set up their own. They'd easily out-compete B&N.


----------



## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

Surely the Sherman Antitrust Act would prevent Amazon from buying Barnes and Noble?


----------



## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> Some of the points made sense to me, but if Amazon wanted to get physical books into bookstores _and _have a storefront for their Kindles, then it would be just as cheap to set up their own. They'd easily out-compete B&N.


They already have storefronts for their Kindles. They're sold everywhere including places like Walmart. There's no money in selling just physical books. B&N is proof of that. They have a monopoly on the chain bookstore front and yet they are still desperately trying to sell Settlers of Catan to help make ends meet.

If Amazon really cared about customers see their books upfront and personal they'll start negotiating exclusive deals with coffee shops. Starbucks might not be so susceptible but many of the lesser chains like Seattle's Best would probably be ripe for the picking. In other words, take the power right out from under the major booksellers by selling "hot" books at places that aren't currently targets.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

I got this, too.

My guess?

It's extremely indie-friendly:

After long negotiations and licensing agreements have been worked out, B&N will be announcing a NEW feature on PubIt:

Every indie is allowed to publish ONE book under one of the following pen-names:

1) Stephen King
2) James Patterson
3) J.K. Rowling
4) Danielle Steel

But you can only do it ONCE. The money will go to you, minus a 20 percent commission to the author whose name you adopt for one novel. And you can promote your other books (under your own name) in your soon-to-be-bestseller.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Griffin Hayes said:


> Could Amazon be buying B&N?
> 
> Someone might have already linked this Forbes article, but I came across it just now and wondered if this could be what all the news is about.
> 
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenrosenbaum/2013/03/11/amazon-preparing-bid-for-barnes-and-noble/


That's kind of interesting. I know (think?) they have been looking into establishing a physical retail presence, and B&N does already have all those stores. They'd kill the nook business, or let it die a slow death, and probably would have to make some concessions to satisfy regulators (no idea what concessions), but stranger things have happened.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

> Could Amazon be buying B&N?
> 
> Someone might have already linked this Forbes article, but I came across it just now and wondered if this could be what all the news is about.


Again, the email seemed to suggest the "news" was specifically about self-publishing, so I'm not sure this would fit. This would seem to be news of a more general nature.


----------



## NRWick (Mar 22, 2011)

Ugh, this is driving me crazy! I hate it when people go, "Hey, I have a surprise for you! ...But you have to wait to find out!" Even when it's something dumb, I just hate knowing that there is a surprise, but not knowing what it is and knowing I will have to wait for it.

I'm sure it won't be something super amazing awesome or anything, but I have a feeling we won't find out until the 5th at the earliest... maybe even later. I'm sure they'll wait until they announce it at that conference thing first.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

> Ugh, this is driving me crazy! I hate it when people go, "Hey, I have a surprise for you! ...But you have to wait to find out!" Even when it's something dumb, I just hate knowing that there is a surprise, but not knowing what it is and knowing I will have to wait for it.


I agree, it's irritating, and more relevantly, it is not professional behavior. It definitely does not make me think more highly of B&N's business acumen.


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Every indie is allowed to publish ONE book under one of the following pen-names:
> ...
> 2) James Pattersonl


Heck, I thought Patterson was already doing this.


----------



## Kathy Clark Author (Dec 18, 2012)

Business wise they can only go in one of two directions with each individual decision.  Vertically or horizontally.

Vertically they handle books to Kindle already but they could make that more robust by acquiring delivery competitiveness like Smashwords and others.

Horizontally they could branch out to audio, video, paperback, hardback and other channels to market.

Interesting discussions.  With such poor customer service I find it hard to believe they spend more than five minutes talking their eye off their primary mission.

Maybe they'll go with integration of iris recognition on the Nook and extend the Nook's market footprint.  It's coming to cell phones.


----------



## Alex Owens (Mar 24, 2011)

I received the same open-ended email too. I hate those  

Oddly enough, I received a new email today telling me my account had been frozen and my books removed from sale, pending my response. There was no other information given, so I shot off an email questioning it. (Directly to the pubit email addy, I didn't reply just in case it was some sort of spam)

Then I had the idea to actually go check my pubit account and the regular site. My account still says active and all my books appear to be on sale-- and they are still available on the website, so now I'm really confused. 

Hope one email doesn't have something to do with the other... and that someone gets back to me soon. Sigh.


----------



## Guest (Apr 3, 2013)

Kpfowler said:


> I received the same open-ended email too. I hate those
> 
> Oddly enough, I received a new email today telling me my account had been frozen and my books removed from sale, pending my response. There was no other information given, so I shot off an email questioning it. (Directly to the pubit email addy, I didn't reply just in case it was some sort of spam)
> 
> ...


Maybe it was a phishing attack? Yikes.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Ty Johnston said:


> Heck, I thought Patterson was already doing this.


Ooh, it's SO trendy and hip to criticize Patterson! You dazzle me with your never-been-said-before wit! 

At least Patterson gives all his co-authors cover-credit.


----------



## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

I have concluded that the big news from PubIt is that there is no news.


----------



## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

Well, no news is better than the dumb email I got from Amazon today. It showed me that I could buy Gastien from a used book seller for on ly $57 something. They seriously bother to send out emails about these bogus used books?  I would much rather they send out an email to people reading my genre about the regular e-book...but no.


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

Caddy said:


> Well, no news is better than the dumb email I got from Amazon today. It showed me that I could buy Gastien from a used book seller for on ly $57 something. They seriously bother to send out emails about these bogus used books? I would much rather they send out an email to people reading my genre about the regular e-book...but no.


Yeah, I temporarily had to take down the print versions of both Most Likely and Shada for a few days, back in November or so. (Because I was re-formatting them.)

During the time that they were down, some idiot re-selller tried to rip people off by attempting to sell SHADA for something like $112.

It was $8.99 in its original form and went down to $7.99 after the re-format.

Now, I realize Amazon allows things like that, but here's what bugged me:

The reseller tried to claim it was a signed copy of "an international best-seller!"

No one should ever mistake SHADA for an international best-seller. Unless selling copies that don't quite reach THREE DIGITS (yet) in sales, with a couple of copies sold outside the US, suddenly counts as "an international bestseller."

But I doubt it does.

That, I did complain to Amazon about... LOL. Not that I wouldn't love for one of my books to reach "international bestseller" status, but I'm not there yet.

Also, given that I've only signed two copies of SHADA in my entire career, and I know who owns both of them, I'm relatively sure THAT was a bogus claim, too. 

In fact, the same idiot is still making ridiculous claims about SHADA. The reseller is called Any_Book and is currently saying this about SHADA:



> Some wear on binding and pages, overall Very Good condition. Huge Seller! Millions Sold! Satisfaction Guaranteed!


I think Any_Book should pay me the difference between my actual sales (just under 100 sold!) and the sales they are attributing to me (Millions sold!) ... how's THAT as a penalty?


----------



## Ty Johnston (Jun 19, 2009)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Ooh, it's SO trendy and hip to criticize Patterson! You dazzle me with your never-been-said-before wit!


Actually, as KB is the only online board I frequent, and mostly just the writers' forum, I _didn't _realize criticizing Patterson was trendy. Just know what I see on covers in stores.


----------



## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

I thought it was funny. ;P


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Me, too...


----------



## Caddy (Sep 13, 2011)

> I think Any_Book should pay me the difference between my actual sales (just under 100 sold!) and the sales they are attributing to me (Millions sold!) ... how's THAT as a penalty?


Perfect!


----------



## Alex Owens (Mar 24, 2011)

Joe Vasicek said:


> Maybe it was a phishing attack? Yikes.


That's what I'm thinking. No word back from B&N yet. Fingers crossed!


----------



## CraigInOregon (Aug 6, 2010)

DreamWeaver said:


> I'm not sure why these resellers offer the books at such ridiculously high prices. I've seen my husband's paperbacks for sale by independent sellers at Amazon for as high as $999.99! Obviously, nobody will purchase them.


I've seen prices like that before, too.

Unfortunately, all it takes is one underinformed customer to be gullible enough to One-Click.

And who will the customer blame? One would hope it's Any_Book, but usually they'll blame the author...  grrrr


----------



## B. Justin Shier (Apr 1, 2011)

B.


----------



## Incognita (Apr 3, 2011)

B. Justin Shier said:


> B.


Ha. And here I clicked on the thread because I thought there might be something new.

You're so gullible, McFly...


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

I've decided it was either an April Fools prank, or their big innovation was offering a cover creator, and they're so embarrassed that Amazon beat them to the punch that they decided just to drop the matter and hope we all forget.


----------



## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

My sales haven't updated since 6:30 am (leaving them at least 1/5 of where they should be on a Saturday) and others have reported similar. So perhaps whatever they're rolling out is delaying reporting and we'll find out today or by Monday at least.


----------



## MegHarris (Mar 4, 2010)

Oh, I'm glad to know that, Christa. I thought my sales were just really doing badly today.  You may be right!


----------



## evecarter (Nov 30, 2012)

My pubit report show zero sales today. 24 yesterday. I sure hope it's their report update for today that's lacking.


----------



## scribblr (Aug 20, 2010)

CraigInTwinCities said:


> Every indie is allowed to publish ONE book under one of the following pen-names:
> 
> 1) Stephen King
> 2) James Patterson
> ...


You forgot Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. They also put their names on books written by others to take advantage of their former fame.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

The buyout must be taking longer to arrange than we thought.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Or maybe they changed their mind?


----------



## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Well, I did have 25-40% of my sales at BN. But that stopped after that email. It marks the sudden drop to almost nothing. Thanks, BN.


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

We have news

I got this signing in to pubit today

PubIt! is now NOOK Press
Press Release

We are thrilled to introduce you to our new self-publishing platform, NOOK Press.

With NOOK Press, you can write, edit, format, and publish your manuscript all in one place, collaborate with friends and editors, and get your questions answered quickly by our live chat support staff—all at no cost. It’s easy and improved and offers the same great terms as PubIt!.

While you can continue to use PubIt! for the time being, we will be phasing out the platform in the months to come. Sign up for a NOOK Press account and include your PubIt! login details to easily sync your account, title, and sales information over.

Sign up today and see why NOOK Press is self-publishing made simple.


----------



## Debbiek (Aug 7, 2010)

Mine too drastically changed. I am not selling nearly as much as I did before the notice.  I think that was the news...no more sales.


----------



## Lisa J. Yarde (Jul 15, 2010)

With Nook Press, the interface looks cleaner. Oh, and joy of joys, there's a Remember Me checkbox to save the login. Beyond the nice cosmetic change, I don't see anything newsworthy yet.


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

If you click on "My Sales"

It says - Like a plot twist in a great novel, something went horribly wrong


----------



## KristenDaRay (Aug 4, 2012)

I think this might have something to do with Barns and Noble seperating from the nook. Pubit was an extension of B&N but now that it is separating I guess it had to move off on its own.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2013)

Well, looks like they're getting rid of the slightly obscene sounding Pubict name.

Anyone know if we can do perma-free direct through B&N? That would be awesome.


----------



## Kwalker (Aug 23, 2012)

You cannot. I tried to set my title I'm trying to make free to 0.00 and it kept autocorrecting to .99


----------



## StrokerChase (Mar 4, 2012)

Looks like it's online now!

I like it a lot better. Haven't checked the functionality of publishing yet but from what I seen it's a vast improvement. Especially like the new graphs.


----------



## TPiperbrook (Sep 1, 2012)

Looks much cleaner overall.  I like the new "chat with a representative" feature.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

I just hope the "keep me signed in" really works.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2013)

DreamWeaver said:


> I hope they'll still allow us to upload _our own_ ePub files! I don't want to use their "content creation tools."


From the TOS, it looks like we'll still be able to do that:



> *C. Delivery of eBooks.* In order to publish your eBooks with NOOK Press, you may either (i) deliver your eBook to Barnes & Noble in a format compatible with NOOK Press, as set forth on the *Support and Resources Page*, or (ii) use our Tools to prepare your eBook in a compatible format.


----------



## Rick Gualtieri (Oct 31, 2011)

Not quite sure this qualifies as the "big news" they've been touting.  So far looks like a repackaged Pubit.  Was hoping for some Author Central type marketing tools.


----------



## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Rick Gualtieri said:


> Not quite sure this qualifies as the "big news" they've been touting. So far looks like a repackaged Pubit. Was hoping for some Author Central type marketing tools.


Agreed. It's nice looking, and certainly makes KDP look old and out-dated. But nothing new feature-wise that I can see.


----------



## cheriereich (Feb 12, 2011)

KristenDaRay said:


> I think this might have something to do with Barns and Noble seperating from the nook. Pubit was an extension of B&N but now that it is separating I guess it had to move off on its own.


This ^^^^ is exactly what I thought when I read the email about Nook Press.

I do like the idea of being able to modify the epub directly on their site. That sounds promising.


----------



## Mark Fassett (Aug 25, 2010)

cheriereich said:


> This ^^^^ is exactly what I thought when I read the email about Nook Press.
> 
> I do like the idea of being able to modify the epub directly on their site. That sounds promising.


But, looking through their FAQ, it seems you can only edit it before you put it on sale. Once you've put it on sale, you cannot change the document without taking it off sale and creating a new project, losing all your reviews and ratings in the process. It does say "currently", though, so maybe there's some hope.

http://cp-barnesandnoble.kb.net/kb/?ArticleId=4483&source=Article&c=12&cid=28#tab:homeTab:crumb:7:artId:4483


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2013)

Well, this clause from the TOS looks interesting:



> You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble, its distributors, licensees and partners a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale, marketing, display, distribution and promotion in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platform whether now existing or hereafter created or developed.


Does this mean we grant Nook Press our ebook rights if we use their platform? On its face, it doesn't look much different from what we grant all the other ebook retailers, but that "irrevocable" part makes me wonder if Nook could technically keep our ebook rights even after we withdraw the book from their site.


----------



## BrianKittrell (Jan 8, 2011)

The short of it: New website skin and "tools" that I don't need. Weeeeee!

The long of it:

+ NEW! One-stop Publishing Solution: Write, edit, format and publish your eBooks in our web-based platform, instantly reaching millions of NOOK customers within 72 hours.

Why would I want to write "in the cloud"?

+ NEW! Easy ePub Creation and Editing: Upload your manuscript file and make changes directly in NOOK Press. Editing and previewing in one session saves you time and effort.

*shrug* I'm the type who is pretty much finished once I get to the upload part. If I have to correct issues, I have to correct them in multiple file versions across several platforms. This would be a hassle.

+ NEW! Integrated Collaboration: Collaborate with editors, copyeditors, and friends, allowing them to review and comment on your manuscript without ever leaving NOOK Press.

...or keep using a word processing suite and your existing critique circle accounts.

+ Visual Sales Reporting: Our new visually-enhanced sales report makes tracking your sales progress even easier.

I'll have to take a look, but it doesn't get much simpler than day-by-day accounting of sales. What, does it have a chart now?

+ NEW! Instant Chat: Live Chat customer service is now available to quickly answer your questions Monday through Friday between 9am-9pm EST.

I wonder how long that's going to last or how useful it will be. lol Beyond simple things, I imagine that most issues will be forwarded up/"escalated".

+ Pathway to Passionate Readers Everywhere: Publish once and reach millions of customers using NOOK and NOOK Reading Apps in the US and UK and more coming soon.

Same as before.

+ Same Great Terms: Our favorable PubIt! business terms and commitment to a transparent retail partnership remain unchanged.

Same as before.

I'm going to give this Live Chat a spin on several issues I've had for a few months and see if I get escalated.



Joe Vasicek said:


> Well, this clause from the TOS looks interesting:
> 
> Does this mean we grant Nook Press our ebook rights if we use their platform? On its face, it doesn't look much different from what we grant all the other ebook retailers, but that "irrevocable" part makes me wonder if Nook could technically keep our ebook rights even after we withdraw the book from their site.


I believe it means to say that you cannot go back and try to revoke rights once the book has been sold, i.e. forcing customers to delete eBooks they purchased and all that. But I'm not an attorney.


----------



## Guest (Apr 9, 2013)

I think so too, actually. This clause seems to clarify that a bit:



> Subject to the authorizations granted to us hereunder, as between us and you, you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your eBook.


----------



## Edward W. Robertson (May 18, 2010)

Sounds like that language is also there to allow them to use your books to promote the Nook (by pasting Wool on the landing page, for instance) without having to secure your permission or worry about you trying to revoke it later.


----------



## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

I haven't tested it, but the idea seems good. I wonder how it might work for the author/editor interface? If the editor(s) was allowed access, that could lead to some efficiencies.


----------



## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)

Final step is Profit? Count me in!

ETA: Hey, is it international yet? Just America? UPDATE: DANGIT those chowderbuckets! No internationals yet. grumblegrumble-prawns-grumble


----------



## terrireid (Aug 19, 2010)

I have some issues with their new terms:  

Barnes and Noble has the right to allow their customers to read our e-books for free while they are in their stores.

Customers have the right to copy, paste, print and email our e-books.

I'm not comfortable with either of those terms.


----------



## Mark Fassett (Aug 25, 2010)

terrireid said:


> I have some issues with their new terms:
> 
> Barnes and Noble has the right to allow their customers to read our e-books for free while they are in their stores.


This one has been part of PubIt's terms for months. It's not new.


----------



## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

Mark Fassett said:


> This one has been part of PubIt's terms for months. It's not new.


At least 2 years, I believe.


----------



## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

I would say how underwhelmed I am but I'm distracted by their shiny new graphs.


----------



## DRMarvello (Dec 3, 2011)

I searched through their FAQ and all the other information I could find, but I was unable to answer this question: if I already have a PubIt account, what are the pros and cons for switching over to NOOK Press?

This part was interesting:


> NOOK Press Presents will be an ongoing merchandising channel for independently published content that comes to NOOK through NOOK Press. Once you moved your existing PubIt! account to NOOK Press your titles will be considered for this program, which will promote books across the NOOK ecosystem.


But it's vaporware. And given B&N's amazing reputation as a powerhouse merchandiser, I admit to some skepticism.


----------



## Victoria Champion (Jun 6, 2012)

Well I can see that nothing has changed over at good old B&N.

*Sorry, your registration failed. Please check your PubIt! credentials and try again. *

Now I am on phone with tech support because it locked my PubIT account for too many failed 'logins' even tho I can actually log in there - I just can't sync my Pubit and/or register to Nook Press. Fucking laughable. See, I'm laughing. Ha. Ha.


----------



## Thomas Watson (Mar 8, 2012)

DRMarvello said:


> I searched through their FAQ and all the other information I could find, but I was unable to answer this question: if I already have a PubIt account, what are the pros and cons for switching over to NOOK Press?


I couldn't find anything either, though it's a moot point, since Nook Press is replacing PubIt. I just now re-registered and started the process to "sync" (as they put it) the old account with the new.


----------



## FictionalWriter (Aug 4, 2010)

Underwhelmed. Not going to migrate until I'm forced to. I like the ability to be able to update my book if I need to.


----------



## Lissie (May 26, 2011)

Blown Away! I just registered - and I'm not American - I've never been able to publish direct on B&N - that restriction now appears to have disappeared unless I'm missing something?


----------



## Jeny Stone (Sep 26, 2012)

Confused...Pubit is going away? Got notice to migrate to Nook press....but since I 'm computer stupid I have been to scared. Took me long enough to figure out Pubit...
Getting ready to release new book but not sure if I should migrate first or wait till forced. Will the formatting be different?


----------



## Jan Strnad (May 27, 2010)

Jeny Stone said:


> Confused...Pubit is going away? Got notice to migrate to Nook press....but since I 'm computer stupid I have been to scared. Took me long enough to figure out Pubit...
> Getting ready to release new book but not sure if I should migrate first or wait till forced. Will the formatting be different?


If you're comfortable with submitting to PubIt, I'd put my book up there before switching. And you will switch, eventually. They're obviously going to dump PubIt.

I found the syncing easy enough...quite painless, actually. Sales and all went with my books.


----------



## sunnycoast (Sep 10, 2010)

Lissie said:


> Blown Away! I just registered - and I'm not American - I've never been able to publish direct on B&N - that restriction now appears to have disappeared unless I'm missing something?


From the NookExpress FAQ:

*Can publishers based outside the U.S. use NOOK Press?*

No. At this time, NOOK Press is only available for publishers with a U.S. Bank Account and a U.S. Tax ID that are both tied to a U.S. address.


----------



## Jeny Stone (Sep 26, 2012)

The formatting is the same then? Guess I'll have to put my big girl panties on and try it....but I am scareeeed.


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

My Pubit Account is under my personal info. Since then, I incorporated but they were unable to move my books to the corporation. They told me that I had to cancel the old account under my name and start over. Anyone know if I can switch stuff over to the corp without losing all my reviews and rankings? I know there were a few of you that had the same problem.


----------



## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

For everyone who hasn't switched yet, Holly Lisle has found a few things in the contract that would at least make me pause before signing with them:

http://hollylisle.com/writers-barnes-noble-nook-press-contract-terms-are-insanely-bad/

Here is a quick link to Amazon's contract that does include the info Holly is commenting on: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=APILE934L348N


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

kiazishiru said:


> For everyone who hasn't switched yet, Holly Lisle has found a few things in the contract that would at least make me pause before signing with them:
> 
> http://hollylisle.com/writers-barnes-noble-nook-press-contract-terms-are-insanely-bad/
> 
> Here is a quick link to Amazon's contract that does include the info Holly is commenting on: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=APILE934L348N


There are things that concern me about this switch, including how they've gone about about "announcing" it AND implementing it at the same time, but the above isn't one of them. The sky is not falling here, and Holly's claim that these terms are "INSANELY" bad doesn't hold water.


----------



## Sebastiene (Dec 15, 2011)

There's one thing in the TOS that is upsetting me: "You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble... irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale...." 

I really want to put my books up on Nook Press, but the word "irrevocable" in the TOS.... I understand that people who have bought the book have a right to keep a copy in their locker, but why "irrevocable" right to sell the book? 

This is a contract I can't bring myself to sign. So, now I can't sell my ebooks at B&N, anymore? That stinks.


----------



## DRMarvello (Dec 3, 2011)

Thomas Watson said:


> I couldn't find anything either, though it's a moot point, since Nook Press is replacing PubIt. I just now re-registered and started the process to "sync" (as they put it) the old account with the new.


Yes, the fact that Nook Press is replacing PubIt would also have been good information. Today I'm seeing DBW and PW Daily articles explaining what B&N was too lame to say for themselves.


----------



## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

Sebastiene said:


> There's one thing in the TOS that is upsetting me: "You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble... irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale...."
> 
> I really want to put my books up on Nook Press, but the word "irrevocable" in the TOS.... I understand that people who have bought the book have a right to keep a copy in their locker, but why "irrevocable" right to sell the book?
> 
> This is a contract I can't bring myself to sign. So, now I can't sell my ebooks at B&N, anymore? That stinks.


I looked that line up because it also stood out to me, Amazon has that exact same line in their TOS.


----------



## H.M. Ward (May 16, 2012)

Sebastiene said:


> There's one thing in the TOS that is upsetting me: "You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble... irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale...."
> 
> I really want to put my books up on Nook Press, but the word "irrevocable" in the TOS.... I understand that people who have bought the book have a right to keep a copy in their locker, but why "irrevocable" right to sell the book?
> 
> This is a contract I can't bring myself to sign. So, now I can't sell my ebooks at B&N, anymore? That stinks.


Same here. That clause is insane. I can't sign that.  bastards. My Nookies r gonna b pissed.


----------



## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

The sentence from the Nook Press:

You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble, its distributors, licensees and partners a *non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale*, marketing, display, distribution and promotion in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platform whether now existing or hereafter created or developed.

Same sentence from Amazon:

You grant to each Amazon party, throughout the term of this Agreement, a *nonexclusive, irrevocable, right and license to distribute Digital Books*, directly and through third-party distributors, in all digital formats by all digital distribution means available.

Unless I'm reading it wrong, you did sign the exact same sentence in the agreement from Amazon.


----------



## Sebastiene (Dec 15, 2011)

*They're not the same. Here's why (highlighted in red):*

The sentence from the Nook Press:

_"You hereby grant to Barnes & Noble, its distributors, licensees and partners a *non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to make your eBooks available for sale*, marketing, display, distribution and promotion in any commercially available electronic or digitized format or on any electronic device platform whether now existing or hereafter created or developed." _

Same sentence from Amazon:

_"You grant to each Amazon party, *throughout the term of this Agreement*, a *nonexclusive, irrevocable, right and license to distribute Digital Books*, directly and through third-party distributors, in all digital formats by all digital distribution means available."_

1. The Amazon clause is limited. The Nook Press clause has no limits. 
2. The Amazon clause is for "distribution". The Nook Press clause is for "sale, marketing, display, distribution and promotion".
3. The Nook Press TOS states they will take your book down within 10 business days if you ask them. However, if they have an irrevocable right to sell it, that means they can put it back up if they want to.
4. Since the royalty rate isn't specified in the TOS (which is giving Holly Lisle a heart attack), technically, they can put your book back up whenever they want to AND you aren't guaranteed the royalty rate you may have enjoyed, before.

I'm really frustrated by this because I want to sell my books at bn.com. But there is no way I'm "signing" any contract giving someone else an irrevocable right to my work. It's nothing bad about B&N. I just need them to drop that one word, or add the limit wording that Amazon did.


----------



## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

Sebastiene said:


> *They're not the same. Here's why (highlighted in red):*
> 
> The sentence from the Nook Press:
> 
> ...


From the Nook TOS:

*2. Term and Termination

The term of this Agreement begins when you accept it and will continue until it is terminated by you or by Barnes & Noble. *


----------



## Adam Pepper (May 28, 2011)

Good catch, Saul.


----------



## Guest (Apr 11, 2013)

I love it how we're actually reading the TOS instead of blithely agreeing to it like so many beginning writers with their first trad-pub contract.


----------



## Sebastiene (Dec 15, 2011)

Saul Tanpepper said:


> From the Nook TOS:
> 
> *2. Term and Termination
> 
> The term of this Agreement begins when you accept it and will continue until it is terminated by you or by Barnes & Noble. *


In that case, you wouldn't be giving them any kind of irrevocable right. Irrevocable: (Adjective) Not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered; final.

I'm going to have to think about this. I appreciate your input (I really do!). Thank you!


----------



## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

I'm going to wait and see about migrating my Pubit to Nook Press. Meanwhile, I told Smashwords to go ahead and distribute to Barnes and Noble. If the hunch is right and Nook Press spins off from Barnes and Noble, then I think Nook Press will be a ghost town in less than a year, so far as readers are concerned. The only reason readers buy Nook books is because they are on the Barnes and Noble site.


----------

