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#61 |
Enthusiast
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Karma: 40
Join Date: Feb 2009
Device: clay tablet
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I just converted one of my self-published Kindle books and put it on B&N via PubIt. (Question: Does 'PubIt' rhyme with 'pubic'? :-)
The process of publishing through PubIt is about as easy as Amazon's DTP platform for Kindle publishers. Where it's really lacking now is in technical support. Amazon's DTP has a big support (aka "Community") section, with forums where questions are answered by an Amazon tech person and a dtp-support email address for self-publishing problems and questions. For PubIt, there's a pretty meager FAQ, and that's all. (And the FAQ has darned annoying "expansion triangles" that don't do anything; you have to click on the text of the question to expand it.) It will be interesting to see how things develop. |
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#62 |
Bah, humbug!
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Karma: 157049943
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.
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#63 |
Dylanologist
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Karma: 146754
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Device: none/all/any
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Unsuccessful publishing experience with first PubIt book.
1. When adding new title, Preview runs and runs and never previews. 2. "Is ebook part of series?" question never accepts "No." 3. "Categories" never indicates if category is accepted. 4. No way to delete duplicate title. 5. No response from pubit@bn.com. 6. Thumbnail shows in Foxfire, not in Safari. This ePub book was successfully added to the Apple iBookstore. - Fabe ------------- Update: #s 2, 3, & 6 are resolved. They just work. I am now uploading the book and will report back. -F ------------- Update 2: status = processing. Last edited by Fabe; 10-02-2010 at 12:13 PM. Reason: Update |
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#64 |
Wizard
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Karma: 300001
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Citrus Heights, California
Device: TWO Kindle 2s, one each Bookeen Cybook Gen3, Sony PRS-500, Axim X51V
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MuGAWD! At least two people have managed to get into PubIt! and get it to work! Happy Days!
Me, I'm still having problems getting past the Login/Please SignUp loop. |
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#65 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
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The content policy says, "You are responsible for checking for updates and your continued use of the service after we post amendments will constitute your acceptance of the changes..."
This is not valid in CA; there was a big lawsuit a few years back, and it was decided that "we can update our website at will" is not considered acceptable terms for a contract; users have to be notified of changes. They are not in violation of a contract they haven't agreed to. (That said, since most of the content rules seem to be "you can't post this or that," and other parts of it say "we can remove your content at any time for no reason," there wouldn't be much to fall back on if they changed the rules and your book got pulled.) If, for example, they change the percentage rates, people could sue to receive payment under the terms they signed up for, not the ones they were switched to without notification. (If their FW pattern continues, they'd quietly pay off anyone who complains and hope that's few enough people to not be worth notifying anyone.) Descriptions of ebooks are not allowed to include: Quote:
And... Quote:
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#66 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
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Quote:
I tried uploading a book this morning... the Denial of Service stories. The process was just a bit buggy, and I had to edit the Word file a few times to get the ePub to come out right upon upload. I discovered you cannot submit a book into their site for free sales... they must be at least .99 cents. I did like the fact that you can download the ePub file and examine it closely (the preview on the PubIt! site isn't an actual view of the file on a Nook, just a sort of snapshot of a page, and I don't know how it's generated, so I don't know how accurate it is). It is now "processing." I have no idea how long that will be, but it's been "processing" for at least a few hours, now. I won't try anything else until that process is over, and I see the next step. |
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#67 | |
Dylanologist
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Karma: 146754
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Device: none/all/any
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Pubit! Success!
Quote:
Go take a look. The book is called: The Ultimate Bob Dylan Quiz. I guarantee it will delay the onset of Alzheimer's by at least one year. Tell your friends! - Fabe |
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#68 | |
Is that a sandwich?
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Karma: 101696762
Join Date: Jun 2010
Device: Nook Glowlight Plus
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Quote:
Only 63K ... is that accurate? |
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#69 | |
Dylanologist
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Karma: 146754
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
Device: none/all/any
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Quote:
----------- Okay, here's what I discovered. The original ePub file is 64 KB. The cover, which is not yet showing is 178 KB. I tried editing one detail to no avail. I could not save the change. - Fabe Last edited by Fabe; 10-02-2010 at 06:38 PM. Reason: Because I said I would. |
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#70 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
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Follow-up: The processing finally finished, and the book went on-sale (and I immediately took it off, because I'll be offering it for free on my site).
I will make another attempt, this time with a book I plan to leave up: the first Kestral book, which I have renamed (more on that at another time). But so far, so good. |
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#71 |
Wizard
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Karma: 769316
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Eternal summer
Device: 350, iPad, PW
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Keep us updated Steve. I'd really like to know about the "Lend Me" and read in store features, if they even exist and/or work for the indies.
Read their pricing policy, it appears they're taking an opposite stance to Amazon's "We must be the cheapest" policy. B/N says they're not allowed to be HIGHER than any other e-tailer. Interesting.. Definitely not a fan of their draconian language about accepting new terms/conditions. Last edited by jaxx6166; 10-02-2010 at 08:08 PM. |
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#72 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
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I went back in this morning to upload The Kestral Files: My Life, After Berserker. (Before I did that, I also uploaded it to Amazon. Neither are for sale yet.)
B&N allowed me to choose a number of formats to upload, and as I'd already custom-created an epub file in Sigil, I used that. Adding the rest of the information (including opting-out of DRM) was easy enough, and the system didn't give me any trouble. I was able to save the info, go back in and edit a few areas, and resave it, no problem. So they've gotten most of the bugs out of the process so far. It is presently on hold in their system, not put on-sale yet. (I'm trying to get the external sales to roughly coincide with my new website, which isn't active yet.) Overall, I'd say the process was as easy as Amazon's DTP (which has been redesigned from its old layout, and the two systems are very similar). B&N's royalty being 65%, it is 10% lower than Amazon's... Amazon also states they will drop royalties to 70% if they are forced to drop their price to match a lower competitor, so either way, Amazon is the better deal for authors. |
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#73 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Karma: 5171130
Join Date: Jan 2006
Device: none
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Update: Publishing, and missing covers
This weekend I put Verdant Skies and Kestral for sale. Process took 2 days to appear. When it did, I realized that neither of my covers appear on the product page.
B&N was fairly specific about what was acceptable, a jpg, between 300 and 6500pixels in length, between 20KB and 5MB (or so)... my covers fit all of those criteria. So as far as I can tell, there's no reason they wouldn't display. B&N support, being what they are (sorry), is no help... in fact, they seem to be MIA. Even links to the PubIt! Help board, apparently populated by authors only, are hard to find, and I have yet to see signs of any B&N personnel on them. It does seem from the B&N discussion board there are a number of complaints about missing covers, so this is not just my problem. Moreover, I remember this being a problem with B&N's previous publishing system, before they uprooted it and replaced it with PubIt! So we're talking about a problem that hasn't been fixed in over a year... |
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#74 |
Enthusiast
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Karma: 100436
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Naos
Device: Kindle
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I got my email from B&N a couple weeks ago but procrastinated on uploading my books until yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon I set up my account and uploaded my two books as HTML files. It took me a little while to get them to look right in the Nook preview. I downloaded the converted EPUB files from PubIt onto my desktop and then fumbled around in Calibre until finally getting the formatting to look the way I wanted. (I had first tried uploading my books as PDFs but the formatting was a mess in the Nook preview so that was a no go.) I put both books up for sale and B&N said they would be available in 24 to 72 hours. When I logged in this morning, they were already on sale. The book covers are not on my product pages yet and I have no sales of course. I would say getting everything ready to go took me less than two hours, and this with my 3-year-old daughter sitting on my lap while talking to my wife with my 1-year-old son pulling on my leg and being in a rush before leaving for a pumpkin patch. Very similiar to Amazon's DTP, and I have lots of experience there, which probably made PubIt easier for someone like me with basic computer skills. I have a Kindle 3 at home (My Precious), so I don't know how my books look on the Nook. I will head over to our local B&N and take a look this evening. Overall, my experience with Amazon DTP and now PubIt has been very positive. My experience with traditional publishing -- not so much. This is a great time for writers, I think. And now that I have a Kindle 3, I'm realizing what a great time it is for people like me that always need to have a book to read. My Kindle is with me everywhere I go and I'm plowing through books like nobody's business, quite a few of which are public domain that I've always been meaning to read but never got a hold of. I'm making a couple hundred bucks a month from Amazon off my two novels, and this long after giving up my dreams of being a famous traditionally-published multi-millionaire best-selling author. We'll see what happens with Pubit. Here are the links to my new B&N pages: GALAXY OF HEROES THE PSYCHIC |
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#75 |
Enthusiast
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Karma: 100436
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Naos
Device: Kindle
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Covers are now up.
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Tags |
barnes & noble, self-publishing |
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