Barnes & Noble officially launched PubIt! today, its digital self-publishing platform for authors and independent publishers. Under the PubIt model, authors are charged no startup fee and will receive a royalty that ranges from 40% to 65%, depending on price of the e-book (or other digital content). Using a Web-based platform, publishers, upload their e-books, set the list price and track their sales and payments. Titles can be priced between 99 cents and $199.99. For e-books priced at or between $2.99 and $9.99, publishers receive 65% percent of the list price with B&N receiving the balance. For those priced at $2.98 or less, or $10.00 or more, publishers receive 40%.
At present, PubIt is a digital-only offering, but Theresa Horner, v-p of digital products at B&N, said that could evolve over time. "Print-on-demand is a natural extention of this platform," she told PW. Deals are nonexclusive. PubIt is launching with several thousand titles, a number that changes daily. "We are more interested in adding publishers than counting titles," Horner said. Ttitles will be available in the B&N ebookstore and across a variety of Nook-compatible platforms. To become part of PubIt, authors upload their ePub files or Microsoft Word, TXT, HTML or RTF files which B&N will convert to ePub at no cost.
