Barnes & Noble Unveil PubIt! Digital Self-Publishing Service

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Aspiring authors may like this latest announcement from Barnes & Noble. They have announced a new service called PubIt!, which is expected to come available sometime this summer.

As for just what PubIt! is, aside from a service with an awkward sounding name. I will leave you to your own imaginations as to what the name could sound like. But staying professional and moving forward, the press release notes PubIt! as being “an easy-to-use digital publishing and distribution platform for independent and self-publishers.” Not being able to speak so much as to the accuracy of the easy to use portion, but those looking to self publish their own book should be happy. If nothing else, you will at least have another option to consider using once you masterpiece is ready.

Digging deeper into what the service will actually be offering and we find that it will give you the ability to have your work in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, which is said to have “millions of dedicated customers.” What that really means is your book will come available for those sporting any of the Barnes & Noble compatible reading devices which currently consists of the Nook, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, Mac and PC. And soon to be on the iPad as well.

Based on the Barnes & Noble website, the process seems simple enough, but not having been able to go though the three listed steps we would suspect its a little more involved. But for those that are curious, its listed as being a matter of uploading your work, converting it to an ePub formatted file and then selling it. Or course, there is all of the writing, editing, re-writing that comes before and the marketing that will come after, but still.

As for making money off of your work, that will happen assuming you are able to make sales. But as of now details of the “royalty model and compensation process” have not been given. At this time, it was noted that information will be released in the “coming weeks.”

Additionally, for good or bad and whether or not you prefer — all titles uploaded with PubIt! will be “well-protected with Barnes & Noble’s best-in-class digital rights management technology.” Yup, they are going to DRM your book.

Finally, once in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore customers will be able to browse, search for, sample or purchase your book just like they could any other available title.