Barnes & Noble's PubIt!: An Overview of B&N's PubIt! eBook Publishing Service

You've thought about whether or not you should self-publish your highly-illustrated or photography-heavy book, and you've reviewed the editorial, packaging and sales considerations. If you decide to go forward with your self-publishing plan, and have decided you want to publish in e-book format might be a self-publishing service to consider.

Barnes & Noble PubIt! is an e-book publishing service from the booksellers Barnes & Noble. B&N's PubIt! offers the distribution of barnesandnoble.com and some of the useful promotional features of Barnes & Noble bricks-and-mortar stores. With PubIt! publishing service, there are no upfront costs and competitive royalty rates.

PubIt! does not offer a printed book option. While anyone entering an ebook publication agreement should consider all of the fine-print and legal terms of the respective publication agreements, here are some of the PubIt! features in broad strokes for your review.

• Distribution/Compatibility -- PubIt! ebooks sold through the Barnes & Noble eBookstore are available for sale on BN.com, and through NOOK eBook Readers, and B&N's free NOOK eReading software for iPad, iPhone/iPod touch, Android, PC, etc. PubIt! ebooks compatible with MAC or Blackberry devices.

• Editorial Services -- PubIt! does not offer editorial services to help you fine-tune your manuscript.

• Creation -- Authors upload content and book data through a regular web browser. There is no charge to set up an account or upload. PubIt! does not offer a printed book option.

• Cost/Pricing -- The publisher/author sets the list price, then receives a royalty from PubIt! of between 40% and 65% of that, depending on the price.

• Restrictions -- The PubIt! Content Policy forbids text, images, or data that is pornographic, libelous, defamatory, or that infringes copyright. It also rejects information such as advertisements (even if they are ads for the book or author), calls to action (ex: "Please review this book."), hyperlinks, and publisher/author contact information.

• Proprietary Advantages -- eBooks put on sale via PubIt! will be included in some of B&N's marketing programs, such as: Read In Store, which allows bricks & mortar B&N customers to browse an ebook for up to an hour; Sharing eBooks with LendMe Technology, which allows eBook owners to lend a book once, for two weeks; and sampling, which allows customers to download 5% of an eBook before they commit to purchase.

If you've self-published your own book, feel free to submit a review of Blurb or any other self-publishing service. Or read reviews of other authors' self-publishing experiences or about Amanda Hocking's paranormal self-publishing success story.