Dwight Watt - Newspaper Article #237 2/5/2014


Question: How do I publish my book to the Barnes and Noble website?

Answer:

Barnes and Noble will allow individuals to publish books in electronic format on their web site to sale. Although Barnes and Noble hardware reader is the Nook, I understand e-books gotten from Barnes and noble will work on almost any e-reader device.

Once you have written your book make sure it is in Word (.doc or .docx) format. They do accept other formats but I found Word works easily. One item you will probably need to change in your manuscript to upload it is that hard page breaks that are between chapters will need changed to section breaks which are also page breaks. In Word 2010 go to the Page Layout tab and choose breaks, then Next Page in section breaks. Your footers and headers will move over easily. The other item you probably want is to have made a jpg file that is your book cover. Barnes and Noble suggests it be 1400 bits by 1400 bits.

You will go to www.nookpress.com to upload your manuscript. Click the Getting Started button. Then you will create an account for yourself if you do not already have an account with Barnes and Noble and sign in. Now click Create New Project. Name your project, probably your book name. Click Create my Project. Now click Upload Manuscript File and you will browse and find your file on your PC and upload it. Then you can preview it in their viewer and make sure appears ok and you can do some minor edits.

You will next upload your cover (the jpg file) and will put the categories for your book and you will choose a price. There is a help button that you can click to see what the royalty rates are. I was surprised how they go up and down by price.

You will need to set up a vendor account before you can publish the book to their site for it to be listed and sold. You will need a checking or savings account number and social security number so they can deposit your earnings and Uncle Sam can get his share in taxes.

Make sure you click Publish as last so it is published. Remember you are the publisher so it is your responsibility to let people know it is available and to encourage people to buy.

The process to self-publish electronically thru Barnes and Noble is relatively simple. Remember people can go to the Barnes and Noble web site and search for your book by your name or the book title or by categories you put it in. I have a self-published book there and a book by a major publisher listed.