A Vignette of the Nookery

Hmm. I can assure you this topic doesn’t piss me off intrinsically, but piss me off it does.

IFWG Publishing is a small press – not a self-publishing outfit. This is not a derogatory statement about self-publishing – anyone who knows me knows that I have no bigotry in that space at all – only praise among some. But we aren’t a self-publishing enterprise – hey, 11 titles this year.

We want to epublish in all viable ebook platforms – Sony Reader, Kobo, Nook, Kindle, Adobe. There will be others.

We had an ugly-ish experience with B&N’s Nook. This blog is solely about Nook.

Basically, there are two ways to publish on Nook – as a self publisher, you are directed to go through PubIt! If you are a ‘traditional’ publisher, and if you are a "Vendor of Record", you can either send Titles in EPUB format (with cover art) to them directly, via email (for small publishers), and via FTP for larger companies. Given that we published print titles with them (around six) to date, it seemed ludicrous that we had to go through the process of being a ‘vendor or record’, and if you went through the PubIt! process, it is without a doubt oriented exclusively for self-publishers (actually, US based self-publishers, as it is impossible to register without having a US Bank Account).

So, as a matter of experiment, we sent an email to B&N with a legitimate EPUB file and cover art for one of our recent titles, and asked for it to be published. The response was underwhelming – use PubIt! – and they stated that we should register as a small press or self-publisher, and it will all fall into place at the END OF SUMMER (my capitals, and I should add, northern hemisphere).

Well. It would appear that we don’t qualify as a "Vendor of Record" and we have to register as a self-publisher (we produce 11 titles a year, and this isn’t a high enough rate for use of their email system), and wait more than six months before we can publish in Nook.

Congratulations Barnes and Noble. You appear to be less professional than the small publishers you are screwing.
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