Post #100 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
June 2, 1897–Upon seeing his obituary prematurely published in the New York Herald (almost 13 years before he died) Mark Twain penned his famous quip, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
I couldn’t help but recall Twain’s immortal words when I read a recent article about the launch of NOOK PressTM. In the past couple of years, I’ve read several articles about Barnes & Noble’s NOOK losing out to the Kindle.
And yet, I also recalled what author Judy Mandel told me about the success of the NOOK® version of her memoir Replacement Child. She sold around 12,000 copies.
So I figured this was something worth looking into…and something you might want to know. NOOK Media LLC is promoting NOOK Press as “a quick, effective and free one-stop self-publishing platform that delivers high-quality eBooks to millions of book-loving NOOK customers.”
What is NOOK Press?
NOOK Press replaces their PubIt! publishing system. I jumped on the live chat at NOOK Press and asked if the new system was easier to use than Kindle. Understandably, the representative wouldn’t commit to that, but did say that with input from PubIt! authors and their technology partner FastPencil, they have made “a lot of improvements.” Nook Press estimates that you could have your book entered, formatted and available in as little as three days. Wow!
NOOK supports ePub, which is an open publishing format that can be read on many different systems. Barnes & Noble reports that 30 percent of NOOK readers download self-published books. So this may be a great opportunity for you to self-publish your memoir as an ebook.
If your book is well written. And if you market your ebook effectively, you may sell enough books to interest a traditional publisher. Judy did it. Her memoir Replacement Child has recently been published by Seal Press.
How to Get Started with NOOK Press?
Go to the NOOK Press website. You can read about the tools. Learn more about how sales and compensation are handled. And if you have any questions, use the online chat tool. They’re prompt and full of information. Just scroll down the home page and look for the NOOK Press FAQs that will answer many of your questions. There are even some video tutorials that will explain the process. And they are posted on the NOOK Press Facebook Page.
Here are a few things that I like about NOOK Press:
- If you use NOOK Press to publish, you’re not limited to selling on NOOK. They specifically say they don’t require an exclusive agreement.
- You can submit your book for consideration for special merchandising and promotional opportunities. There is no guarantee your memoir will be accepted, but you may want to give this a try.
- NOOK Press supports color graphics in your ebook. They must be 750 pixels.
Matilda and I haven’t tried NOOK Press yet. But we’ve worked with Amazon Kindle and Apple iTunes. We’ve dealt with the challenges and know that most of these ebook tools are still in relative infancy. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s work. So if NOOK Press has a new tool that gets you up and published more quickly, then it’s probably worth your time to look into this.
And remember, free, easy-to-use tools are important to people looking for self-publishing options. But to be successful, you first need to write a good book. If you want to write the best book you can, you may find Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep helpful.
