Reviewing and Publishing with NOOK Press
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NOOK Press is B&Nās indie author publishing portal that replaced PubIt. NOOK Press is a whole new experience that includes a lot of improved and new functionality.
This article explores how to share your book with reviewers so that you can get feedback from them as well as how to publish—that is, make available for sale—your book on B&N.
The My Projects Screen
When you first log in, you land on the My Projects screen. This is the hub of activity here (see Figure 1), so it is worth your time to review some of your actions here.
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Figure 1 My Projects Screen is the hub of your publishing life at NOOK Press
Under Project Status, you can filter what you see on this screen to All (which is the default), In Progress, On Sale, or Off Sale. You can also filter to see only your projects, or all projects that you are either the owner of or a collaborator on.
For each individual project, you have a few options:
- Update Manuscript: Click to make changes to the manuscript.
- View Details: Click to update title, price, and so on.
- List Price: Click to update the price.
- Take Off Sale/Publish: Click to either remove the book from sale, or publish it and make it available for sale.
- Trash Can: Click the trash can icon to delete that project.
Click Sales to get sales reports.
Finally, click Support to get help. NOOK Press features online chat representatives available from Monday through Friday, 9am-9pm Eastern time.
That's it, really, to using NOOK Press. It is now even easier to publish your books on B&N.
Inviting and Working with Collaborators
Prior to NOOK Press, having people review and comment on your ebook required you to do so outside of the system. NOOK Press now has that functionality built in.
The first thing to do is to invite collaborators. On the Project screen, click Invite Collaborators, which opens the Collaborators screen (see Figure 2). You need to invite collaborators, so enter the name of the person you want to invite, the email address, and a message (that's optional). Click Send Invitation.
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Figure 2 Invite collaborators to review your manuscript
If you have already invited someone, you can cancel their invitation on the Invite Collaborators screen as well.
Those whom you invite receive an email with a link for them to click. When they follow that link, they are taken to the screen shown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3 Where a collaborator accepts the invitation
When the collaborator clicks Yes, I Would Like To Join, they can see all the projects to which they have access. Click View Manuscript. The collaborator can click Read and Comment, which opens the now familiar Text Area screen. The collaborator can navigate this screen much like the creator. However, the collaborator cannot adjust the manuscript. They can read through it and comment on it.
If they want to add a comment, they simply type it in the Comments box and click Add Comment (see Figure 4). The collaborator can delete a comment by clicking the x button in the top-right corner of the comment.
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Figure 4 Adding a comment
The comment is now visible to you, the author. When you open the book in the Edit Manuscript screen, you see the comments in the right column. You also see it listed as a notification (see Figure 5). Just click the notification to see the Notifications screen. You are told where the comment was added.
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Figure 5 You've got a notification
Adding a Cover
As more authors self-publish, cover images are ever more important for catching the potential reader's eye. Although NOOK Press cannot help you correct the cover, you can use NOOK Press to upload your fantastic cover.
After you click View Manuscript, click Cover Image to see the Cover Image screen (see Figure 6).
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Figure 6 Add or update a cover
NOOK Press accepts JPEG or PNG files that do not exceed 5MB. NOOK Press recommends that the height and width of the image be at least 1,400 pixels. This doesn't mean you need to have a square cover; instead, just make sure that the short side of the cover is at least 1,400 pixels.
To add a cover, click Choose a File To Upload, browse to the file, click Open, and then click Upload Cover Image. After the cover is uploaded, you can replace the cover image by uploading a new cover or you can crop it.
If you click Crop Cover Image, the screen in Figure 7 appears. To crop, click one of the grey squares and drag it until you have the crop you want (you can see it in the preview). Click Crop Cover Image to crop it or Cancel to go back to the previous screen without altering the cover.
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Figure 7 Cropping a cover
That's all there is to adding a cover.
Adding Details and Publishing
So now that you have your manuscript in NOOK Press, reviewed, and with a cover, you are nearly ready to publish. After clicking View Manuscript, click NOOK Book Details to see the screen in Figure 8.
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Figure 8 The NOOK Book Details screen
This is a summary of what has been completed. To start entering information, click Title & Description in the left column, which displays the NOOK Book Details—Title & Description screen. Enter the information and click Save & Continue.
If you have contributors besides yourself (for example, a photographer), click Add Another Contributor. The Description section is what appears on the book page in the B&N store.
Be thoughtful here. Do you need an ISBN? You do not, but if you have one, you can enter it on this screen.
When you are ready, click Save & Continue to go to the NOOK Book Details—Categories screen. On this screen, you can enter up to five categories. When users browse books, they are set up in categories, so the more categories you have, the more browse locations there are.
Add keywords and separate them by commas. Keywords are ways potential readers can see your book when they search the B&N store. Complete the rest of the information and click Save & Continue to go to the NOOK Book Details—Rights & Pricing screen. Here you enter your price and let B&N know whether it can be sold only in the United States or worldwide. If you want DRM added to your book, click Yes.
Click Save & Continue to go to the NOOK Book Details—Other Information screen. Review the options and click Save & Continue to go to the NOOK Book Details—Editorial Reviews screen. If you have Editorial Reviews, enter the requisite information here. Click Save.
After all the information is entered, you are ready to Publish. You can click the Publish button at the top or you can click Publish from the Project screen. Now all your readers can find your book.
After you have published a book, when you return to the project page, you see a slightly altered screen (see Figure 9).
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Figure 9 Now that your book is published, the options are a bit different
In particular, take note of the following two items:
- Download ePub: Click to download the EPUB file for your book. You can then use this to deliver to other ebook retailers.
- View NOOK Book Product Page: Click to go to the B&N website's specific page for your book.
Congratulations! You've learned how to add collaborators to get feedback on your book, add a cover, and publish it.