PubIt! is the new self-publishing platform by Barnes & Noble. It is a 3-step process to publishing your book as an eBook and selling it through Barnes & Noble. All you have to do is upload your book and cover art. Then, PubIt! will turn the files into ePub format and make the book available for purchase from BN.com. It is similar to Lulu and Amazon’s CreateSpace. With the creation of self-publishing tools, some questions and concerns come up. Is self-publishing helpful or hurtful to independent writers? On one hand, it is great that writers who have not been able to secure an agent or a publisher can still have their work published and sold through popular retailers. But how will this affect agents and publishers? If the eBook continues to gain popularity, maybe writers will completely bypass the agent/publisher step and go straight to self-publishing. The most difficult and stressful time of a writer’s career is usually the search for an agent or publisher. Platforms like PubIt! take away the waiting and the rejection letters. However, I would imagine that it would be difficult to sell and market a self-published book. Yes, it is available through Barnes & Noble but people need to know that it is there. Writers won’t have the advantage of a publisher’s marketing team or the support of an agent or maybe not even the means to hire their own PR firm. Do the disadvantages of self-publishing an eBook outweigh the advantages? What about copyediting, revisions, and suggestions? An independent writer will have to rely solely on help from crit groups, family members, and friends. Is it worth it to be independent or should writers hold out for a contract? Will self-published eBooks help writers get noticed by agents and publishers when trying to pitch their next book?

What do you think? Have you self-published anything? What are your experiences with PubIt!, CreateSpace, and/or Lulu? Are there other self-publishing platforms not mentioned in this post? Let us know!

Nancy