In a move to pick up more self-publishing clients, Barnes & Noble has launched Nook Press Print, a new print-on-demand service for independent authors looking to take their manuscripts into the physical world.
Users can pick from a variety of materials and formats, including hardcover and softcover books, in a number of different sizes. Authors can get their texts published in full color or black and white, and select different paper materials.
The tools provided by Press Print integrate with the existing services Barnes & Noble offers through the Nook Press program, including editing and formatting. Pricing for those services starts at $999, and this move to offer print-on-demand publishing could help draw authors to those up-sell services as well.
It’s a move to attract people to Barnes & Noble’s publishing platforms at a time when the bookstore chain is feeling increasingly challenged by Amazon. The company plans to break off the Nook division into a separate company, and is now outsourcing the production of its latest tablet to Samsung.
Amazon already offers print-on-demand services through two of its subsidiaries: Booksurge and CreateSpace, which offer similar options to those offered by Nook Press Print. The Seattle-based retailer’s existing ecosystem of self-published authors is a lucrative business for the company: there have been a number of hit books which started as self-published titles on Amazon, like “The Martian,” which exploded in popularity and was recently got picked up for a film deal.
Barnes & Noble’s announcement comes at a fortuitous time. Hundreds of thousands of writers are taking part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short), and have committed to writing a 50,000 word first draft in 30 days. Those manuscripts have to go somewhere, and in some cases, authors choose to use print-on-demand services to commemorate the occasion and share their work with family, friends, and the rest of the world.