Amazon vs Nook vs Me

About once a month I get an e-mail about why I don't publish my books on the Barnes & Noble Nook platform (ePUB format).   The reason is simple: SALES.

I have about a half-dozen books published on the Amazon Kindle platform.  The basis was derived by publishing the same book on both Kindle and Nook and watching the numbers.  To be fair, I included Google as well.  The book was "The Visual LISP Developer's Bible, 2011 Edition".  That was in 2010.  As of February 2012, none have sold on Google, and I've sold a total of 2 copies for the Nook.  Two.  Compare that with 172 for Kindle.  The choice was (is) clear for me.  I'd say it is a "no brainer" actually.

So please, do not ask me to publish on Nook.  It does add time and effort to publish to different formats (they are not the same at all) and each publisher mandates their own policies and tools to contend with.  Amazon is by far the clear winner in the general e-book publishing realm.  Nobody else comes close.  The market numbers are very clear on that, as well as the tiny slice of numbers I see from my own experience.  I am not John Gresham, or Dan Brown.  I have a day job and four kids at home.  It's surprising to me that I have had the time to crank out even one book, let alone six or seven, and I'm not sure I can do any more.  I just don't have the time and it's not really a major source of income.

Please don't ask for a PDF version either.  That's the same as giving it away FREE.  I'm not about FREE anymore.  My time isn't free, as I'm sure your's isn't either.

If you don't own a Kindle, there's still hope:  Use Amazon's FREE online Kindle "Cloud Reader" or one of their FREE reader apps for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Blackberry and whatever else.

Amazon vs Barnes & Noble

No, I'm not talking about two 800 lb guys in a ring with broken noses and mouth guards in, getting psyched up to beat the crap out of each other. I'm just comparing their respective self-publishing services and the results I'm seeing as an author of a very narrow niche subject-matter book.

Application Maturity

I expected Amazon's DTP web application to be the bomb-diggity.  I mean, after all, they have the reputation for being technologically adept with things like S3, ECC, and their various API's.  But I have to score this round in favor of Barnes & Noble's Pubit! web site.  It's just way better in terms of UI/UX design, navigation, layout, and the process of uploading and publishing a new e-book.  However, the Pubit! login system is lame.  Amazon's is also handicapped by being buried in their site.  Once you find either one of these, you really have to bookmark them or you'll suffer a million clicks trying to find your way back in from their home pages.

Revenue Model

I score this round for both of them as being equal.  They both offer about the same terms of royalties, fees, and sales management.  Although, I haven't sold a single copy of my book on BN yet, so I can't really compare the sales reports, which brings me to the next round.

Sales Results / Effectiveness

I published my e-book first on Amazon and sold two copies the first day.  I've now sold just about a dozen copies in less than a week of being published.  I published on Barnes & Noble only a few days after I posted it on Amazon, and I've yet to see a single sale rung up there.  If this continues to be the pattern, I will only publish on Amazon.  Time will tell.