Barnes & Noble has launched Nook Press, a self-publishing service positioned to compete against Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.

Based on technology from e-publishing company FastPencil, Nook Press features live-chat support, online composition and ePub formatting tools, commenting, and sales reporting. The program will replace B&N’s current self-publishing service, PubIt, which launched in 2010.

Nook Press is free to use and platform non-exclusive, with authors receiving 40 t0 65 per cent of the list price for all ebooks sold.