When comparing Harlequin vs Barnes & Noble NOOK Books, the Slant community recommends Harlequin for most people. In the question“What are the best eBook stores?” Harlequin is ranked 6th while Barnes & Noble NOOK Books is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Harlequin is:
Harlequin does offer eBooks that are not of the romance variety with a worldwide selection of action, suspense and adventure.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Books other than romance novels
Harlequin does offer eBooks that are not of the romance variety with a worldwide selection of action, suspense and adventure.
Pro A self publishing of sorts
Harlequin use to offer self publishing under the name Harlequin Horizons but under criticism was spun off and renamed DellArte Press. So users can self publish with DellArte Press but it will not be under the moniker of Harlequin.
Harlequin does still offer a way for anyone to submit their book to them but it is no guarantee it will be published.
Pro Send eBooks as gift
The NOOK store allows users to send eBooks as gifts to their friends and family.
Pro NOOK app
B&N offers a NOOK app for Android, iOS and Windows 8 in their respective stores. This allows user to shop and read their eBooks natively on those operating systems.
Pro Self publishing
B&N offers a way for users to self publish their eBooks to the NOOK eBook store, the service is called NOOK Press.
Cons
Con High Prices
Averaging to about 85% of a hardcover price the eBooks on the Harlequin store a pretty pricey.
Con Limited to only Harlequin eBooks
The selection of eBooks on the Harlequin eBook store is limited to only Harlequin eBooks, which are mainly romance novels.
Con Uses a special DRM on their eBooks, any eBook purchased from B&N is not Adobe Digital Edition compliant
While B&N does use and read .epub on their devices, any eBook purchased from the B&N eBook store will not be able to be used in other .epub readers unless the DRM is stripped from said eBook.
Con No legacy Windows app or Mac app
While B&N use to offer a PC and Mac app for the desktop, they pulled support officially in 2013.
Con Higher prices then competition
Part of the reason B&N is having so much trouble with the NOOK brand currently and most likely part of its decision to separate itself from it by spinning it into its own company is that since the demolishing of agency pricing they are unable to compete on prices.
Con B&N not confident in NOOK brand
B&N will be spinning its NOOK division into a separate company, which does not show much faith in their own brand. What's worse is that this show of uncertainty of wanting to separate from the failing device and it's eBook store will only just further distance the customers from the NOOK. Being that their eBooks have a special DRM scheme that does not allow their .epubs to work in other device, current users better hope this new company does not fold or they will be out of their entire NOOK eBook library.