Barnes & Noble Press

Barnes & Noble Press is the direct publishing platform for the second-largest US bookstore chain. Publishing here reaches BN.com and NOOK devices directly, without going through an aggregator. As of February 2021, Barnes & Noble Press raised ebook royalties to a flat 70% on all ebook prices—up from a tiered system that paid as low as 40% for books under $2.99.

In April 2026, B&N Press tightened its program rules significantly: a $14.99 minimum retail price on print books, a 100-title cap per account, and a ban on public domain titles. These changes are the biggest shift to the platform in years and reshape who it makes sense for.

What You Get#

• Ebook publishing: Upload your manuscript and cover; ebooks go live within 72 hours of submission. Sold on BN.com, in the NOOK app (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac), and on NOOK e-readers. Ebook royalty is a flat 70% of the retail price you set, at every price point from $0.99 up.
• Ebook pre-orders: You can list an ebook for pre-order up to 12 months ahead of publication. B&N recommends uploading final cover and interior files no less than 72 hours before the pub date; pre-orders convert to sales automatically at launch, and a Pre-Order report tracks them.
• Print on demand: Paperback and hardcover (printed case or dust jacket) POD, in black & white, standard color, or premium color, from 18 to 800 pages. No inventory required. Print royalty is 55% of list price minus per-book printing costs. Print titles go live within about 96 hours.
• Cover template generator: A free tool that outputs a correctly sized cover template PDF for your trim size and page count. It is a sizing template, not a cover designer—you still supply the artwork.
• ISBNs: An ISBN is required. B&N Press supplies free ISBNs for print books, capped at 5 per week (10 per month). A free B&N ISBN is locked to B&N distribution, is non-transferable, and cannot be used with another publisher or platform.
• Payment terms: Royalties are paid by EFT on the last Wednesday of the month following the sale, once you have accrued a minimum of $25 (combined ebook and print). Below the threshold, royalties roll over to the next month.
• No fees: Zero upfront or monthly costs; B&N takes its cut at point of sale.

Who It's For#

• Wide-distribution authors: Authors going non-exclusive across multiple retailers include B&N Press as part of their standard setup alongside KDP, Apple Books, and Kobo.
• US-focused genre authors: B&N's customer base skews US and slightly older than Amazon's; well-suited for cozy mysteries, literary fiction, and romance.
• Authors with full-length print titles: The $14.99 print floor means B&N Press now fits standard novels far better than novellas, poetry chapbooks, or short nonfiction.
• Small-to-midlist catalogs: The 100-title account cap rules out large backlist and box-set operations without a manual exception.

2026 Policy Changes#

• $14.99 minimum print price (April 22, 2026): The platform stopped accepting new print listings below $14.99, citing rising shipping and printing costs. Titles still priced under $14.99 began being removed from sale on May 14, 2026. This applies to print books only—ebook pricing is unaffected.
• 100-title account cap (May 14, 2026): A single B&N Press account is limited to 100 individual titles; print and digital editions of the same title count as one. Unpublished titles don't count. B&N may remove titles from accounts over the cap; authors needing an exception are directed to [email protected].
• Public domain ban (immediate): B&N Press no longer allows public domain works to be sold. Such titles are removed on sight, and accounts that keep posting them may be closed.

Strengths#

• Flat 70% ebook royalty: Unlike Amazon, which pays 35% for ebooks under $2.99, B&N Press pays 70% at all price points—an advantage for authors pricing at $0.99 or $1.99.
• No exclusivity required: B&N Press has no exclusivity requirement, making it compatible with all wide-distribution strategies.
• Direct NOOK reach: Publishing directly on B&N Press gives authors a presence in NOOK search results without aggregator commission.
• Free print ISBNs: Useful for authors who don't want to buy Bowker ISBNs, provided the B&N-only restriction is acceptable.

Limitations#

• $14.99 print floor: Novellas, poetry collections, and low-page-count works can no longer be listed at a price readers expect. Some publishers pulled short titles rather than reprice them.
• 100-title cap: A hard ceiling for prolific authors and small presses running many titles through one account.
• US-only market: Barnes & Noble is primarily a US retailer. International distribution reach is negligible compared to Kobo or Apple Books.
• Not in bookstores: POD titles published through B&N Press do not appear on Barnes & Noble's physical store shelves. For in-store placement, IngramSpark is required.
• $25 payout threshold: Higher than the $10 minimum B&N Press used previously, so low-volume authors wait longer between payments.
• Smaller market share: B&N holds a fraction of US ebook sales compared to Amazon; B&N Press is a worthwhile free addition but rarely a primary revenue source for most authors. (B&N does not publish indie sales share; commonly cited single-digit estimates are third-party and unverified.)
• Aggregator support: Authors using Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, or IngramSpark can also distribute to B&N without a separate B&N Press account.

Alternatives#

Draft2Digital and PublishDrive both distribute to Barnes & Noble as part of broader packages, eliminating the need for a separate B&N Press account—and routing print through IngramSpark or D2D Print sidesteps the $14.99 floor entirely. Direct publishing via B&N Press saves the aggregator commission, which is worth it for authors with significant NOOK ebook sales.