# Barnes & Noble Press > Direct self-publishing platform for BN.com and NOOK — flat 70% ebook royalty, free to publish, but print now carries a $14.99 minimum price. Source: https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/publishing/barnes-noble-press Website: https://press.barnesandnoble.com Category: Publishing & Distribution (https://selfpublishingdirectory.com/publishing) Pricing: free — $0 AI-powered: no Tags: barnes-noble, nook, ebook, print-on-demand, wide-distribution, us-bookstore, direct-publishing Last verified: 2026-08-19 Best For: Wide-distribution authors who want direct NOOK/BN.com placement and a flat 70% ebook royalty, and whose print titles can carry a $14.99+ price Distribution Channels: BN.com, NOOK Devices, NOOK App Exclusivity Required: no Format Support: ebook, print Royalty Rate: 70% (ebook, all prices); 55% of list price minus printing costs (print) Service Type: direct-retailer 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 eBookSales@bn.com. - **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.