How to publish on Barnes & Noble Press: from Nook ebook to print on demand

Barnes & Noble Press is the self-publishing platform of the US bookstore chain: one free account publishes ebooks into the Barnes & Noble and NOOK ecosystem and print books on demand. Every claim below comes from Barnes & Noble's own pages, fetched and read for this guide. The Amazon half of the same launch is how to publish on Amazon KDP; bookstore and library distribution beyond the chain is how to publish on IngramSpark; the ebook-first alternative outside the US is how to publish on Kobo Writing Life.

What Barnes & Noble Press is

The corporate page defines it: "Barnes & Noble's innovative self-publishing platform where independent publishers and authors can find everything they need to publish both print and digital books for customer purchase, or print beautiful books for personal use." The name has a history: "The recently relaunched Barnes & Noble Press (formerly NOOK Press) seamlessly brings together the separate eBook and print on demand (POD) user experiences into a single, integrated platform." Cost is stated on both the corporate and the help pages: "With no delivery fees or production costs, B&N Press is free to use from start to finish", and "There is no cost to use B&N Press platform."

Availability is country-specific. The help centre lists where accounts can publish: "B&N Press is currently available for print and eBook publishing to authors and publishers in the following countries": the United States, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. One shipping limit: "At this time, B&N Press only ships personal print book orders within the United States."

Where B&N Press books are sold

Ebooks: "B&N Press eBooks will be on sale at bn.com, the Barnes & Noble App, the Shop section of NOOK devices, and the Barnes & Noble NOOK App." Print: "B&N Press Print projects will be on sale at bn.com and on the Barnes & Noble App." And the sentence that prevents the biggest misconception: "Publishing though B&N Press does not place your book in Barnes & Noble Bookstores." Speed is the corporate page's claim: users "can simply click 'Publish' and their book will appear on BN.com within 72 hours". Sales visibility runs daily: "Users can also monitor sales on a daily basis with enhanced reporting tools."

How to publish an ebook on Barnes & Noble Press

The account is free; selling is what triggers the paperwork: "If you want to sell your book, you will need to complete the Vendor Registration by providing taxpayer information as detailed in your account." On format, their ePub guide is unambiguous: "ePub is an open source, industry-standard format for eBooks. NOOK sells digital content that is in the ePub format", and "Publishers looking to sell highly formatted eBooks should convert their eBooks to ePub before uploading them via Barnes & Noble Press to ensure optimum formatting." No ISBN is needed on this side: "Barnes & Noble lists eBooks on bn.com using EANs, not ISBNs, so eBooks are not currently searchable by ISBN. An ISBN is not required to put an eBook on sale through Barnes & Noble Press." One format simply does not exist here: "you cannot use Barnes & Noble Press to sell audiobooks at this time."

Print books: paperback and hardcover, as their pages state them

The format list from the help centre: "B&N Press allows you to publish eBooks and print books. You can create paperbacks, and hardcovers either with a printed case or a dust jacket." The print article details the two hardcovers: "a hardcover with printed case" prints the cover image directly onto the book's coverboards, while "a hardcover with dust jacket" binds the book in a solid-color material and prints the cover on a removable paper sleeve with folded flaps. Ink and paper: "Interiors and covers can be printed in premium color, standard color or black & white." Size limits: "The minimum page count is 18 with a maximum of 800 pages."

Files are the print-ready kind: "you will need print-ready PDFs of your book interior and cover. You may also use a print-ready Microsoft Word document for your book interior file", with one conversion warning: "a print-ready PDF cannot be made from an ePub file". The craft of producing that interior is how to create a print-ready PDF of your book; the vocabulary of sizes is trim size. A print project can also grow out of a digital one: "B&N Press can also be used to create print versions of eBooks that you already have on sale on bn.com." Personal projects skip the store entirely: "If you select Personal Use for the project, it will not be displayed on bn.com. You may order as many copies as you would like."

Print pricing: the $14.99 minimum and printing costs

"Starting April 22nd, 2026, BN Press print books listed for sale must have a retail price of at least $14.99. The BN Press platform will not allow the creation of new listings for less than $14.99", and listings still under that price were slated for removal: "If you have any titles retailing for less than $14.99 on May 14th, 2026, we will begin removing those listings from sale." The floor exists because print costs are real: "The cost of creating a print book depends on several factors, including the format (hardcover or paperback), trim size, page count, and whether you are printing in black & white, standard color or premium color", and "You can use our Quick Quote tool to get an accurate estimate of how much your book will cost to print." Price changes batch weekly: "Make any desired price updates before 11:59PM ET on Thursday to have the updated price reflected on bn.com Saturday of that week."

Royalties: 70% on ebooks, 55% minus print costs in print

The current rates, in the help centre's words: "For eBooks, you will receive a 70% royalty for all sales for $0.99 and higher after January 1, 2021", and "For print books, you will receive a royalty of 55% of the List Price, minus the per book printing cost for all Print projects". (The corporate page's relaunch-era line about "increased author royalty rates for eBooks priced at $10.00 and above" describes the 2019 relaunch; the help centre's flat 70% from $0.99 is the current statement.) Payment timing: "You will be paid on the last Wednesday of the month following the sale(s) for which you are being paid", once "There is a $25 payment threshold that must be reached for each payment type", by EFT into your bank account. One exclusion: "Royalties are not paid for orders placed through your BN Press account, as these copies are already sold at a discount".

ISBNs on B&N Press: free, or your own

Print needs an ISBN; B&N will give you one: "B&N Press can provide you with a free ISBN to publish your print book. We'll also automatically register your ISBN information with BooksInPrint.com®." The catch is the same as KDP's free ISBN, tighter in one way: "This free ISBN can only be used on B&N Press for distribution to Barnes & Noble and bn.com. It cannot be used with another publisher or self-publishing service", the detail page's publisher field reads "Barnes & Noble Press", and the supply is capped: "Yes, 5 per week (10 per month total)." Bring your own and the rules invert: buy from Bowker or your local ISBN agency, your imprint becomes yours, but "If your ISBN has been submitted for use at any other retailer, including bn.com, you cannot use that ISBN with Barnes & Noble Press." Barcodes are handled for you: "B&N Press does not require a barcode when designing and uploading your print files", because "B&N Press will add in a barcode to your back cover". How KDP and IngramSpark each treat the same question is in how to publish on Amazon KDP and how to publish on IngramSpark.

Can your B&N Press book reach Barnes & Noble stores?

Publishing does not do it: "Publishing though B&N Press does not place your book in Barnes & Noble Bookstores", and the help centre adds "Barnes & Noble Press services are not currently available in stores." The structural reason is returns: "If your local Barnes & Noble wants to sell your book, your book must be in our system as a returnable item. If you are published through Barnes & Noble Press, your book is considered a Print-on-Demand item and, per our Terms and Conditions, Print-on-Demand items cannot be considered returnable." What remains is local and author-initiated: "Your local Barnes & Noble store may be interested in carrying or holding a consignment event for your BN Press Print book. To be considered for either, you will need to reach out to your local store directly." The corporate page describes the program side: B&N Press "gives qualified authors the opportunity to apply for signings and events at Barnes & Noble bookstores, as well as gives select authors the opportunity to sell their books in stores." And the warning worth repeating verbatim: "Barnes & Noble will never reach out to authors and offer in-store placement for your books in exchange for money."

Chain-wide shelf placement is a different door, and it runs through distribution rather than through B&N Press. The corporate submission instructions ask for the title's ISBN, its marketing and publicity plan, and the "Name of wholesaler/distributor that is handling your fulfillment to the retail trade"; they note that a wholesaler "allows B&N to consider placing larger orders and putting the book on automatic replenishment", that "The buyer review process can take 4 to 6 weeks and you will be contacted via email with their decision", and that "All books will be considered for store placement based on subject matter and salability." That wholesaler line is exactly the job IngramSpark exists to do.

Who should publish on Barnes & Noble Press

The author it fits best writes for a US-heavy audience and wants both formats of the chain's own channel: a Nook ebook presence and a print listing on BN.com, hardcovers included. Non-exclusivity is explicit: "B&N Press is non-exclusive. You may publish a project with us even if you have published it through another site", with one condition, that you "provide a unique, never-used ISBN". It also serves print-in-store ambitions, with the honest caveat above: consignment and events are local and possible, shelves are not automatic. What it is not: a global ebook network (that is Kobo Writing Life's pitch) or a bookstore and library distributor (that is IngramSpark's). The route decision as a whole is publishing paths; the umbrella production walkthrough is how to self-publish a book. One recent content rule to know: "we will not allow the publishing of Public Domain titles on Barnes & Noble Press". Compressed: publish direct here for the BN.com and NOOK channel, take the free ISBN only if B&N-only distribution is acceptable, price print at $14.99 or above, and treat in-store presence as a relationship your local store agrees to, not a checkbox.