How to Publish on Barnes & Noble Press

Barnes & Noble Press (BN Press) is the direct self-publishing portal for Barnes & Noble, America's largest brick-and-mortar bookstore chain. It supports both ebook publishing to the Nook store and print-on-demand publishing to BN.com and potential in-store placement. Of the major direct wide platforms, BN Press has the simplest setup process — account creation takes minutes, and the upload workflow is the least technically demanding of any direct portal.

This guide walks through every step in the order you'll encounter them.

What You Need Before You Start

• A finished ebook file in ePub format (preferred) or .docx — ePub produces better results

• A cover image: JPEG, recommended minimum 2,000 × 3,000 px (2:3 ratio), maximum 5 MB

• For print books: a print-ready interior PDF and cover PDF — same technical requirements as KDP Print

• Your banking information for royalty payments (check or direct deposit depending on account type)

• A BN Press account — created at bnpress.com

Step 1: Creating Your BN Press Account

Go to bnpress.com and click Sign Up. You can create an account using your email address or sign in with an existing Barnes & Noble account. After registration, you'll verify your email and complete your account profile.

Payment Setup

BN Press pays royalties by check (mailed to your address) or by ACH direct deposit to a US bank account. Set up your payment preference under Account Settings. Payment threshold: $10 for ACH, $10 for check. BN Press pays approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which sales occurred.

Tax Documentation

Complete your tax information from Account Settings. US authors provide SSN or EIN. Non-US authors provide applicable documentation. Without completed tax information, BN Press withholds taxes from royalty payments.

Author Profile

Set up your author profile under Account Settings. Your display name, biography, and optional photo populate your author page on barnesandnoble.com. Write your biography for readers — it appears on the retail site where Nook customers and BN.com shoppers see it.

Step 2: Publishing an Ebook

From your BN Press dashboard, click + New Title and select eBook. The workflow has three sections: Book Details, Content, and Pricing.

Step 3: eBook Details

Cover Image

Upload your cover image first. BN Press accepts JPEG. Recommended minimum: 2,000 × 3,000 px (portrait orientation), maximum 5 MB. Covers are displayed at various sizes on BN.com — a high-resolution cover optimized for portrait display will look best across all contexts.

Title, Subtitle, Series

Enter your title exactly as it appears on your cover. Enter series name and volume number if applicable. Use the same series name you use on every other platform — series naming consistency across wide platforms is essential for recommendation algorithm performance.

Contributors

Add your author name and any additional contributors. Contributor names are searchable on BN.com.

Description

Your description appears on your BN.com product page and is indexed for Nook store search. Write retail-quality marketing copy. BN.com readers shopping for ebooks respond to clear genre signals, compelling hooks, and accurate content description. Maximum length: 5,000 characters.

BISAC Categories

BN Press uses BISAC categories. Select the most specific subcategory that accurately represents your book. B&N's browse structure maps to these BISAC selections — more specific categories give better browse visibility.

Keywords

BN Press provides a keyword field. Enter genre terms, trope terms, mood descriptors, and setting terms as comma-separated phrases. These support search discoverability within Nook's storefront and BN.com's ebook search.

Language and Audience

Select your book's language. Select the appropriate audience: General/Adult, Young Adult, or Children. Books with explicit sexual content should be flagged as Adult content.

ISBN

ISBN entry is optional for Nook ebooks. BN Press assigns its own internal identifier. If you have your own ISBN for the ebook edition, you can enter it here — it will appear in the product metadata.

Step 4: eBook Content Upload

Click Upload eBook File and select your ePub or .docx file. BN Press processes and converts the file for Nook devices and the Barnes & Noble reading app.

After upload, BN Press displays a preview. Review your book's formatting in the preview before proceeding.

Step 5: eBook Pricing

BN Press supports permafree pricing directly — you can set any ebook to $0.00 without requesting a price match from another platform. This is particularly useful for series starters.

Territory Rights

Select the territories where you hold rights. 'All territories' gives worldwide distribution through BN.com and the Nook store.

Step 6: Publish Your eBook

Once all required fields are complete, click Submit for Review. BN Press typically publishes within 24–72 hours. You'll receive an email when your title is live.

Step 7: Publishing a Print Book on BN Press

BN Press supports print-on-demand publishing. From your dashboard, click + New Title and select Print Book. The print workflow is separate from the ebook workflow — you can publish both formats, and they will appear on the same BN.com product page if you link them.

Print File Requirements

BN Press print file requirements follow the same general standards as KDP Print and IngramSpark. You need a print-ready interior PDF and a cover PDF generated from BN Press's cover template.

Trim Sizes and Print Options

BN Press offers a range of trim sizes comparable to KDP Print — standard trade paperback sizes including 5" × 8", 5.5" × 8.5", and 6" × 9". Check the current BN Press portal for the complete list of supported trim sizes, as the available options can expand over time.

Print ISBN

Unlike for ebooks, an ISBN is recommended for print books on BN Press to ensure proper cataloging in BN's retail system. BN Press may assign an identifier automatically for print books. For your own ISBN, enter it during the print title setup.

Print Pricing and Royalties

BN Press pays a royalty on print book sales calculated similarly to KDP Print: a percentage of the list price minus the printing cost. Use BN Press's built-in royalty calculator to determine the printing cost for your specific book specifications and set your retail price to generate an acceptable royalty.

In-Store Distribution

One of BN Press's most distinctive features is that print books published through it can be eligible for in-store placement at Barnes & Noble retail locations. This is not guaranteed — B&N's retail buyers evaluate titles for in-store placement based on category performance, cover quality, and sales data. But it is a path that no other self-publishing print platform offers with the same directness, and for authors in categories with strong B&N retail presence, it is worth actively pursuing.

To improve your book's candidacy for in-store placement: ensure your cover is professionally designed and genre-appropriate, your metadata is complete and accurate, your BISAC category is precisely correct, and your book has generated positive reader reviews on BN.com and Goodreads.

Step 8: Nook Promotional Opportunities

BN Press authors can submit books for inclusion in Nook promotions — deals features, genre spotlights, and seasonal sales events. Access promotional submission from your dashboard once your titles are live. Nook's promotional emails reach its subscriber base and can drive meaningful discovery for featured titles.

Nook readers are loyal and engaged — they have specifically chosen a non-Kindle reading ecosystem and tend to read actively. Authors who have built Nook readership report readers who follow them, buy new releases promptly, and leave reviews. Participation in Nook promotional programs is how authors build that readership over time.

Managing Your BN Press Catalog

Updating Metadata

From your BN Press dashboard, click Edit on any title to update description, keywords, categories, pricing, or contributor information. Updates typically propagate to BN.com within 24–48 hours.

Updating Files

Upload revised ePub or print files from your title's Content section. The revised files go through a brief review. The book remains live with old files during review.

Pre-Orders

BN Press supports pre-orders. Set a future publication date and select Pre-Order availability. Pre-orders are visible on BN.com and in the Nook store, and can generate early sales momentum before your official release date.

BN Press Content Guidelines

Barnes & Noble Press prohibits content that infringes copyrights or trademarks, content promoting illegal activity, content involving sexual exploitation of minors, and materially misleading content. Adult content (explicit sexual material between consenting adults) must be appropriately flagged during upload. BN distributes broadly — including to Nook devices used in family settings — and has conservative adult content settings relative to some other platforms.

Common BN Press Mistakes

• Uploading a .docx Word document instead of ePub — produces inconsistent formatting on Nook devices

• Not setting a permafree price directly and instead waiting for a price-match that BN will trigger automatically — BN Press allows direct free pricing, use it

• Using inconsistent series names versus other wide platforms — breaks buy-next recommendation performance

• Not submitting to Nook promotional programs after publishing — active participation builds editorial visibility

• Not connecting BN Press to ScribeCount — losing visibility into Nook performance as part of your wide income picture

Barnes & Noble Press is the most accessible major direct publishing portal for wide authors — fast to set up, simple to use, and the only platform with a genuine path from self-publishing to in-store shelf presence at America's largest bookstore chain. Nook readers are a loyal audience worth serving. Get your ePub files right, submit to promotional programs actively, and track your BN.com and Nook results in ScribeCount alongside everything else you publish.


-Randall Wood