Barnes & Noble Press is Barnes & Noble’s free self-publishing platform. You upload an EPUB (the standard ebook file) or a Word document and set your own list price. The book then goes on sale at BN.com and in the NOOK apps, usually within 72 hours. B&N pays a flat 70% of the list price on sales priced $0.99 or higher.
We checked every platform detail in this article against Barnes & Noble Press’s current help pages at the time of writing (July 2026). Platforms revise their specs, so confirm anything critical against B&N’s own documentation before you upload.
- What Is Barnes & Noble Press, and Where Do Your Ebooks Appear?
- How Do You Set Up an Account and Start Selling?
- What Files Does Barnes & Noble Press Accept?
- How Much Does Barnes & Noble Press Pay in Royalties for Ebooks?
- Do You Need an ISBN for Barnes & Noble Press?
- How Does DRM Work on Barnes & Noble Press?
- How Long Does Publishing Take, and How Do Pre-Orders Work?
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Barnes & Noble Press, and Where Do Your Ebooks Appear?
Barnes & Noble Press (often shortened to B&N Press) is the self-publishing arm of Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the United States. It started life as NOOK Press, named after the company’s NOOK e-readers. It took the Barnes & Noble Press name in January 2018. Same platform, new name.
An ebook published through B&N Press goes on sale at BN.com and in the Barnes & Noble app. It also appears in the Shop section of NOOK e-readers and in the free NOOK reading app for phones and tablets. Sales happen online; a B&N Press ebook does not put your book on the shelves of a physical Barnes & Noble store.
The platform is non-exclusive. You can sell the same ebook through B&N Press, Amazon KDP, Kobo Writing Life, and any other retailer at the same time. B&N places no restriction on that. But it is limited to certain countries. At the time of writing, authors and publishers in twelve countries can open an account: the United States, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. B&N Press currently publishes ebooks and print books only; it does not sell audiobooks.
How Do You Set Up an Account and Start Selling?
Opening a Barnes & Noble Press account is free, and so is publishing. B&N earns its share from each sale rather than from fees. Creating an account at press.barnesandnoble.com only takes an email address. Selling, however, requires one more step: Vendor Registration.
Vendor Registration is the form where you enter your contact details, publisher name, bank account, and taxpayer information. The bank account matters because your royalties (your share of each sale) arrive by bank transfer. B&N reviews the submission, and approval can take up to 15 business days. That wait is far longer than the publishing step itself. So submit your vendor details while your ebook files are still in progress, not after.
One rights rule is worth knowing before you plan a project. You must own all the rights to the text and images in your book. As of April 22, 2026, Barnes & Noble Press no longer accepts public domain titles (reprints of out-of-copyright works such as classic novels). If your book is your own original work, this change does not affect you.
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What Files Does Barnes & Noble Press Accept?
Barnes & Noble Press accepts an ebook interior in four formats: EPUB, Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), plain text (.txt), or HTML. The uploaded file must be under 20MB. EPUB is the format the platform actually sells. If you upload a Word, text, or HTML file, B&N converts it to EPUB for you. An EPUB is a reflowable file. The text adjusts itself to fit whatever screen the reader is using, from a phone to a large tablet.
The automatic Word conversion is convenient, but it follows strict rules. A manuscript that ignores them will show the damage in the converted ebook. A few examples from B&N’s own Word formatting guidelines:
- Section breaks become chapter headings. Every section break in the Word file creates a chapter heading in the ebook, so a stray break produces a stray chapter.
- Tab indents don’t survive. Set paragraph indents with Word’s first-line indent tool, not the Tab key.
- Fonts are limited. B&N asks for Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier New in the source file.
- Symbols and auto-formatting cause trouble. Auto-formatted fractions, superscript ordinals (like “1st”), and most special symbols convert badly; some come through as question marks.
- No columns. The conversion does not support multi-column layouts.
Uploading a finished EPUB instead
Authors who want full control skip the on-platform conversion entirely and upload a finished EPUB. B&N’s guidance says publishers selling “highly formatted” ebooks should convert to EPUB before uploading. It also asks for the file to pass validation, an automated error check we cover in how to validate an EPUB before uploading. A finished, validated EPUB sidesteps every quirk on the list above, because nothing gets converted. A single well-made EPUB also works across retailers, as we explain in whether you need a separate ebook file for Amazon, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Cover image requirements
The cover image uploads separately from the interior. B&N accepts .jpg or .png and recommends at least 1400 pixels on the shorter side. Inside the ebook file itself, a cover page is optional, but a title page is mandatory.
How Much Does Barnes & Noble Press Pay in Royalties for Ebooks?
Barnes & Noble Press pays a flat 70% royalty on the list price for ebook sales priced $0.99 and higher. The rate does not change with price bands. A $0.99 ebook and a $14.99 ebook both earn 70% of whatever list price you set. According to B&N’s payment help page, this flat rate has applied to sales since early 2021.
You can also set an ebook’s price to free. A free download earns no royalty. Even so, B&N’s own pricing guidance for authors treats free pricing as a deliberate strategy, most often for the first book in a series.
When and how you get paid
Payment mechanics are specific, so here they are in one place. B&N issues a payment once you have accrued at least $25 in royalties. The payment covers sales from a completed calendar month, 30 days after that month ends. Payments go out on the last Wednesday of the following month. April sales, for example, pay out on the last Wednesday of May. The money arrives by electronic funds transfer (a direct deposit) to the bank account in your vendor profile. It can take up to 2 business days to clear. Since March 2, 2026, B&N has paid international authors in US dollars, with the author’s own bank handling currency conversion.
The $25 threshold deserves a moment of attention. If sales are slow in a given month, the balance simply rolls forward. Nothing is lost; the payment waits until the threshold is met.
Do You Need an ISBN for Barnes & Noble Press?
An ISBN is the 13-digit number that identifies a specific edition of a book to retailers and databases. Barnes & Noble Press requires a unique, never-used ISBN for publishing. It is strict about “never-used”: you cannot reuse an ISBN that has already gone to any other retailer, including BN.com itself.
Here is the wrinkle that catches ebook authors. B&N Press offers free ISBNs, but its documented free-ISBN programme covers print books only. For an ebook, plan to bring your own ISBN. Buy it from Bowker (the official ISBN agency in the US) or from the ISBN agency in your own country. Two details follow from that. The imprint you enter (the publishing name your book appears under, as in Vendor Registration) must match what is on file with Bowker. And the copyright page inside the ebook should show the ebook’s ISBN, not the print edition’s. Each format of a book needs its own number, so a print ISBN cannot do double duty on the ebook. We cover the free-versus-paid decision in free ISBNs for self-published books.
How Does DRM Work on Barnes & Noble Press?
DRM (digital rights management) is copy-protection software that locks an ebook to the store account that bought it. With DRM applied, readers can open your book in the retailer’s own apps and devices. They cannot copy it, print it, or move the file to another company’s e-reader. Without DRM, the buyer holds an ordinary file they can read wherever they like.
On B&N Press, DRM is a choice, not a default. B&N applies DRM to your ebook only if you indicate during setup that you want it. Decide deliberately, because B&N’s documentation does not describe a way to change the setting later.
Other platforms handle the same choice in their own ways. Amazon KDP also leaves the decision to the author, and its help pages say the KDP setting can be changed at any time; from January 20, 2026, buyers of DRM-free KDP ebooks can even download them as EPUB or PDF files. The trade-off is simple. DRM discourages casual copying and sharing, while DRM-free gives your readers more freedom in where they read. Neither is automatically right; make the choice knowingly.
How Long Does Publishing Take, and How Do Pre-Orders Work?
Publishing on Barnes & Noble Press is fast once B&N has approved your vendor details. After you click “Put on Sale,” B&N says the book can take up to 72 hours to appear on BN.com. There is no lengthy editorial queue for ebooks; the wait is processing time.
How pre-orders work
You can list an ebook for pre-order up to 12 months before its publication date. The listing can even open before the manuscript is finished. B&N asks for the final cover and interior no less than 72 hours before publication day. On the publication date, the book goes on sale automatically, and the final file reaches everyone who ordered.
Two mechanics are worth understanding. First, B&N charges customers on the publication date, not when they place the pre-order. They pay the list price in effect when they ordered, even if you change the price later. Second, each pre-order counts toward your book’s sales rank on the day the reader places it. (Sales rank is the position BN.com uses to order books by popularity.) This is why authors use long pre-order windows to build visibility before launch. Royalties from pre-orders follow the same schedule as any other sale.
Taken together, the process is short. Open the free account, submit Vendor Registration early, and upload a validated EPUB with a 1400-pixel cover. Bring your own ebook ISBN, choose your price and DRM setting, and allow 72 hours for the book to appear. The individual specs may change; the shape of the process has been stable for years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Barnes & Noble Press the same as Nook Press?
Yes: NOOK Press became Barnes & Noble Press in January 2018, and accounts moved to the new platform automatically. Older tutorials that say “Nook Press” are describing the same service, though their screenshots and specs may be out of date.
Can I publish my ebook on both Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble Press?
Yes; Barnes & Noble Press is non-exclusive, so it places no restriction on selling the same ebook elsewhere. The restriction can only come from the other side. If you enrol the ebook in KDP Select, Amazon’s terms require digital exclusivity, and that title cannot sell on B&N Press while enrolled.
How much does Barnes & Noble Press cost to use?
Barnes & Noble Press costs nothing to use: creating an account, uploading files, and publishing are all free. Barnes & Noble makes its money by keeping 30% of each ebook sale, paying you the remaining 70% of the list price.
Can authors in the UK use Barnes & Noble Press?
Yes; the UK is one of twelve countries where B&N Press accepts authors. The others are the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Since March 2026, non-US authors receive royalty payments in US dollars, and their bank converts the amount to local currency.
Will my book appear in Barnes & Noble bookstores?
Publishing through B&N Press does not place a book in physical Barnes & Noble stores. The platform sells ebooks and print books through BN.com and the NOOK apps. Shelf space in physical stores is a separate buying decision the retailer makes, not part of the self-publishing service.
