Barnes & Noble: Requirements

Any book in the Ingram/Lightning Source/IngramSpark print-on-demand catalog can automatically be available to Barnes & Noble’s customers through www.barnesandnoble.com and through customer special order request in the stores, at Barnes and Noble's discretion. 

When a publisher or author wants a Barnes & Noble store to consider stocking their POD book(s) in stores, Barnes & Noble requires the author's and publisher's terms to be competitive with other books that they stock and replenish in stores. They need the book to meet some basic requirements:

• Discount terms:  Barnes & Noble expects to receive a regular trade discount from Ingram/Lightning Source.  This means that the publisher would need to set a wholesale discount of 53% to 55% when setting up their title.
• Returnability:  The author/publisher would need to offer one of the return options: Return-Deliver (return to publisher) or Return-Destroy, so Barnes & Noble can return any unsold books back to the author/publisher, through Ingram. Books can be returned by Barnes & Noble at any time, in any condition, and for any reason.

• Discount and returnability should stay the same for the life of the book:  If a Barnes & Noble buyer agrees to stock a book in their stores that is available at a regular trade discount and returnable, they expect the terms will stay the same for the life of the book.  Changing the discount to lower than 53% or changing the returns option to nonreturnable for the book is not permitted by B&N.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If the book has been returnable and it is changed to non-returnable, Barnes & Noble will return any unsold copies, as will other booksellers who have purchased the book. When the returns option is changed to non-returnable, Ingram must notify retail and library customers; customers will have 180 days to make returns, from the date of the change.

• Barcode: A book that Barnes & Noble stocks in their stores needs a consumer-readable retail price and a bar code that has a bar code extension with an embedded retail price.  Below is an image of what a compliant barcode should look like. 

• Title and author on the spine of the book: Every book stocked in Barnes & Noble stores needs to show the title and the author on the spine.  Even if the book has a low page count with a very thin spine, the title and author must be visible on the spine. Many books are shelved spine-out in Barnes & Noble stores.  Books without a title and author on the spine will be invisible, not easily browsed by customers, and not easily found by booksellers.

Barnes & Noble Small Press Department: Barnes & Noble will consider any print-on-demand book for in-store placement if it meets the above-listed criteria. 

If you would like Barnes & Noble to consider in-store placement for your book, please review their submission procedures here: https://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/publishers-authors/sell-your-book-at-barnes-noble/

Please do not send physical book submissions to the Small Press Dept. Unsolicited materials sent to their offices cannot be returned.

In-store Events/Signings: Events and signings are arranged at the local store level at the discretion of the individual store, so you will contact the specific store where you would like to hold the event.  Stores will expect a book to be listed in the Barnes & Noble purchasing system at the same required terms as described above – before considering a book for an in-store event.

Online Sales: Barnes & Noble will usually list books on their website that are non-returnable and have a low discount. IngramSpark/Lightning Source distribution partners determine which books they will list on their websites for sale.