Barnes & Noble Sales of Go Set a Watchman Make Company History

Press Release

Harper Lee’s New Book Posts Largest First Day Sales for Adult Fiction in Company History

Sales of To Kill a Mockingbird Jump to Number 2 on the Bestseller List

New York, New York – July 15, 2015 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest retail bookseller and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that first day sales of Go Set a Watchman at its bookstores nationwide have surpassed first day sales of all other adult trade fiction books in its Company history, including Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, the previous bestselling book, which was published in 2009. The Company reported that Lee’s first book, To Kill a Mockingbird, whose sales have doubled at Barnes & Noble since Go Set a Watchman was announced, jumped to the number 2 bestselling book. Go Set a Watchman surpassed E L James’ Grey as the number one bestseller. Based on current sales, the Company also said that it expects Go Set a Watchman to be its bestselling book of 2015.

“Go Set a Watchman has proven to be one of the most exciting publishing events in our history,” said Mary Amicucci, Vice President of Adult Trade and Children’s Books. “We could not be more pleased to see customers of all ages from across the country flocking to our stores to get their copy of Go Set a Watchman and wanting to be a part of this historic literary moment. We were also pleased with the resurgent sales of To Kill a Mockingbird, underscoring readers’ new-found interest in one of America’s most revered classics.”

Go Set a Watchman immediately hit no. 1 on the BN.com bestseller list when it was announced in February, and was consistently in the top 5 for several months leading to its publication.

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About Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 648 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK® products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store® (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 724 bookstores serving over five million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States.

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